Take off, eh!

On my way up to my homeland to drink beer and celebrate Canada Day. It'll be the first time that I'm actually in Canada for Canada Day in years. Its doubtful I'll post anything until I return, but I may update my twitter feed with beer related activities and photos. Cheers, eh!

Tickets on Sale for Denver Rare Beer Tasting II

If you're planning on going to the Great American Beer Festival this year, I would definitely consider adding the Denver Rare Beer Tasting II to your plans. The event takes place on Friday, Sept. 17th from 1pm ~ 4pm at the Wynkoop Brewery and is a fundraiser for the Pints for Prostates campaign.

Tickets, on sale now, are $80 each (a bit of an increase from last year's $55) and includes tastings of more than 20 hard to find beers, a commemorative tasting glass and hors d’oeuvres. I attended the first Denver Rare Beer Tasting and it was a fantastic event. Its a great opportunity to try some rare beers, meet the brewers and help out a worthy cause. I've already got my ticket for this year and look forward to the event.

Brewmasters International Brew Festival in Galveston

I heard about this from someone at Camp Beer this weekend and just found their Facebook page and website. It appears to have just been officially announced on Saturday. Full details about all the various events including pricing is included in the their press release, but here's the summary:

This Labor Day weekend Sep. 3-5 Moody Gardens will host the first annual Brewmasters International Beer Festival – an event that promises to become one of the best and largest beer festivals in the nation. The four-day celebration will showcase over 300 international, domestic and local Texas brews with three signature events - the BrewTopia Beer Garden, the Brew Ha-Ha Grand Tasting and BrewLicious in the Ballroom – plus a homebrewers competition, charity golf tournament, live music, beer and food pairing seminars featuring renowned chefs, and educational events and expert speakers.

Beer Events Breakout:

BrewTopia Beer Garden - Free Entry
BrewTopia will feature great live music, food and of course beer! Vendors from all over Texas and beyond will help transform the outdoor Oleander Bowl into a genuine old-country beer garden.
Fri. Sept. 3: 3:00pm - 8:00pm
Sat. Sept. 4: 12pm - 6:00pm
Sun. Sept. 5: 12pm - 8:00pm
Mon. Sept 6: 12pm - 4:00pm
Moody Gardens Oleander Bowl
Canned good and spare change donations encouraged to benefit the Galveston Food Bank.

Brew Ha-Ha Grand Tasting - $35 & $65/VIP
Featuring over 300 international, domestic and local Texas brews, the Brew Ha-Ha Grand Tasting is your chance to sample some of the best beer in the world.
Saturday, September 4
3:30pm -6:30pm
Moody Gardens Expo Arena

BrewLicious in the Ballroom - $75 & $90/VIP
Featuring live demonstrations from more than 15 renowned chefs, BrewLicious in the Ballroom will showcase unique food and beer pairings - and you’ll get to sample each one!
Sunday, September 5
3:00pm – 6:30pm
Frances Anne Moody Ballroom - Moody Gardens Hotel

Shearn’s Restaurant Four Course Beer Pairing Dinner - $95 per person + tax/tip
Friday & Saturday, September 3 & 4
By Reservation
Shearn’s Restaurant - Moody Gardens Hotel

Wow, they've definitely got a lot events planned that weekend. There's also a homebrew competition, concert and golf tournament. However, Galveston isn't the most convenient location for it. Its close enough to home that a hotel room doesn't seem worth it but the alternative is a couple of hours worth of driving back and forth. The Moody Gardens Hotel is apparently offering a Brewers Package that includes hotel nights and tickets for the events which may be a good deal if you're planning on going.

Recap of Camp Beer III

The third edition of Camp Beer took place yesterday with twenty-one different and predominantly hoppy beers sampled and discussed. The size of the event had been increased to 60 attendees, necessitating a change in venue from Cathy's living room to an actual event hall. Conveniently enough, it included a pulpit from which Kevin preached the good word about craft beer.

As with the previous event, I started out taking notes as we sampled the beers, but I gave up about half way through. However, there was definitely some very notable beers:

Although best recognized for their Dark Lord Imperial Stout, Three Floyds Brewing is also known for producing beers with strong hoppy flavours and aromas, but without being overly bitter or harsh. Their Pride & Joy was the inspiration for my own American Mild. Three beers of theirs were served: Gumball Head, a highly hopped American Wheat beer, Dreadnaught, a well balanced Imperial IPA and Alpha King, a very dry and bitter Pale Ale.

Lost Abbey / Port Brewing continues to produce some amazing beers. The Lost Abby Devotion is a Belgian Pale Ale with lots of citrus and fruit flavours. Smooth and well balanced with a lingering floral hop bitterness. Typical of a West coast IPA, the Port Brewing Hop 15 has strong citrus and grapefruit flavours but a little better balanced then most.

As I get the chance to try more and more of their beer, Southern Tier is fast becoming one of my favourite breweries. Their Un-Earthly Imperial IPA is a very well balanced blend of citrus hops and caramel malts and the 10% ABV is hardly noticeable. Their Crème Brûlée Imperial Milk Stout is out of this world.

Bootlegger's Brewery from Fullerton, California is not a brewery that I was familiar with until yesterday. We sampled their Black Phoenix, an ale brewed with coffee and chipotle peppers. With aromas of strong coffee and chocolate, the coffee definitely overwhelms the flavour. And just when you start to wonder where the chipotle peppers are supposed to be in it, you feel a slight tingle and burn from them on the back of your tongue and throat. Definitely an interesting beer, although I'm not sure if I could drink a lot of it

The surprise ending beer of the day was the Saint Arnold's Divine Reserve #3 which was actually supplied for the event by me from my own personal beer cellar. I decided that some of the beers that I have been aging should really be consumed sooner then later and since I had a large enough quantity of it, I donated it to Cathy to use for a Camp Beer event. I also gave her a couple of other beers that may show up at future events. The DR #3 was bottled in Sept 2006 and is a Double IPA with an alcohol level of 9.5% ABV. Most of the hoppy aromas and flavours had faded as I expected. It now had a sweet and toasty caramel malt flavour with some fruity characteristics and a very smooth finish. The high alcohol was still noticeable, but no longer harsh. It actually reminded more of a barleywine style.

The next Camp Beer event is scheduled for September and will concentrate on Stouts. It's already being referred to as Stoutapolooza and will feature vertical tastings of Dark Lord and The Abyss. Tickets will undoubtedly go very fast.

Tickets on Sale for 2010 Great American Beer Festival

As of noon MDT today, tickets are on sale for the 2010 Great American Beer Festival.

Don't forget to check the special discount rates at area hotels before making your reservations.