Closer to the beer truth… What is this? What could this be? It was not a circus. The room, was it its own land, lacking imagination, lacking thought, with many doors and windows? In this room, thrown together, were the tables in a row against the perimeter of the room. Certain types of people come here, beer lovers, hard drinkers, beer explorers. And in this room, around all these people and beers, was me. There were many beers to be had, and I tried to get at least one sampling from every company, only taking pictures of what liked. I was dumbfounded by the scope of the place and jaded because I went in with a certain set of expectations. I found Brewtopia: the Great World Beer Festival was underwhelming.
Brewtopia: the Great World Beer Festival was one of the world’s largest beer events and New York City’s longest running beer festival. The Great World Beer Festival featured breweries and beer companies from around the world. The events book had a lot of good in it, which I have to pour through still. There was also a page for “How to taste beer” and “Elements of beer Styles.” Before the wife and kids I spent a lot of time just crawling around the city exploring. There were bits of New York Beer scene info in it though the book also.
I have to say New Jersey’s events this year were much better. NY was almost a joke, no soul. Flying Dog an 12% were the only brewers there with representatives, I felt. I wish more brewers would have shown up to represent their beers, but maybe this was not that type of an event. I was upset some people had run out of beers and some groups had totally packed up and were gone by 2pm.
It may have been better if I had people with me. My friend had to miss the event due to “life” issues and the wife is just not into it, till I make her a beer she likes. Beer events are meant to be shared with friends, people to bounce ideas off of, debate the quality, or lack thereof, of the beers.
GWBF was my last beer fest for some time I think, so 2 good beer festivals out of 3 for 2008 was a good ratio. I learned a lot through these festival also; it’s helped me make some big decisions. I once read that you have to experience something bad or mediocre to appreciate something that’s good, this is proof of that.
The Notable Beers of GWBF…
-Dales’ Pale Ale- The Flag Ship beer of Oskar Blues. They served the beer from cans, threw me off at first but it was actually good.
-One of the 2 international beers, Singha Lager from Thailand, which was in fact interesting. It’s 100% barley malt beer, which gave it a lot of flavor.
-Hop Devil Ale from Victory Brewing Company had a great smell to it and hit my mouth like a ton of great bricks.
-Doc’s Draft® Hard Pear Cider had pleasant light taste. I want my wife to taste something like this.
-Keegan Ales Mother’s Milk stout was tasty. I wish it were a little cooler but it was a good first impression for a milk stout.
-Brooklyn Brewery was there. I tasted their Winter Ale which was smooth and nice.
-Harpoons Unfiltered Offering aka UFO was a decently done Hefeweizen unfiltered wheat beer, not bad at all.
– Wachusett’s Blueberry was the worst example of a Blueberry beer I have ever had. I don’t know if the server skunked it or what, but, I had to mention it the horror.
-12% was on the opposite side of the spectrum with one of the best beers at the event. The hazy, murky amber T’ Gaverhopke Extra had this grand fruit taste to it.
-CascaZilla from Inthaca Beer co. was a nice one. As the name implies (at least to me) there were a ton of cascade hops in the beer, and when you read its sheet, yep a lot of hops.
-Original Sin Hard Cider was another great looking cider. Simple and great tasting.
-One of my favorite Beers were there, Flying Dog’s Classic Pale Ale which was a
good refresher, a reminder of Great beer (had a bad beer before it). Also of note was Flying Dog’s Tire Bite Golden Ale. I don’t thing I had it before, but I will have it again.
-Another international beer at the event was King Fisher’s Premium Lager, from India. It was average, but I’ve never had a beer from India, so that was cool.
-Hibernation Ale from the Great Divide Brewing Company. This is a coffee ale. It was okay, but there is hope I will find my perfect coffee beer, or at least know what not to make.
-And the last beer of note was from South Hampton Publick House. It was their seasonal Espresso Stout. It had promise. They needed to add more espresso.
The beers that were supposed to be @ GWBF
| Abita Beer
Amber Jockamo IPA Purple Haze White Grand Cru Triple Dubbel Ellies Brown Ale White Rascal Kaiser Radeberger Pilsner Krusovice Cerne Krusovice Imperial Altenmunster Doppelbock Crystal Wit Racer 5 IPA Lobster Ale McGoverns Oatmeal Stout Belhaven:Twisted Thistle Belhaven Scottish Ale St. Andrews Ale Wee Heavy Maredsous: Double and Triple Chimay: Tripel, Premier and Grand Reserve Young’s: Double Chocolate Stout St. George’s Ale Special London Ale Dirty Dick’s Dekonick Ale Bourbon Barrel Aged Old Howling Bastard (cask!) Toasted Lager Hoptical Illusion Blueberry Ale Winter Ale La Botteresse Blond La Botteresse Ambree La Botteresse Noire Mojo IPA Hazed and Infused Black Chocolate Stout Brooklyn Post Road Pumpkin Ale Brooklyn Winter Ale Brooklyn Lager Three Philosophers Hennepin Witte Duvel Tournay Tournay Black Fishermans Ale Pumpkin Stout Catskill Hop Harvest Ale Checker Cab Blonde Ale Chelsea Cream Stout Solstest Wheat Ale Heavy Seas Hang Ten Heavy Seas Holy Sheet Dixie Lager Blackened Voodoo Schwarzbier Hobgoblin Holy Grail Ale Doggie Style Pale Ale Old Scratch In Heat Wheat Road Dog ‘t Gaverhopke Extra ‘t Gaverhopke Blond Wild Rasberry Ale Titan IPA Hercules Double IPA Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout Munich Dark UFO Hefeweizen Hik Blond Hik Bruin Piet-Agoras Eerwarde Pater Genessee Cream Ale J.W. Dundees Pale Ale J.W. Dundees Amber Lager J.W. Dundees Honey Brown Lager Hite Lager Staatliches Hofbräuhaus Münchenofbrau. Maibock Strong Bock Potteloereke Sint Canarus Tripel |
Inbev
Bass Boddington Brahma Hoegaarden Leffe Stella Artois Censored Ale Cappucino Stout IPA Maximus Pilsner Peach Strawberry Pineapple Black Raspberry Blueberry Strawberry/Raspberry St. Gootz Mother Lager #9 Saranac Pale Ale Saranac Octoberfest Saranac Amber Saranac Lager Olde Saratoga Lager Red Tail Ale Old Speckled Hen Greene King IPA Red Seal Ale Old Rasputin Imperial Stout Blue Star Wheat Pranqster Dale’s Pale Ale Old Chub Scotch Ale Javer Pilsner Gaffel Kolsch Rodenbach Classic Redbach Grand Cru Dead Guy Ale Uber Pils Shakespeare Stout Chipotle Apricot Wheat Seadog Blueberry Winter Beer Export Ale Genesis Messiah Coney Island Lager Sword Swallower Singha Beer Wheat Wine *GABF Gold Medal Winner Old Brown Dog Ale Winter Ale India Pale Ale Altbier Double White Weizen American Pale Ale Gold Lager Double IPA Trois Pistoles Maudite Blanche de Chambly La fin du Monde Unibroue Quatre-Centième (400) Prima Pils Hop Wallap Golden Monkey HopDevil IPA Doc’s Hard Cider Hefeweizen Dark Hefeweizen Decadence Merry Monks Amber Dark & Dry |
