"Don't go!" they said "they're horrible people!"
"Their beer is too pretentious for you!" they said.
"Just look at their site! Skulls! And lightning! They're not like us!"
They were wrong.
A crowd of 50 plus friends (and one guy who never gets the hint that he's supposed to bring something to the party) descended on the back lot of the Sun King Brewery this past Saturday. Because they know we like to have a good time. We like to see everyone have a good time. And when you're spending an afternoon with a crowd full of good people, the good times are inevitable.
It wasn't more than an hour or so into the day when we realized our goal for an unrivaled Double IPA competition might be an impossible task. The donation table quickly filled with worthy candidates - so many that we thought it best to push the pace.
And so we started - one ounce samples were poured, each beer only labeled with a letter. We asked the crowd to pick their favorite out of group one (a group of five). There was one overwhelming choice - Three Floyd's Dreadnaught. As it turns out, the beer lives up to the hype.
We continued the pattern through six groups before it became obvious that we just wouldn't make it through all the candidates. So we opened the remaining beer, and set it out on a table for sampling.
The beer we did make it through (* denotes group winner)
GROUP 1Of course the DIPA competition wasn't the only beer available on the day - folks brought all sorts of beer for sharing. And food for sharing. Because TFN is about sharing. That's why Rodney wears his Share Bear costume.
Alesmith Yulesmith (Summer)
Heavy Seas The Big DIPA
Three Floyd's Dreadnaught*
HeBrew Bittersweet Lenny's RIPA on Rye
Bell's Hopslam
GROUP 2
Founder's Devil Dancer
Dark Horse Double Crooked Tree*
New Glarus Hearty Hop
Goose Island Imperial IPA (2007)
Sun King Grapefruit Jungle
GROUP 3
Dogfish Head Squall
Founders Double Trouble*
Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
Great Divide Hercules
Breckenridge 471
GROUP 4
Sun King Cream Dream 2*
HeBrew Bittersweet Lenny's RIPA
New Albanian Hoptimus
Two Brother's Hop Juice DIPA
Lagunitus Hop Stupid
GROUP 5
Stone Ruination
Three Floyd's Dreadnaught* (tie, sneaky second entry)
Oskar Blues Gubna* (tie)
Dogfish Head Burton Baton
Oskar Blues Gordon
GROUP 6
Hair of the Dog Blue Dot
Terrepin Hopsecutioner
Hoppin' Frog Hop Damn Triple IPA
Thomas Creek Up the Creek*
Southern Tier Unearthly
We want to say thanks to everyone who came out - for your generosity toward your fellow beer geeks, for your never say die attitude toward sampling, and for the overall feeling of comradery that permeated the event. Awesome stuff. Thanks to the folks at Sun King for providing the space, good attitude, and guest tours. Thanks to Ross from the beer meetup group for bringing his friends along. Thanks to Jason for sharing his sausage with everyone.
We look forward to the next one. Keep November open for TFN3.
I had to click share bear to see what I was dressed like. There are no mirrors at TFN.
ReplyDeleteThanks for putting together a great event. It was lots of fun.
ReplyDeleteNext time I will remember to bring a ice tub for the growlers on the beer sharing table.
Had a fantastic time and thanks for the "playlist" of beers for the day. I'd lost track after round 3.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite thing about this event is the wide variety of beer. As long as it's craft, it fits in. There's none of that "it's not rare enough" mentality. Also lots more homebrew this round, which was cool too.
ReplyDeleteI think it should be noted that in a blind taste test, DFH 90 Minute beat DFH Squall IPA. Interesting results.
Justin and Ross, glad that you had a good time. Justin, we also have an ice tub for the "to bring list" for the next TFN.
ReplyDeleteSorta surprised and heartened to see that the Thomas Creek I brought fared so well in the final round. I had yet to pop open a bottle (had just gotten them a few days before!) but the proprietor of Hop City in Atlanta claimed it was spot-on. I guess he was right. Thanks for the great event, it was a lot of fun!
ReplyDelete