Last night was amazing, despite the cold weather. Walking in the door, I warmed up pretty quickly when Joel Halbleib from BBC poured me a shot of Weller. It was strange seeing a beer dude pour a shot of bourbon.
The beer lineup made it hard to decide where to start first, after my warm-up bourbon. Some standouts for me were West Sixth Barrel Aged Cocoa Porter, Country Boy Rum Barreled Black Gold Porter, Great Flood Barrel Aged Breakfast Stout (not the “official” name, but they were positioned right next to Founder’s Breakfast Stout, so…). The standout for me, and Scott Shreffler and his posse, was ultimately Bell’s Sunrise Stout. Picture an imperial stout aged in a barrel with cinnamon and vanilla. Now picture a winged unicorn drinking it and somehow shooting it out of it’s horn into a rainbow colored tulip glass that glows when the beer billows into it. Really. That freakin’ good. I hung out in front of that booth for way too long, getting refills.
Once again, I love the people in this industry and there was quite a bit of back patting all around last night. Cheers to Tish and Trevor for once again putting on a stellar beer festival.
Now, prepping for day two. Sigh…
