I'd like to thank Dan Frueh (Mages64) for helping me plan this event. I'd also like to thank Matt Bonney and Matt VandenBerghe for hosting the event in their back office at Brouwer's. Thanks to Alan Sprints (HotD) and Gary (Beveridge Place Pub) for coming and bring phenomenal beers. Thanks to Nat for being an amazing server and taking care of our needs all night. Also, thank you to everyone who came to the event and for bringing a crazy list of beers. I honestly never thought it would turn out how it did. I've done my very best to put together what was the final list of beers. I have probably missed a few but this is the majority of what was brought: American Sours: New Belgium Twisted Spoke 15th Anniversary New Belgium Falling Rock 10th Anniversary New Belgium Bottleworks 10th Anniversary Lost Abbey Veritas 006 Lost Abbey Veritas 007 Lost Abbey Duck Duck Gooze Lost Abbey Isabelle Proximus Lost Abbey Cuvee du Tomme (2009) Russian River Deviation (Bottleworks 9th Anniversary) Russian River Beatification Batch ph-01 Russian River Beatification Batch 2 Russian River Beatification Batch 3 Hill Farmstead Ann New Glarus Wisconsin Belgian Red Batch 1 Cascade Apricot Batch 1 (2008) Cascade Blackberry Batch 1 Allagash Gargamel Jolly Pumpkin Perseguidor Batch 4 Lambic/Gueuze: 3 Fonteinen Blauw 3 Fonteinen Roze 3 Fonteinen A&T 3 Fonteinen Millenium 3 F Framboos Cantillon Blabaer 2009 Cantillon Blabaer 2011 Cantillon Jean Chris Nomad Cantillon Brabantiae Crianza Helena Cantillon 50N4E Cantillon Fou Foune (2004) Rodenbach Alexander De Dolle Special Brouwsel 20 Kasteel Rouge (1999) American Barleywine: East End Gratitude (2006-2011) Flossmoor Station Wooden Hell Midnight Sun M Hair of the Dog Fred from the Wood Unreleased Batch 1 (1994) Hair of the Dog Fred Batch 1 Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws Magnum (2001) Hair of the Dog Bourbon Fred from the Wood Magnum (2012) Marin BA Old Dipsea Batch 1 English Barleywine: Thomas Hardy's Ale (1988) Thomas Hardy's Ale (1995) American Imperial Stouts: 50/50 Brewing Eclipse - Pappy van Winkle (2008) Surly Darkness (2007-2012) Three Floyd's Bourbon Barrel Aged Dark Lord Alesmith Barrel Aged Speedway Stout (2003) Cigar City Bourbon Barrel Aged Hunahpu Cigar City Rum Barrel Aged Hunahpu Belgian Style(s): Full 2007 Midnight Sun Seven Deadly Sins: Midnight Sun Sloth Midnight Sun Greed Midnight Sun Envy Midnight Sun Gluttony Midnight Sun Lust Midnight Sun Pride Midnight Sun Wrath Brouwerij Smisje Cuvee 't Smisje (2005) Kuhnhenn Raspberry Eisbock (2007) Fish/Bottleworks Monkfish Tripel (2001) Hill Farmstead Ann Hill Farmstead Anna De Struise 5^2 Samischlaus (1994) American Old Ale: The Bruery Rum Papier The Bruery Bourbon Papier The Bruery Rye Papier Hair of the Dog Adam from the Wood Batch 1 Magnum (2002) Hair of the Dog Eve Batch 2 (1997)] Hair of the Dog Adambier Batch 5 (1994) Cider: Eric Bordelet Sidre Doux (2005) Thank you to everyone for coming and for being a part of this unforgettable tasting. I'll do my best to put another one together as everyone had a blast...just give me a year or so Cheers all, Ryan
I was wondering about this; saw a bit of "chatter" on here as well as Alan's tweets from that day. Crikey. Helluva lineup. Was there ever a point at which you were just overloaded and everything started kind of blending together? Seems like it would almost start getting difficult to truly enjoy all these great beers, but I'll probably never be in a position to find out for myself...
As soon as those pics come in from the photographer, ill drop some on you sarcastic ass. Honestly the beers never got muddled for me. We split up the order pretty well and everything was savored. It was crazy having 3 beers in front of you at all times at being like, "which do I drink first? Millenium Gueuze, Blauw, or AftW b1" lol. It was awesome.
We ate A TON of food provided by Brouwers and drank a small lake's worth of water. It really helped keep the palate and mind fresh.
How many people were there in total? That seems like an insane amount of high gravity beer! Jesus! Nice freakin list though!
Yeah, this is quite impressive but I would also like to know how many people attended. I mean if it were a small group even with food and water I don't see how you weren't tipsy tasting and if it were a large group what size pours were you getting of those amazing beers? I mean I guess if it were an all day event that would be understandable.
It was a fantastic tasting, definitely one for the ages. A big thanks to both Waltersrj and Mages64 for putting it together and to the others for bringing what they had. Many of these beers I never thought I would have had an opportunity to try.... If anyone is curious about M. The best way I can describe it is that it was like drinking tootsie rolls!
There were between 16-18 people there and we all received 1.5 ounce pours roughly all day. We each got more from the magnums obviously. I for one appreciated everything and was far less drunk than I expected. Probably helped that I drank more water than beer and ate plenty of food.
It seriously tasted and smelled like tootsie-roll. It was actually much more complex than that though tootsie-roll was the biggest flavor in it. It was phenomenal and well worth the hype. Also, Framboos 2011 is insanely funky. Raspberry, dirty diaper (i've never smelled anything with this much dirty diaper in there, but trust me it was), horseblanket, very sour, etc. Crazy good.
I agree. Framboos was one of the many highlights of the day. I don't know if I'd say it was my favorite, but it was right up there.
I think my top 3 were: M, Millenium Gueuze, and Blauw. It was also pretty cool to drink HotD Eve and AftW batch 1 (and all the other crazy HotD beers) with Alan himself.
In describing tootsie rolls, I didn't mean to compare it to something like what Southern Tier would brew, which is basically simple sugar bombs. M is definitely pretty complex, all in a good way - Waltersrj said it better than I did.
Glad you guys had a great time and so sorry to have missed it. Great beer lineup and wish I could have made it. Maybe next time!
Jeff, You'll be invited next time for sure. Like I said, give Dan and I (and everyone else) a year to get some more beers and people put together and we will do it again
I think a couple of us were hoping that Dave would be a surprise guest of Alan's. Top 3 of the tasting: Millennium Gueuze, Cantillon Brabantiae, & Izzy (Honorable mention to Blauw, 09 Blabaer, & Veritas 007) Biggest Disappointments: 2007 Darkness & 2003 BA Speedway
Its just bragging at this point, I realize that, but i was stunned that we had TWO 12oz/375ml bottles of the following to share with everyone!: Eve (wtf!) Gargamel Beatification ph1 (it's still absolutely, 100% incredible!) a fucking magnum of Adam ftw b1 (one of my whitest whales) and then too many people brought ddg! I think i saw three! A year ago, ddg and izzy were my top wants! See kids, with a lot of patience and an obnoxious amount of first world hutzpah (money), you can get the beers you want give up on world peace... A more serious response would be: Top favorites Millenium Gueuze Blauw Framboos brabantiae M Disappointments 50N4E darkness 07 (drink it sooner rather than later... really) BA DL
I'd like to further note that we also had (2) 12 oz bottles of the unreleased FftW 1994. I'm also pretty sure there were (2) bottles each of Beat b2, Fred b1, Adam b5, and Special Brouwsel 20. And yes we also had (3) bottles of DDG show up...craziness.
