When I started this little side project I had planned on writing more about beer. But I haven't. I also haven't written that much about running either. So to quickly make up for a lack of running updates, will make quick note about Imogene Pass Run on September 6th. Been awhile since I have raced at Imogene. Might have taken the first few miles a little to slow. Reached Upper Camp Bird 4 minutes slower than previous races. Ultimately, topped out nearly 7 minutes behind fastest ascent. Race was over at that point. Ran hard down, but not all out. Finished 2:52:12. 36th overall and once again outside the age group awards. But a bluebird day in the mountain is never all that bad.
Link to Splits/Map/Course Profile (Watch didn't get started until 300 to 400m into the race)
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| Descending Imogene Pass. Pic courtesy of Elevation Imagining. |
The following week after Imogene, was happy to drive up to Steamboat and pace my friend, Greg, in his first 100 miler, at the Run, Rabbit, Run. This was a blast. It is always fun to be at these types of events, it is even more enjoyable to see someone put together a great race plan and succeed. I paced Greg the last 31 miles-ish. He was cruising along the whole time. In fact, I really only ran 25 miles with him as he dropped me with 5 to go on the descent of Mt Werner. In my defense, my downhill legs were shot from the downhill at Imogene the week before, and also the fact he did average 7:50 mile pace the last 6 miles, the 3rd fastest descent of anyone at Run Rabbit Run. He finished 6th overall in the tortoise category with a time of 24:40.
Link to Splits/Map/Profile (Note : after he dropped me with 6 to go, I just turned off the watch.)
So after those two weekends, I was sort of beat up running wise and with the cool weather signaling the arrival of fall, was ready for some beers. Great time for the Great American Beer Festival. To make up for the lack of beer updates here is a ranking of all 39 beers I tried at this year's GABF. They are ranked using the Brisco's 5 Tail Wag system. 5 Tail Wags is out of control tail wagging, butt shaking, oh my god, I am so happy to see you. 1 Tail Wag is tail tucked between legs, thunderstorm raging, find a closet to hide in.
Here we go!
Gold Medal Winners (5 Tail Wags)
#1) Gourdgeous : Hangar 24 Craft Brewery, Redlands, CA
#23) Georgia Brown : Sweetwater Brewing Co, Atlanta, GA
A really nice brown. There are better browns, but I will gladly drink this if it is available.
#24) Heirloom Pumpkin : Almanac Beer Co, San Francisco, CA
I had a few pumpkin beers before this one, a bad one and a decent one, but nothing that wowed. Then this was WOW. Ended up being my favorite beer of the day. The name is probably what gave it a slight edge over everyone else. What a great name.
#2) Peanut Butter Milk Stout : Belching Beaver Brewery, Vista, CA
A friend who went to the Thursday night session gave me a heads up on this beer. Boy am I glad she did. Fantastic. Might have ended up #1, but the lack of name for the beer drops it to #2. But the brewery name, which is great, almost made up for the laziness in not naming their beer.
#3) Mexican Chocolate Stout : Copper Kettle Brewing, Denver, CO
A longtime favorite that never disappoints. This beer has so much going on, malty chocolate flavor, with cinnamon and spices, finishing with a kick from the chili peppers. Oh so good. I have noticed the kick from the peppers can vary a bit from batch to batch, but it is never so hot that it ruins the beer. I discovered this beer at 2012 GABF . I hadn't realized it had won the GABF gold medal the year before in the spice/herb beer category. If I see this beer anywhere, I will order it.
Silver Medal Winners (4.5 Tail Wags)
#4) Last Snow : Funky Buddha Brewery, Oakland Park, FL
A GABF veteran gave me the hint to check out Funky Buddha's No Crust last year. The best beer I ever tasted. It taste just like eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. To tell you how good this beer was; I don't even like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. If they tasted like this, I would eat them all the time. It was fantastic. Unfortunately, they had run out by the Saturday afternoon session, which is odd as most breweries usually hold back a keg of their best beers for Saturday afternoon. Last Snow Porter nearly made up for the unavailability of No Crusts. Last Snow has chocolate, coffee and coconut blended so well, that it just melted in the mouth. I'm knocking off a half a tail wag for the disappointment in not having No Crust available.
#5) Peanut Butter Cup Coffee Porter : Willoughby Brewing, Willoughby, OH
I stumbled upon this beer at 2012 GABF. Willoughby Brewing didn't even have their own booth. This beer was being offered at the Ohio Brewer's Guild booth. I had it 3 or 4 times. Anytime I walked by that booth. But no one else was ever in line. Last year, Willoughby Brewing had a booth. But again no line. This year there was a line as it had won the gold medal at the World Beer Cup for Specialty Beer back in the spring. I feel cool to be in before it got famous, and happy to see the brewers getting their due for making such a great beer.
Bronze Medal Winners (4 Tail Wags)
#6) Bourbon County Coffee Stout : Goose Island Beer Company, Chicago, IL
It is too bad Goose Island got bought up by AB-InBev. But thankfully, the corporate masters have not messed with this brewery. They continue to put out great stuff. This was a strong (13% ABV) beer. You could taste the alcohol at bit, but it worked with the bourbon flavor and coffee. With the strong flavor and high ABV, a one ounce pour was really all you need.
#7) Hazelnut Brown Nectar : Rogue Ales, Newport, OR
Might just be my favorite brown out there. First found this at 2012 GABF. Have bought a bomber or three over the past few years. Still as good as I remember the first time.
#8) Frog's Hollow Double Pumpkin Ale
#9) Barrel Aged B.O.R.I.S the Crusher Oatmeal Imperial Stout : Hoppin' Frog Brewing Co, Akron, OH
This is not my Buckeye bias. Hoppin' Frog just makes some good beers. The pumpkin ale had a nice level of spice. The stout didn't overpower with bourbon from the aging, one could still taste the oatmealy-ness of the beer.
#10) Black IPA : Cannonball Creek Brewing Co, Golden, CO
I generally stayed away from IPA's this GABF (had plenty at summer fests), but did grab this one almost as a lark. Was by Cannonball's booth with an empty glass. While deciding where to go next, grabbed a beer from this brewery as I do like most of their stuff. This had nice aroma, good hops, with the darker malt flavor. Turns out it would end up winning the 2014 GABF gold medal in the American-Style Black Ale category.
#11) Demshitz Brown : Bonfire Brewing, Eagle, CO
This brown is giving Rogue's Hazelnut Nectar a run for its money for my favorite brown. The brewers feel that it doesn't quite fit into either brown category that GABF judges. I don't know exactly what category I would put it in, other then the damn good beer category. A good name is an added plus.
#12) Xocoveza Mexican Mocha Milk Stout : Chris Banker / Stone Brewing Co, Escondido, CA Pro-Am entry.
This was a Pro-Am entry. This is fun little section to taste. Breweries around the country hold homebrewing competitions. Winners get their beer made at scale at the brewery and entered into the GABF. This one was a lot like Copper Kettle's Mexican Chocolate Stout, but without the chile kick at the end. A really solid pro-am entry.
#13) Salted Beglian Chocolate Stout : New Belgium Brewing Co, Ft. Collins, CO
This was a Pro-Am entry. This is fun little section to taste. Breweries around the country hold homebrewing competitions. Winners get their beer made at scale at the brewery and entered into the GABF. This one was a lot like Copper Kettle's Mexican Chocolate Stout, but without the chile kick at the end. A really solid pro-am entry.
#13) Salted Beglian Chocolate Stout : New Belgium Brewing Co, Ft. Collins, CO
Oddly, I don't really drink New Belgium much anymore. But every now and then I do have something from their Lips of Faith series and remember why they got so big, they have good beer. This was a really nice beer.
Good Beers, but can't give medals to everyone (3.5 Tail Wags)
#14) Stone Coffee Milk Stout : Stone Brewing Co, Escondido, CA
I'll put Stone's actual beer right here. As with everything from Stone, it was a well done beer.
#15) Pumpkin Patch Ale : Eddyline Brewing, Buena Vista, CO
It is fall, time for pumpkin beers. I searched out a few. This one was solid.
#16) Shake Chocolate Porter : Boulder Beer Company, Boulder, CO
This beer was first released last year. Taste just like chocolate milk. I am still amazed that Boulder Beer actually made something so good. As their brewery is only 100 yards from my work, it actually is to my benefit they are long down the list of my rankings of Boulder brewers, but this beer might make me cross the street more often.
Nice Beers (3 Tail Wags)
#17) Beavers Milk Stout : Belching Beaver Brewery, Vista, CA
The peanut butter cup might have been so good it over-shadowed this solid but not great beer.
#18) Barrel Aged Triple Exultation : Eel River Brewing Co, Fortuna, CA
#19) Shipyard Bourbon Barrel Aged Double Scottish : Shipyard Brewing Co, Portland ME
#20) Blarney Sisters Dry Irish Stout : Third Street Aleworks, Santa Rosa, CA
#21) The Good, The Bad and The Red : Elysian Brewing Co, Seattle, WA
This was nice red with some good hoppiness.
#22) Red Right 88 : Great Lakes Brewing Co, Cleveland, OH
Got to give a shout out to Great Lakes. First time I have had this, might be one of the few GLB beers I hadn't tried yet.
#23) Georgia Brown : Sweetwater Brewing Co, Atlanta, GA
A really nice brown. There are better browns, but I will gladly drink this if it is available.
#24) Heirloom Pumpkin : Almanac Beer Co, San Francisco, CA
Ehh.
#25) Solana Beach- May The Port Be With You : Pizza Port Breweries, Carsbad, CA
Ehh. Seconded.
#26) Allagash Saison : Allagash Brewing Co, Portland, ME
Ehh. Motion Passed.
#27) Bell's Porter : Bell's Brewery Inc., Kalamazoo, MI
Was expecting more from Bell's, slightly underwelmed.
#28) Scream : New Glarus Brewing Co, New Glarus, WI
Ditto for this from New Glarus.
#29) Bourbon Barrel Aged Nikolai Vorlauf : Funky Buddha Brewery, Oakland Park, FL
No Crusts and Last Snow are the best beers out there. This one didn't quite hit the same level as what else they put out there.
Blah (2 Tail Wags) : In no particular order
#30) Crossroads : Gerry Lynch / Verboten Brewing, Loveland, CO Pro-Am entry
A scotch ale that was ok.
#31) BrickStone Witching Hour : BrickStone Brewery, Bourbonnais, IL
An overly hopped beer for the sake of being hoppy. Forgot about the whole taste thing.
#32) 10 Ton Oatmeal Stout : Warped Wing Brewing Co., Dayton, OH
This came after a couple of very good and strong beers, so taste may have gotten lost, but not much going on here.
#33) Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale : Shipyard Brewing Co, Portland, ME
Nice beer if it were just an ale, but had too little pumpkin/spice flavor. Almost tasted flat.
#34) The Dread : Elysian Brewing Co, Seattle, WA
Disappointed in Elysian. Remember their beers being better. They have a number of awards at this GABF and previous GABFs, but this beer didn't do much for me. The red (#21) I had was good, but not great.
#35) Bayou City Brown : Texas Beer Refinery, League City, TX
One of those, I need a beer late, what do you have? Might have been better trying the next booth down.
#36) Stoup Northwest Red : Stoup Brewing, Seattle, WA
Don't even remember this beer.
#37) Tunguska English-Style Imperial Stout : The Brew Kettle, Strongsville, OH
Nothing special
Stay away (1 Tail Wag)
#38) Cinnamon Roll Chickow! : Triple Digit Brewing, Cincinnati, OH
To show I don't have a Buckeye bias, notice my #32, #37, and #38 ratings. The Cinnamon Roll Chickow really earned this nearly last place spot. While it smelled fantastic, just like a cinnamon roll, it didn't taste anywhere nearly like a cinnamon roll or even a good beer. Blah.
#39) Tres Amigos IPA : Tom Charters / Ram Restaurant and Brewing, Boise, ID Pro-Am entry
This was a tequila barrel aged IPA. This wasn't bad for the reasons you might expect, the tequila. It was bad for all sorts of other reasons, in fact I didn't taste the tequila. The other two folks I was with weren't very impressed either, in fact, one of them spit it back out. Couldn't even swallow an ounce.
