EBF Highlights

What was everyone's favorites? I really enjoyed the line up from Trophy Brewing.

we re-sampled Heady more than anything else, so I guess that would be the highlight here. Eventually we started calling it our "Palate Cleanser" in between the other extreme offerings.

Framinghammer was sublime (their Elvis beer, not so much?) Smutty BA Baltic Porter, FW Barrel 22 were delicious. Tweak was Awesome! Frost Monster, #hashtag & Ben's Asthma were all "wow's!" too.

Bruery spent at least the second half of the afternoon session just standing around. They simply didnt bring enough beer to serve. Black Tuesday was gone in 36 minutes or something ridiculous. I don't think anyone else ran out of or rationed their offerings but maybe I just didnt encounter anyone who did.

I thought allagash stuff was the best but I also was a big fan of mystics porter with Brett.

Everything was amazing though.

Firestones Rufus was pretty intense.

Jack's Abbey Framminghammer was fantastic. One of my favorites of the afternoon.

Also really loved Boulevards Grainstorm.

Founders Spite was a bit too crazy intense for me. But loved the Bolt Cutter! (I was hoping they would break out a sneak peek of Doom).

Also really loved Avery's Beast Grand Cru! Just an awesome afternoon of great beers!!

Justin Blåbær! No but seriously. That beer rocked.

I also really liked Entropy from Trophy, as well as Allagash FV13. And Sticky Monkee from FW.

Went through my Untappd check-in's and a couple others I gave good scores to was Rye,Rye,Rocco from CBC and Entropy from Mystic. That label for Justin Blabaer was great.

Yes it was!

Best wild - Allagash FV13
Best stout(ish) - Avery Tweak
Most unique - Founders Spite
Best ale and personal favorite overall was the Sublimely Self Righteous with Chocolate and Orange Peel. They took a good beer and really put it over the top with bold flavors

I thought it was incredible how much Heady stood out for me, despite having had it numerous times before. It's just so good. Was it a particularly good batch?

Thought the Evil Twin stuff I tried was terrific -- the Justin Blaber, the wine barrel aged saison, and the Torst front room. CBC killed it. Rye Rye Rocco, Pearls of Wisdom and Hashtag were all excellent. Loved FV13 and Smoke and Beards from Allagash. At FW, Stickee Monkey was terrific... Rufus was a little over the top for me, but very interesting. Really enjoyed the Mystic Sour, Flor Ventus, and I think Entropy will be great with a bit more age. And yeah, enjoyed everything I tried from the newcomers Trophy and Four Hands. Lotta good stuff this year!

I loved burly oak's bulletproof tiger, probably my favorite. Also enjoyed framinghammer by jacks abby, black tuesday, and fat alberta by throwback.

Bruery brought what the EBF ordered (or so I was told), so this wasn't a case of the brewer not bringing enough.

Went to both nights, had an awesome time. Got to try all the beers I wanted to try each night except for Firestone walker who had wooky jack left when I got to them. Highlights were
world wide stout, weyerbacher sour black,
Black Tuesday, white chocolate, cascade was awesome to try,plead the 5th.
Awesome event
Also the waffles were delicious.

the DFH 120 through the mosaic hop randall was amazing!

allagash jim beam coffee curieux was excellent.

nice to have heady topper and founders breakfast stout in between others as these are tops for the style(s)

really regret not hitting CBC just happened that way

Jeppe said don't take pictures of the label.

Did he say why? Is he scared of the Biebs backlash?

Personal NotB standouts:
Avery Odio Equum
The sheer volume of awesomeness that Cascade brought
BB Pt5
Veritas 011
Hand of Doom
Cedar randall'd Burton Baton
Numb Swagger

CBC's Ozymandias and all things Cascade

Oh bummer! :/ he 'liked' it when I posted it on Facebook though

Agreed 100%. Nothing even came close for me...it was honestly on another level from the rest of the offerings.

I couldn't believe they ran out of everything so fast simply by virtue of the fact that they were giving pours that were at most 1 oz (less than, in several cases with my group, and not just of Black Tuesday)..

NOTB:

Pappy's Sugar Shack
WWS Bourbon Barrel
Plead the 5th
Cascade
No Place Like Home
White Chocolate
Bourbon Narwhal
Stone RIS
DFH Immort Ale 2006
Chardonnay Little Yella Pils

EBF:

Allagash FV13
Cambridge Gruit
Justin Blåbær
Founders Midnight at the Oasis
Sierra Nevada Bloodshot and Fungoo
Goser the Goserian
Black Tuesday
Sour in the Rye
Sour Black
Elvis Brau
Trophinator

Also was upset (though the fest overall was awesome as always) that I didn't get to try any Firestone Stickee Monkey and Avery Tweak.. Both ran out in a ridiculously short amount of time.
Highlights:
Firestone Rufus was insane (and I typically hate Brett)
Black Tuesday was great, even in the <1 oz sample size
Heady Topper was incredible (never had it before)
Lost Abbey Mayan Apocalypse was awesome
Throwback Fat Alberta chocolate/peanutbutter stout tasted like a chocolate/PB milkshake
I REEALLY hope Weyerbacher bottles Sunday Morning Stout

Throwback killed it. The Bohemian Pilsner with Jalapeno was amazing and clean. Truly hit the spot. Fat Alberta was the second best beer with peanut butter I've encountered (behind Funky Buddha of course), and their other offerings were solid. I seriously want that jalapeno beer all the time.

Justin Blabaer was solid, as was the Thomas Hooker Mexican Chocolate Stout pouring at the NERAX table.

Spite had a nice pepper flavor and heat, but the base beer left a little to be desired.

Jeppe gave me a label to take home

Have to go with Dogfish Head's Sah'tea on this one. Wasn't really expecting much from it, but I was pleasantly surprised with how well chai tea blended with the beer. Very aromatic and well balanced. Chai is also my favorite breakfast tea so I think I may have found the perfect AM brew.

Hightlights for me :
Finally trying heady topper, well worth the hype
CBC #hashtag
As someone mentioned, Throwback was on point. Really surprised by their offerings
Likewise with Shorts , really creative and nicely done.
120 min with the mosaic hops
Evil twin saison, one of the best I tried all day

NOTB:
BA Plead The Fifth
Bruery White Chocolate
Cascade Noyaux
Jack's Abby Numb Swagger
Lost Abbey Veritas 011

Saturday Sessions:
CBC Pearls of Wisdom
Evil Twin Justin Blåbær
FW Stickee Monkee
Founders Spite
Trophy Rosemary Gose
Mystic Entropy

All definitely stand out in my mind as beyond excellent.

Sure, Heady is always amazing, but two that stood out for me were the Sam Adams Thai Lemon Basil, and the Smuttynose Bloom. Really tasty beers! CBC #Hashtag was no clouch either.

Personally, you can beat Heady Topper. I also loved #Hashtag, Frost Monster, and Tweak.

I have to say though, Rhizing Bines was one of the worst beers I had ever tried. What an awful after taste. I was very disappointed.

I agree about rhizing bines, but disagree about frost monster. Tasted watered down and just flat in terms of taste.

NotB standouts for me were:
2008 Stone IRS in Bourbon Barrels (probably my favorite of the weekend)
Dark Horse BB Plead the 5th
LA Double Red Poppy
Cascade Noyaux
Allagash Midnight Brett

EBF night session:
Avery Tweak
Allagash FV 13
FW Rufus & Barrel 22
Harpoon Velvet Touch
Weyerbacher Sunday Morning
Cambridge Hashtag

Not too upset about missing out on a few things as that happens at every fest, but I was a bit bummed that FW only tapped 2 beers at a time, and didn't have a time for when the next two (wild weisse and sticky monkee) would go on. They told me to come back in an hour-hour and a half and when I did all that was left was Wookey Jack. Not a big fan of staggered or timed tappings, but oh well.

As usual I had an amazing time and thought they were well run. I did however feel that Friday was more crowded than usual; I've been to 6 of the last 7 NotB/EBF and NotF/BBF weekends and never felt Friday was as crowded as this past one, and I know several people agreed with me. I was also surprised to get an email saying people could convert their Friday tickets into Saturday tickets, which I have never seen before. I know Friday usually has 100 or so less people than the Saturday sessions; was this not the case this year? Anyone else feel Friday was a little more crowded than normal?

Still had a great time and can't wait for NotF/BBF in the fall!

While maybe not as "extreme" as some of the bigger names, 4 Hands stole the show for me. Their whole lineup was spot on. Cuvée ange, Chocolate milk stout, Pyrus, Home...... Wish their distro was a little bigger.

Mdfb79- Friday did seem packed, far more crowded than Saturday day.

It was very crowded but everything seemed to move ok. And the free chips were awesome. If it weren't for the epic (but well worth it) Cascade line...

Changing speed, biggest lowlight, Firestone Walker running out of everything within an hour of the start of session 2. (Except Wookey Jack.). Giant sign, 4 beers listed. Not a drop of any!

Allagash FV 13 and CBC #Hashtag were my faves of things I got to try for the first time. And of course Heady Topper was great

I think it was a very fresh batch. It really did taste amazing.

^ Agreed. I don't understand the math of having a measely 12 bottles of Black Tuesday being enough for even half of the 850 people roughly there on Saturday afternoon. I am assuming that a second case of it did not come out for the evening sesson, but someone can confirm that I suppose. The only real disappointment for me.

Best in show for me was Veritas 011 Friday and Tweak Saturday.

Awesome event overall! Cheers.

BT was at both afternoon and night sessions.

Black Tuesday
Tweak
Fv13
Sour in the rye
Framminghammer
120 randalized

Wish I tried multiples of Black Tuesday. Went way too quick