It is crazy how much can change in a year. Last year was my first GABF and back then I just really enjoyed drinking craft beer. Little did I know that since that GABF I would:

1-Start my own craft beer blog/website

2- Get frustrated with drinking great craft beer with so many men and not many women with me. So I started my own meetup group to educate women about craft beer. This group has since become one of the most successful meetups in San Francisco that I actually was asked to speak at a meetup organizers convention about how I run my own group.

3- Be part of a beer tasting panel by Brian Yaeger

4-Be interviewed on the radio in New Zealand about craft beer

5- Be asked to do private beer tastings

6- Run our own Beer, Bed and Breakfast through airbnb

7- Host a Craft Beer and Chocolate pairing as an official SF Beer week event

8-Meet so many wonderful, amazing people along the way!

But I digress…..GABF this year was:

again, amazing. Last year we went to the Friday night session and this year we made it to the Thursday night session. This year it was a bit more crowded in general but wait times in lines for beer were not too bad and it made some time for slowing down and drinking some water. We managed to get the special Homebrewer’s Association ticket, which had it’s own line to get into the festival (and was suppose to be faster), which ended up taking us 20 minutes longer to get in than our friends who had bought regular tickets. We received the special Homebrew tickets as a mistake; we did not pay the extra $30 fee to be a part of the Homebrewer’s Association….but other than waiting a bit longer to get in and no sighting of George Went this year, it was still a fantastic festival.

I was only able to keep writing notes up to 34 beers…and the notes get less and less desciptive at the end, but it’s all in the nature of the festivities.

I tried in order:

1-Humulus Lager by The Bruery. This beer was a great first start. It had a ton of wheat, passionfruit, and some bitter hop character to it.

2-Kelsey McNair by Stone Brewing. American Pale Ale. It was a very light beer but incredibly hoppy with tons of bitter grapefruit skin.

3- Bourbonic Plague by Cascade Brewing. It’s a sour beer aged in bourbon barrels. Did I say I was pacing myself?  It had a huge sour funky nose with tons of bourbon in it. It tasted malty, with light bourbon flavors, vanilla, then tart, tart and more tart with some sour funk at the end. It was very tasty and an interesting combination of flavors. Not too shabby…

4- 2009 Cable Car by The Lost Abby. I STILL have not tried the 2010 version. However, this baby was incredibly sour with tons of juicy lemon pucker notes, funky-cole-madina aspects and a touch of herbalness….It will wake your taste buds up!

5- Angel’s Share Grand Cru by The Lost Abby. BOURBON! It has a ton vanilla, malt, toffee, bourbon notes and you can definitely smell and taste and feel the alcohol in it…

6- 22 by Deschuttes. Whiskey, malt, coffee and vanilla. Period.

7-Older Viscosity by Pizza Port Brewing. This is the bourbon barrel aged version of Old Viscocity. It is incredibly smooth, with tons of vanilla, touches of bourbon with toffee and yummy caramel notes.

8-Tricerahops by Ninkasi Brewing. Double IPA. This beer had a ton of juicy mango, passionfruit and tons of bitter grapefruit skin. It was very nicely bitter and a juicy flavor explosion in my mouth!

9-Utopias 2009 by Samuel Adams. You don’t walk away when you see them pouring this baby! It is $180 a bottle afterall…Mmm bourbon, caramel, toffee, vanilla…This is beer on rocket fuel! (in a good way).

10-3 Philosophers by Ommegang. 9.8% abv. It is a Belgian Quadrupel with cherries. It was funky, with a lot of oak, vanilla, cherries and was slightly tart.

11- Sand Pebbles by Three Floyds Brewing. Brown IPA. It was somewhat malty, tangy with a touch of grapefruit. It was a bit blah. It was disappointing to go to 3 Floyds and see only five underwhelming offerings…

12-Anniversary Ale by Short’s Brewing Co. This is a blood orange wheat wine fermented with blood oranges and blood orange zest, dry hopped with green peppercorns. It smelled like blood oranges, pepper and grapefruit skin. It tasted semi-sour, bitter, juicy orange pilth but not much peppercorn in the taste. It was incredibly interesting and my favorite new combo of flavors.

13- The Wizard by Short’s Brewing Co. It is batch 666, brewed on Devil’s night for 6 hours and 66 minutes. It is a barelywine aged with raisins. Boo ya! Huge raisin flavors, vanilla, bourbon, malt….deliciousness.

14-Solar Eclipse by Kuhnheun Brewing. Russian Imperial Stout that is 18% abv. It was ridiculously sweet, with coffee, smokey flavors and roasted malt. It was way too damn sweet for me; I was not a fan.

15-DRIPA by Kuhnheun Brewing. Double rye IPA. This beer was way better than their above offering. It was pretty malty with touch of rye and piney bitterness. It was better than good.

16- 4th Dimmension by Kuhnheun Brewing. Old Ale. This puppy was sweet and malty with caramel, toffee and a touch of bitterness. It was very nicely balanced.

17- Devil Dancer by Founders Brewing. DIPA. Props for the name! This beer smelled bitter, grapefuity and a touch of malt. It tasted bitter and malty. Pretty good…

18- Canadian Breakfast Stout by Founders Brewing. Aged in a barrel that was used to age bourbon, then reused to make maple syrup…you can not get this baby in bottles! It tasted like oatmeal, bourbon, espresso,  and roasted malt. It was ridiculously smooth! Absolutely amazing. I couldn’t believe they were pouring this beer all night. It was hands down, my favorite stout of the show!

19- Raspberry Tart by New Glarus. This beer smelled like cherry coke. It tasted like a ton of sour raspberries, tart and cherry soda. It tasted better than it smelled. It smelled like when you mix all sodas together from a soda fountain….mystery juice I think is what that is called? Everyone was raving about this beer but it was a bit too fake raspberry taste for me to like it.

20-Belgian Cherry Cordial by Iron Hill Brewing. It smelled very sour with cherry and some barnyard funk. It tasted way maltier than expected with hints of sour cherries.

21-Berlinerweiss by Iron Hill Brewing. This beer had a fantastic nose with sour green apples and funk. It tasted of green apples, green grapes, and sour. I really liked this beer!

22-Apricot Blonde by Dry Dock Brewing. Mmm fresh apricots! This beer had a very pretty nose with light wheat and  fresh apricots. It tasted light with wheat, juicy apricots and a touch of lemon.

23-Labryinth by Uinta Brewing. This is black ale that is 13.2% abv. This beer smelled like cheese! (in a good way). Vanilla and cheese to be precise…It tasted like oak, black licorice and toasted malt. AN AMAZING BEER.

24-Cockeyed Cooper by Uinta Brewing. This is a barrel aged barleywine that is 11.1% abv.  This smelled a tad sweet with chocolate. It tasted like vanilla, dark chocolate, dried fruits and a touch of bitterness. It was really freaking good.

25- Bitch’s Brew by Dogfish Head. Poured by Sam himself. 9% abv Stout made with mead, African root and brown sugar. It was sweet, maple syrup-y, smokey and herbaceous.

26-Black Tuesday by The Bruery. Bourbon barrel aged Imperial Stout that sells out in bottles in 5 minutes. It tasted like sweet raisins, malt, roasted coffee, vanilla and bourbon. THIS was worth waiting in line for 15 minutes.

27-Guava Grove by Cigar City Brewing. S-O-U-R! Lemon, guava, funk, tart, sour deliciousness. Mmm tart!

28-Jai lai by Cigar City Brewing. IPA. Malty, smokey, sweet, huge bitter grapefruit skin ending with some alcohol burn.

29-Cascadian by Maui Brewing Co. Belgian Rye IPA. This beer tasted like dark fruits, cherries, raisins, rye and works well with the Belgian funkiness. Nice.

30-Hopsickle by Moylan Brewing. Sweet mango, juicy passionfruit, bitter grapefruit skin, fresh pine forest and a touch astringent…

31-Brute by Ithaca Brewing Co. Wild Ale. This beer was tart with funky barnyard, lemon and a bit better than the LeBleu below…

32- Le Bleu by Ithaca Brewing Co. Sour Blueberry. It was super sour on the sides of your cheeks and back of the tongue. It did not have much blueberry flavor in it at all. It was a bit disappointing because of this.

33- Snake Dog by Flying Dog. IPA.  Pine, grapefruit skin and bitter. It was pretty mild and only ok.

34- Peanut Butter Beer by Blue Moon. I only tried this because it had peanut butter in it. It had a huge peanut butter nose, which was super interesting. Then I made the mistake and tasted it: wheat, peanut butter lager-y grossness….I did not end up writing anymore after this beer, although I did try a few more.

So my top GABF winners (as far as my favorite new beers that I have not had the luxury to try before) are:

1- Founder’s Canadian Breakfast Stout

2-Uinta’s Crooked Line

3- Cascade’s Bourbonic Plague

4-Short’s Brewing Anniversary Ale

5- Iron Hill’s Berlinerweiss

My losers:

1-Blue Moon’s Peanut Butter Beer

2-New Glarus’ Raspberry Tart

Overall, the GABF is always a great experience. It was nice to see a bunch of friends that we have made over the year all under one roof. I look forward to what the next year will bring for us in beer!