Well, I survived another marathon weekend of Great American Beer Festival in Denver after its two-year Covid hiatus. Even with its diminished size this year, I didn’t get to try everything or see everyone I wanted to. But I walk away from the fest every year with some lessons learned about the state of beer, and I always want to share them:
Non-alcoholic beer is growing and improving. The last GABF in 2019 marked the first noticeable presence of NA breweries at the event, and there were even more this year. But more importantly — the beer was better. Athletic’s Tropical Sour and Gruvi’s Belgian Wit were nearly unmistakable from their boozy counterparts. The technology and technique in removing alcohol from beer continues to advance, making it more palatable to traditional beer drinkers. And breweries that don’t specialize in NA beer have some skin in the game: two of the three medal-winning non-alcoholic beers were from past GABF medal holders in full-strength beer categories — Dallas’ Community Beer Co. won bronze for their Nada IPA and Just The Haze from a little outfit called Samuel Adams won gold.
There’s always some pleasant surprises. Every GABF, I end up walking away with newfound favorites — breweries I’ve never heard of that immediately get added to my “to-visit” list. This year, one of those was Rochester, Minnesota’s Thesis Beer Project. Their Sin Credit Helles and Fire Sale Smoked Helles were among my favorite beers of the fest. Williamsburg, Virginia’s Precarious Beer Project, who won Brewery of the Year, equally impressed me with their gold medal-winning Polar Bears Toenails. Both breweries opened in 2019 and have really spread their wings, and I look forward to trying more of their beer in the future.
Yeah, I guess Cold IPAs really are a thing. Portland, Oregon’s Wayfinder Beer takes credit for creating and popularizing the Cold IPA style (you can read more about what the style is here), and they were far from the only brewery pouring one at this year’s festival. It was nice to have what’s essentially the original Cold IPA served side-by-side with offerings from across the country, seeing how differently the style is being interpreted. I’ve said before that a lot of places just rebranded their India Pale Lager as a Cold IPA (which, by Wayfinder brewmaster Kevin Davey’s standards, would not be an accurate interpretation of the style), and that seems to very much be the case based on how few IPLs I saw at the festival this year. The confusion is real, though. Beers marketed as Cold IPAs won gold in both the India Pale Lager and Experimental IPA categories.
It was a good year for flagships. Real Ale’s Fireman’s #4 Blonde, Allagash White, and Cisco Whale’s Tale Pale Ale all won medals this year. All are widely available beers that have been on the market for over two decades, and they’re still getting respect from beer judges. Don’t take those old-school beers for granted… they’re still good.
The countdown is on: the next GABF will be held in Denver in 343 days — September 21st to 23rd, 2023.
Sixpoint opens new Brooklyn taproom at City Point
Brooklyn-based Sixpoint Brewery has officially opened the doors on their first full-scale taproom in downtown Brooklyn this week at City Point Brooklyn at 445 Gold Street, the development that houses DeKalb Market Hall, Alamo Drafthouse, and Trader Joe’s in Downtown Brooklyn. It’s a step forward for the brewery’s presence in its home market, and comes after a previously-planned taproom and brewery in Gowanus fizzled out during Covid.
The taproom, which is just off the DeKalb Market Hall, features twenty beers on draft, including some from partner breweries Southern Tier and Victory, and small-batch brews that will be exclusive to the taproom (and available in cans to-go). A full kitchen churns out beer-friendly eats like pretzels, wings, nachos, sandwiches, salads, and pizzas featuring dough made with their flagship Sweet Action.
The space is open Monday through Thursday from 11am to 9pm, Friday and Saturday from 11am to 10pm, and Sunday from 11am to 8pm.
New York breweries win two medals at GABF
Two New York State breweries took home medals at last weekend’s Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado, marking the worst showing for the Empire State in the competition since 1996. King’s Court Brewing Company in Poughkeepsie won a bronze for their Frog King in the American Amber/Red Ale category, and the Soigne Saison from Hyde Park’s Brewery at the Culinary Institute of America won bronze in the Classic Saison category. The two medals this year is down from five each in 2021 and 2020.
For King’s Court, it’s their second GABF medal. The brewery won silver in their first year of operation back in 2019 for the Frogs Like Possum in the Imperial Red Ale category. It’s the first GABF medal for the Brewery at the Culinary Institute of America, which started in 2015 in partnership with Brooklyn Brewery. In 2019, they were Brewery of the Year in the New York State Beer Competition.
Looking back on the state’s wins over the years to find the stat about 1996 made me wonder: who won that single medal that year? It was a gold for the Black Moon Brewing Company’s Coyote Amber Lager in the Amber Lager category. You’ve probably never heard of Black Moon if you weren’t around in that era of beer (and heck, even if you were, you might not have heard of it). Black Moon was a short-lived brand in the first wave of the mid-90s “microbrew” craze when liquor companies got into the beer game in a panic as liquor was losing market share to the burgeoning American beer industry. Seagram’s, a liquor company then based in New York City that was best known as the maker of Chivas Regal and Crown Royal, added a beer to their portfolio with the contract-brewed Coyote Amber Lager, which was actually brewed in Minnesota. It did not last long, but it’s likely the strangest anomaly of all the GABF medals that New York State has won over the years.
Brewery Tracker
Total brewery count: 2,815
Total breweries visited in 2022: 286
Total breweries visited in Colorado: 241
Total breweries visited in New York: 266
Brewery Visit of the Week
Brewery #[unnumbered], Cerebral Brewing Other Half Brewing, Denver, Colorado (Visited 6-Oct-2022)
This is not a story of a brewery visit, necessarily. I’ve been to Cerebral Brewing in Denver, Colorado before, but last Thursday, I didn’t exactly go to Cerebral Brewing. Other Half held a “hostile takeover” of Cerebral, complete with a lineup of hazy IPAs (including one brewed in collaboration with Cerebral), cans to-go, Other Half staff behind the bar, and every single piece of Cerebral branding covered by some hastily-made Other Half logos. It was a great afternoon of beer and friends, and the whole concept absolutely hilarious to me, though some folks visiting from the East Coast were kind of frustrated that they came all this way to drink beer they can get at home at a brewery in Colorado (personally, I found that funny, too — what are the odds?!).
Social Post of the Week
I have thoughts about a wildly popular brewery.
Long Read of the Week
Missed this piece from Joe Stange in Craft Beer & Brewing last month about a New York brewery with a loyal following: Fidens Brewing just outside of Albany. Stange goes deep on process and inspiration — you won’t be surprised by who founder Steve Parker looks up to in the beer industry. It’s time to get to know this haze beast if you haven’t heard of them already.
One More Thing
I’m heading to Ottawa this weekend to see a football game and explore the food and beer scene in Canada’s capital. The beer scene up north has really improved since I started visiting Ontario on a regular basis eight years ago. Back then, they were celebrating the arrival of Sierra Nevada. Now they’re churning out hazy IPAs with the best of them. I hope to report back with some good beer finds next week.
In the meantime, enjoy the weekend in New York City or wherever you are, and if you are in the city, do check out Wild East Brewing Co.’s Grandiversary 2. Should be a great celebration from another fantastic local brewery.
Cheers,
Chris