2013 Great American Beer Festival Day One (Part One)

I apologize for this not being live blogged yesterday. My phone decided that yesterday was the day to die and there was nothing that could be done to save it. So I will be blogging the previous day's events the next morning.

We arrived in Denver on Wednesday night. Thursday morning we were invited to go on a bus tour of two breweries in Boulder with the crew from Pizza Port. The breweries included on the tour were Twisted Pine and Avery.



























Twisted Pine Brewing
3201 Walnut St  
Boulder, CO 80301
www.twistedpinebrewing.com

Twisted Pine was Boulder's most decorated brewery last year. The have won multiple U.S. and International awards as well as local medals.

The offer a great selection of regular and seasonal brews. The owner and his employees were extremely hospitable to all 50+ of us that invaded his establishment.

When we arrived we were greeted outside and once inside the staff had already set out a sampling of their "Big Shot Espresso Stout", as well as one of their unique Chili beers "Billy's Chilies".

The Espresso Stout was a good pick me up after a morning bus ride.

The Billy's Chilies with V8 juice was like having a spicy Bloody Mary made with beer....very tasty.
















Nothing says breakfast like a good stout!

 A crazy spicy beer made with Ghost peppers...it was too early in the morning for me to give it a shot.

Everyone took in a tour of the brewery and then hung out for a couple of hours sampling the many beers on tap.

My favorite was the Hoppy Night which was a Black IPA.




















Next stop was Avery Brewing, which I will highlight in Part Two. Right now I have to go get ready for today's festivities, which will include a Brewer's Alpha Competition at Rock Bottom, a collaboration beer celebration at Denver Beer Company, and the 5:30pm session of the 2013 Great American Beer Festival.

Craft Beer Review: Caldera Brewing Mogli (Kettle Series)

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Caldera Brewing
590 Clover Lane
Ashland, OR 97520
www.calderabrewing.com


This beer was given to me by a friend who is from Ashland. Thanks Matt! Sorry it has taken me so long to put the review up.


Oak-Aged Imperial Porter Brewed with Chocolate
8.5% ABV

San Diego Beer Review: Manzanita Brewing Witch's Hair

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Manzanita Brewing Co.
10151 Prospect Ave.
Santee, CA 92071
www.manzanitabrewing.com

Yep...looong break between posts again. I have been drinking a lot of new stuff lately, but just haven't had the drive to write my thoughts down. I should be posting quite a bit of stuff up in the next few days/weeks. Be on the look out....

Several of the new beers I have had have been by Manzanita Brewing. I have been very impressed with them lately (new brewmaster?) and decided to write my first post on their new fall seasonal that was released today.

Pumpkin Ale
8.8% ABV

Pizza Port Bressi Ranch "Soft" Opening/Grand Opening--San Diego Brewery Review

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Outside Patio

Line to order pizza

Pizza Port Bressi Ranch
2730 Gateway Rd
Carlsbad, CA

  So, late today (5pm) I learned Pizza Port was FINALLY opening their Bressi Ranch location. I high tailed it over there as soon as I could and here are the pictures...

  The brewery onsite will not be up for another 2 or so weeks, but there are plenty of brews on tap from all of the other Pizza Port locations as well as Port Brewing and Lost Abbey.
  Credit card machines were down so they were taking cash only...didn't appear to be a problem for the hundreds of people there...Crazy crowded and the announcement never went out on their Facebook page or Website, pretty much word of mouth, Friday will be NUTS!
  They are currently running a contest for patrons to create the "Pizza Bressi". If your pizza creation is chosen you will receive a $100 gift card good at all Pizza Port locations and it never expires. 


1st floor beer line and taps

Looking from 2nd floor into brewery and canning



Looking down from 2nd floor at the fish tank

San Diego Beer Review: Stone Vertical Epic 11.11.11

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Stone Brewing
1999 Citracado Parkway
Escondido, CA 92029
www.stoneworldbistro.com


This beer has been in wrapped in a paper bag in my fridge for over 2 years, and last week I finally cracked it open. The wait was worth it...


Belgian Strong Dark Ale
9.4% ABV


Appearance:
Pours a crystal clear, deep red/amber. Quite beautiful. Thick head.

Vancouver, BC, Canada Craft Beer WalkAbout

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So, once again I took a loooong break from posting. I actually went to Vancouver a couple of months ago and I never got around to blogging about it, luckily I took some notes and pictures.

Vancouver and the surrounding area has quite a few breweries and craft beer bars. As in my previous WalkAbouts (NYC and Denver), I only went to places that were within walking distance from my hotel. "Walking distance" can mean a lot of things for different people, for me it is usually anything under 2 miles, especially if I am trying to hit multiple places on the same day.

I will be discussing the bars as well as the beers I drank at each one. The beer reviews will be brief compared to my single beer reviews. The locations are listed in the order that I visited them.

New York City Craft Beer Bar WalkAbout

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I had the pleasure of going to New York City a couple of weeks ago and had some time to visit a couple of bars that featured large craft beer menus. It would have been great to have more time to visit some other locations, but this was a work trip and my only available time was at lunch and dinner on a couple of the days I was there.

In this review I will be discussing the bars themselves as well as the beer I imbibed while at each one. The beer reviews will be brief compared to my normal reviews.

Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of the restaurants or the beers (except one). So I will just throw in a couple of pictures from Central Park and the one beer I did take a pic of... ;)