Max's EBF 2015 Winners and Losers

Figured I'd post my winners and losers of the day. Winners will be broken out by style as well as Best Brewery. Losers will be more simplified and will mostly be observations.

Winners

Best IPA - All Green Everything, Other Half

Best BA Russian Imperial Stout - Bo & Luke, Against the Grain

Best Sour - Experimentalis (with Peaches), OEC Brewing

Best Spice Beer - Gingerbread Stout, Hardywood

Best "Other" Beer - Gilded Lily, Carton Brewing

Best "Geek" Beer - CBS, Founders. Had to find a way to get this one in there,


Losers

Tree House - One beer that didn't even last until 3:15pm, yet they brought enough merch for people to buy once their beer ran out. LAME.

Dogfish Head Line - The damn thing didn't move because people were more interested in taking pictures with Sam. No scrapple beer for me. Waaaaaaa!

Sam Adams - No Utopias? Only Rebel Rouser and a host of their other offerings you can easily find in your local Stop & Shop. I wasn't expecting anything at all from them, but this was utter garbage.

OEC - How can they be a winner and a loser? Beer is the winner (which is really all that ultimately matters), but both of the guys had personalities that could probably be upstaged by mannequins.

Max's Updated Bottle Share List

So, got a nice package in the mail today from a very generous trader in Wisconsin and I'm updating my bottle list for Friday night.

I believe we might be a little short on hoppy stuff, so please see revised list below:

Trillium, Pot & Kettle, Oatmeal Porter, 7.5% ABV

New Glarus, Raspberry Tart, Fruit Beer, 4.0% ABV

Three Floyd's, Dreadnaught DIPA, 9.5% ABV

New Glarus, Scream DIPA (Thumbprint), 9.0% ABV

Prairie, Funky Gold Amarillo, Wild Ale, 7.5% ABV

Friday Bottle Share Question # 2 - Start Time?

Knowing the Buskers are a bit up in the air regarding arrival time, shall the remainder of us choose a start time and location for the bottle share?

Maybe 7:30pm?

Location?

I'll let you guys decide.

Crazy Idea? - Bruery Tasting at Row 34 in between Session's 2 & 3 (Saturday)

So, The Bruery is holding a tasting between Saturday's sessions at Row 34. It's located right next door to Trillium and a hop, skip and a jump from the Seaport.

Should we attempt to hit this up or is this a big mistake pre dinner at The Salty Pig?

https://www.facebook.com/Row34

http://row34.com/

They will be pouring:

Melange #9

Oude Tart with Cherries

Or

Chocolate Rain

Friday Bottle Share Question # 1 - Tasters?

I'm pretty sure everyone will agree that we should be civilized given the quality of beers we'll be sharing on Friday night.

So, with that said, shall we all just bring a few tasters so we don't have to slum it by drinking out of whatever cheap vessel the Renaissance Boston Waterfront provides in their rooms?

Hell, I'd even suggest we all bring some real glassware, but I get that not everyone would be interested in lugging their stuff with them to Boston.

Any and all comments/thoughts are appreciated.

What's the NERAX booth pouring this year?

Straight from Todd Alstrom. Absolutely cannot wait for the maple syrup Framinghammer!

• Aeronaut Brewing Co.: Bonsoir Quad with grape must aged on oak spirals, conditioned on aronia berries and primed with date syrup | 9.9%
• Clown Shoes: Mexican-style chocolate Stout with bourbon-infused chipotle and poblano peppers | 9%
• Ithaca Beer Co.: Flower Power IPA with fresh grapefruit, Citra and Apollo hops | 7.5%
• Jack's Abby Brewing: Framinghammer with maple syrup | 10%
• Night Shift Brewing: SoPool, a sour apricot Berliner blended with a whirlpool | 4%
• Rapscallion Brewery: The Story of the Ghost Pepper Lager | 5%

DEFCON 5 - TOPPLING GOLIATH DROPS OUT OF EBF AT LAST MINUTE!

You had to suspect something was awry when they kept on changing their pouring list.

What a damn shame. TG could literally do no wrong in the eyes of the beer geek culturati, so it will be interesting to see how this changes things for them.

My guess is not much to even make a dent, much like Crooked Stave's debacle last year, but it still sucks nonetheless.

The bright side is that the area where their booth was supposed to be will at least be clear of a 300 - 400 snaking line making it much easier to pass.

What time are you arriving in Boston?

As a follow up to Adam's comment on the bottle share post, it might be helpful for everyone to let the group know what time you expect to arrive in Boston on Friday, 3/20.

While I'm sure we'll keep the best for later on, it might be better to start the bottle share a bit earlier so everyone can get a good night's rest for Saturday. Adam & Christina will join in progress and I'm sure Randy & Jen will as well as they'll probably be working Session #1 on Friday night.

With that said, please see an arrivals list below. Just post your arrival time in the comments section and I will update the main post in real time.

Max & Christa - 2:00pm - 3:00pm.
Adam & Christina - 8:30pm (potentially earlier depending on traffic)
Jim & Katie - ?
Mike, Beth & Todd - 4:00pm - 5:00pm
Randy & Jen - ?

EBF 2015 Friday Night Bottle Share!

Since we discussed the details of the bottle share on email, I decided that it should be added to the blog because nothing is official until it's published on the blog.

So, with that said, here's the deets regarding the bottle share. Below you'll also find my list of what I'm bringing. Hoping everyone follows suit in the comments section.


What - 2015 Friday Night Bottle Share

Where - Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel
              606 Congress St., Boston, MA 02210
              Room - TBD, however, Adam has voted for Todd's room

When - Friday, March 20th - 9:30pm


Max's Bottle Share List

Trillium, Pot & Kettle, Oatmeal Porter, 7.5% ABV

Trillium, Day & Night, Blonde Barleywine with Barrington Coffee, 10%+ ABV

New Glarus, Raspberry Tart, Fruit Beer, 4.0% ABV

Prairie, Funky Gold Amarillo, American Wild Ale, 7.5& ABV

Brunch & Bloodies!

In an effort to bring some much needed estrogen to this blog, here is my first official blog post ever. And yes, Max had to help me figure out how to do this.

I'm planning a pre-EBF brunch for all who are interested. Max & I went to this amazing restaurant, The Met, in Back Bay. They have an awesome weekend brunch and a build-your-own bloody mary menu. I was thinking 10:30am would give us enough time to get back to the Seaport. I will make a reservation for us. Who's in?

http://www.metbackbay.com