Beer Mecca

I'm back in one piece today from my first pilgrimage to the Great American Beer Festival in Denver.  Needless to say, it was immensely enjoyable.  While poor Morgan was stuck here with kids who turned sick upon my departure, complete with vomit and lack of sleep, I was tasting some of the best beers in the nation, nay, world.  Brian and I went Thursday and Friday sessions, tasting probably somewhere around 70-80 beers if I had to guess.  No, we weren't a total wreck, they only pour one ounce tastes, and over the course of about 4 hours each night, it's pretty moderate if you're there to actually enjoy the magnificent diverse world of beer and not just party like a frat boy.  Denver seems like a nice city, too.  I find myself lacking any real narrative of the last few days other than thinking in images and little sound-bite-like nuggets of recollection.  So with that in mind, here are some highlights in words and pics:

• Best brewery we tasted - Dogfish Head


• Best beer we totally missed out on - Utopias


• Quite memorable beer - The Abyss


• Local breweries represented - Buckbean, Brew Bros, Great Basin, and Silver Peak.  Reno, represent!


• Best schwag - stamped leather Mirror Pond coasters from Deschutes  (honorable mentions: Session Lager temporary tattoos, stickers galore, and at least four free beer magazines)


• Best non-festival things we did - Killer shopping for beer with Lance and Rosie, lunch at Bull and Bush, and late night snack and beer at Cheeky Monk Belgian Beer Cafe, breakfast at Tom's Diner (straight out of Pulp Fiction, seriously), coffee at Illegal Grounds in a neighborhood full of cool old houses

Some pics, courtesy of Brian since I didn't bring my camera...

[caption id="attachment_432" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Great American Beer Festival"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_433" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Lance, Brian, and Marc at the GABF"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_434" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Cool buildings in our neighborhood"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_435" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="$15,000 55-year-old Macallan single-malt"][/caption]

Yes, that scotch is really priced at $14,999.  That liquor store has 64 cooler doors full of beer.

PS: added a smattering of new pictures to the miscellany album, from a few various outings, none enough to get their own album.  Oh yeah, and I missed our first snowfall while I was gone.