Bottle Conditioned

Ok, so I didn’t keep my promise about live blogging from here. Too much going on, and too little time to stop and punch on a small keypad on a phone. Sorry ya’ll.

However, I thought I’d sit down and rehash some of what we’ve seen and done over the past two days. Suffice to say, we’ve experienced about a week’s worth of events over the course of the past 48 hours.

Firstly, I’ve got to note how impressed I’ve been with the brewers and other beer personalities that we’ve met. All very nice and accommodating folks who love great conversation about craft beer. Among some of the folks we’ve seen and chatted with:

• Garrett Oliver from Brooklyn Brewery
• Adam Avery from Avery Brewing (had a chance to actually have a beer with him)
• Charlie Papazian, founder of the American Homebrewer’s Association.
• Sam Calagione, owner and brewer at Dogfish Head. We’ve seen Sam a few times, a really great guy.
• Jim Koch, founder of Sam Adams/Boston Beer Company. Got to taste some Utopias with Jim - what a nice guy
• Vinnie Cilurzo, head brewer of Russian River Brewing.
• Ray Daniels, known for his work on many beer publications as well as his work on the new Cicerone program (listen to our podcast for the full interview with Ray)
• Matt Brophy, head brewer at Flying Dog (again, listen to our podcast for an interview with Matt
• Jay Brooks, beer writer and blogger (Brookston Beer Bulletin)
• fellow beer podcasters from BrewCRAZY, Pacific Brew News Radio, Craft Beer Radio and fellow Tennesseans Big Foamy Head

So, there’s the abbreviated list. Suffice to say, we’ve talked to a bunch of folks here and have really enjoyed getting to know everybody. There are certainly a bunch of nice people in the craft beer world.

Aside from the people, the events have been spectacular. Yesterday, we attended a media lunch with a great beer and food pairing demonstration by Sam Calagione and Marnie Old. Also in attendance was Lucy Saunders, author of the new book The Best of American Beer and Food. This lunch was spectacular - expect some audio clips of it to surface on the podcast.

Yesterday, we also dropped by Flying Dog for the release of the Collaborator Dopplebock, the newest addition to their Wild Dog series. After tasting a few great beers at Flying Dog and speaking with Matt Brophy, we dropped in on a mead tasting hosted by Redstone Meadery. Following that we went to the festival, tried a bunch of great beers, and then spent some time at Falling Rock with Sam Calagione.

Today involved a Sam Adams brunch, including tasting the Long Shot contestants, tasting Utopias, and speaking with Jim Koch. We went to the festival afterward where we tried more great beers and spoke with Ray Daniels.

Whew. Tired much, eh?

So, that’s the recap of how GABF has gone so far. There is much, MUCH more to write and speak about, and that will be forthcoming in the next few weeks.

In summation, this has been a great event. I highly recommend attending, and if you can get a media pass…do so.

More to come later. We’re not done here yet, hitting a few more brewpubs tonight before packing it up and heading back east tomorrow.

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for other, more detailed and specific posts.

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