Thursday, February 21, 2008

My Favorite Beers from Beerfest

I promised a list of the beers i sampled at Beerfest and which of them were my favorites. I've put a couple asterisks (**) beside the beers which were my favorites. You'll have to scroll all the way down to see which beer i thought was the best. Here goes...

Allagash Brewing Co. (ME)
allagash.com

Tripel
Belgian style Tripel. 9.0%


Boston Beer Co. (MA)
samadams.com

3 Weiss Men
A welcome return from the Boston brewery. This strong Belgian-style Ale defies easy categorization. Brewed with a high percentage of wheat malt but without sugar, it is both rich and satisfying to taste while dry and tart in the finish. We use both a Belgian yeast and German Wiess yeast for fermentation. After aging for over a year, it has developed complex vanilla graham and peach compote aromas that compliment its bready wheat notes and spicy tropical fruit. Perfectly balanced for fireside sipping and post-sledding adventures. 8.5%

**Imperial Stout
New from the Boston brewery. Aromas of espresso, dark chocolate, smoke, caramel, and black fruits over a richly textured, silky palate and a lingering smooth, tart finish accentuated by a hefty 9.4%


Boulder Beer Co. (CO)
boulderbeer.com

MoJo RiSiN
In a moment of creative chaos, the brewers at Boulder Beer Company decided to take their hopalicious MoJo India Pale Ale to the next level. The result - MoJo Risin' Double IPA, a souped-up, extreme version of the one and only MoJo IPA. They added more than half a ton of extra malt and twice the amount of Amarillo hops, so prepare yourself for a full sensory explosion. 11.0%

**Cask Conditioned MoJo RiSiN
It's the EBF right? So why not take the Mojo Risin "higher"? Two words for ya: Cask Conditioned. And might we add its only for the EBF. 11.0%


Brewery Ommegang (NY)
ommegang.com

Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence Stout
The aroma immediately speaks of dark chocolate and dark malts. The gentle herbal nose of Perle hops compliments the darker notes, making the beer savory to the senses. The taste continues with the Belgian dark chocolate starting sweet up front but giving way to rich cocoa flavors at the back. Through it all, a subtle fruitiness from our special yeast gives the beer brightness otherwise foreign to a beer style normally associated with gray foggy skies. 7.7%


Dark Horse Brewing Co. (MI)
darkhorsebrewery.com

Pleading The 5th Imperial Stout
We're not saying a word, please come taste this yourself. 12.0%


Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (DE)
dogfish.com

**120 Minute IPA
The Holy Grail for Hopheads! Brewed to a colossal 45-degree plato, boiled for a full 2 hours while being continually hopped with high alpha American hops, dry-hopped daily in the fermenter for a month and aged for a month on whole leaf hops, 120 Minute I.P.A. is by far the biggest I.P.A. ever brewed! 120IBUs. 18.0+%


Ithaca Beer Co. (NY)
ithacabeer.com

**EisKaffee
Freeze-distilled version of our Double Espresso Bock, Kaffinator. Not for the feint of heart. 14.0%


Kuhnhenn Brewing Co. (MI)
kbrewery.com

Frambois
Deep red in color, raspberries dominate in this tart treat. Malt flavor and aromas are subdued. Aged in an American oak barrel. 11.5%

Raspberry Eisbock 2007
Made using the traditional method, this beer is balanced towards the malty side. The raspberries are in the aroma as well as the smell of tootsie rolls. 11.9%

**Tenacious Cassis 2007
Deep purple, black currents and red currents flavor this luscious malty beverage. Sweet fruit up front with complex malt characters in the finish. 14.5%


Lagunitas Brewing Co. (CA)
lagunitas.com

Hop Stoopid
An Imperial IPA weighing in at 101IBUs and 8.2%

**Lumpy Gravy
All you need is some meatloaf on the side with this Imperial Brown Ale. 7.6%


Magic Hat Brewing Co. (VT)
magichat.net

**Braggot
A mead we make with Clover honey, Pilsner malt Chamomile flowers it is aged in used chardonnay barrels to create a style from years past. 9.0%


Oskar Blues Grill & Brewery (CO)
oskarblues.com

Gordon
AKA "The Velvet M-80," Gordon falls somewhere between a double IPA and an Imperial Red; 85IBUs. Gordon features an intense aroma, a sticky mouthfeel and a surprisingly comfortable finish for a beer of its size. Gordon is brewed in tribute to the late Gordon Knight, a Colorado craftbeer pioneer, Vietnam vet and grade-A citizen who died while fighting a 2002 wild fire outside of Lyons. 8.7%

**Ten FIDY Imperial Stout
Ten FIDY is slowly crafted with gargantuan amounts of five different malts, American hops, and a hearty dose of roasted barley. This dicephalous dark beer is an opaque, opulent, gentle-giant masterpiece. It features a viscous body, an espresso-like head and neck-deep flavors of dark-roasted malts, chocolate and coffee. Ten FIDY's massive charms and hops (approx. 98 IBUs) are rounded out by a hearty addition of oats. 10.0%


Short's Brewing Co. (MI)
shortsbrewing.com

**Cup A Joe
Robust Stout brewed with Espresso and lactose. 6.0%

The Woodmaster
Imperial Brown Ale brewed with late season maple syrup and fermented with pureed pecans. 9.5%

**Über Goober Oatmeal Stout
Robust Stout fermented with fresh roasted peanuts. 6.5%


Sixpoint Craft Ales (NY)
sixpointcraftales.com

Belgian Triple
Not your average Tripel-dry, slightly tart, and a firm, spicy hop finish helps round out our first foray into one of Sixpoint's favorite styles. 10.1%

Gorilla Warfare Porter
A silky smooth porter made with 40 pounds of Park Slope's Gorilla Coffee Ethiopian Yirgacheffe blend, a Fair Trade and Organic Certified coffee roasted in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The coffee has winey, spicy notes with hints of baker's chocolate. Combined with patent malt, the signature of many great English-style porters, this is one coffee-rich porter. 7.8%


Southern Tier Brewing Co. (NY)
southerntierbrewing.com

**Choklat
Imperial Stout made using dark and bittersweet chocolate. Limited release and probably the chocolatiest beer on planet Earth. 10.0%

**Jah-va
A massive Imperial Coffee Stout infused with real coffee. 12.0%

Raspberry Porter
Chocolaty porter brewed with fresh raspberries. Winter seasonal brewed for the first time ever in October 2007. 7.0%


Ok, before i tell you my favorite, i have to tell you about a beer that i had from Southern Tier Brewing Co. (NY). They were mixing their Choklat and Jah-va beers together to make what they called "Mocha". It was very tasty.

Now, my favorite beer was Braggot from Magic Hat Brewing Co. (VT). I've never been much of a mead fan before, but this was an amazing beer. During the Extreme Panel, Jim Koch from Boston Beer Co. said that he would gladly give up wine at meals if he could have Braggot. I think i would have to agree with him. :-)

2 comments:

DougHed said...

Where's the whisky?

Cyclonus said...

I'll take the Mojo RiSin.