GABF 2009

The Great American Beer Festival was over a month ago, but I can still taste it like it was yesterday. Here's some of the great stuff I came across:

• I had somehow never tried a brew by Shmaltz Brewing despite the fact that I've passed it by at more than one local liquor store. What a mistake! The Bar Mitzvah 13th Anniversary Ale was great--built like a barley wine with lots of extra hops, very balanced. They also put out a rye IPA that I will definitely be looking for again.
• I finally got to try Stone's Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale and it didn't disappoint. It had a sweet maple syrup nose with herby, peppery undertones. Complexity can be good.
• I once drank an awful green chili beer in New Mexico that I thought had ruined me on the concept forever, but CooperSmith's green chili beer won me back. Reminiscent of Twisted Pine's Billy's Chilies, maybe even a tad more flavorful.
• Dogfish Head always brings some crazy stuff to the GABF, but they topped themselves this year with a beer they call Chicha. This selection was brewed in a traditional South American method which apparently involves chewing and spitting out the maize that goes into the beer in order to break down the starches. Brewer saliva? I couldn't pass that up! It was very sweet and floral, heavily dominated by the flavor of strawberries (not sure if the strawberries they used made it into any mouths or not). One of the most interesting beers I've had the pleasure of drinking, at least in terms of back-story.
• I got another taste of Sam Adam's Utopias this year (I somehow missed it last year), which I already wrote about in 2007 so I'm not sure why I'm bringing it up again. Oh right, because it's frickin' epic! Everyone needs to try this stuff. Seriously.

I'll be there again next year, and you should be too. Hurray beer!

-Jon

Modus Hoperandi (can) - 3.5

Modus Hoperandi
India Pale Ale
Ska Brewing Company
Durango, CO
ABV: 7%

Jon:
Copper complexion, sweet orange hoppy nose. The aroma didn't prepare me for the mouth-puckering bitterness -- somehow the sweetness I smelled just doesn't transfer to the tongue. Unique and tastes good, but unexpectedly harsh for me.

3.5	Appearance Aroma Palate Flavor Price Buzz Overall 4/5 9/10 3/5 6/10 2/5 4/5 7/10

Mark:
I really like this IPA. Full palate, slightly toasty with bitter floral notes. I can definitely taste the 7% ABV.

3.8	Appearance Aroma Palate Flavor Price Buzz Overall 4/5 8/10 5/5 7/10 3/5 4/5 7/10

Jere:
Canned IPA -- WTH? Actually not that bad, considering... Not sure if I'll have another though.

3.3	Appearance Aroma Palate Flavor Price Buzz Overall 4/5 7/10 3/5 6/10 3/5 4/5 6/10

Southampton IPA (bottle) - 3.6

Southampton IPA
India Pale Ale
Southampton Publick House
Southampton, NY
ABV: 6.2%

Jon:
A serious amount of roasty/caramel flavors for an IPA, quite unexpected. Very sweet and somewhat bitter but doesn't quite strike a balance. It's sweet, then bitter. With a gummy aftertaste. Same aftertaste as after drinking a sweet and sour margarita. Very unique, but not a favorite.

3.6	Appearance Aroma Palate Flavor Price Buzz Overall 4/5 8/10 3/5 7/10 3/5 4/5 7/10

Mark:
I'm not sure what to say about this one. It's a golden caramel color with an eggshell head. The bottle claims that "balance" is their difference. Not so hopped as an American-style IPA, closer to an English IPA. Slightly bitter, toasty with a strange lemon rind / sour skittles aftertaste. It's definitely a quality brew, but I'm not crazy about it.

3.3	Appearance Aroma Palate Flavor Price Buzz Overall 3/5 7/10 3/5 6/10 4/5 4/5 6/10

Jere:
Not bad for a 6.2%. The Mexican Mojito I had beforehand may have clouded my judgement, though... Hopefully it won't be another long while before I try one again.

3.8	Appearance Aroma Palate Flavor Price Buzz Overall 4/5 8/10 4/5 7/10 3/5 4/5 8/10

American Dream IPA (growler) - 3.9

American Dream
India Pale Ale
Rock Bottom Westminster
Westminster, CO
ABV: 7.2%

Jon:
Very floral nose mixed with grapefruit. Soothing mouthfeel with a little alcohol heat on the finish. The floral notes are a bit too pervasive on the tongue, otherwise a great brew.

3.8	Appearance Aroma Palate Flavor Price Buzz Overall 4/5 9/10 3/5 7/10 3/5 4/5 8/10

Mark:
Tasty. The first thing you taste are the floral notes followed quickly by a white grapefruit sweetness, fading to a bitter finish. I would say this was the best beer that I've had at Rock Bottom except that I just tried their recently released Naked Hop Bomb--amazing!

4.1	Appearance Aroma Palate Flavor Price Buzz Overall 4/5 8/10 5/5 8/10 3/5 5/5 8/10

Jere:
I like. Definitely one of the better brews I've had in a while. If I remember it next time I'm at Rock Bottom, I'll be sure to revisit.

3.7	Appearance Aroma Palate Flavor Price Buzz Overall 5/5 8/10 4/5 7/10 2/5 4/5 7/10

Bud Light (can) - 1.7

Bud Light
American-Style Lager
Anheuser-Busch Company
St. Louis, MO
ABV: 4.2%

Jon:
This is Good Times: Recession Edition. It's cheap but I think there are better values out there (Tecate, IMO). I'm scared to pour it in a glass after my PBR experience last year. Tastes like a mega-corporation.

1.5	Appearance Aroma Palate Flavor Price Buzz Overall 1/5 2/10 3/5 2/10 4/5 1/5 2/10

Mark:
Almost defies description, like that guy you know that so lacks personality that it's impossible to ever be offended by him. That said, this is good, cheap summer beer and I don't know anyone who won't drink one if they're handy.

1.7	Appearance Aroma Palate Flavor Price Buzz Overall 2/5 1/10 3/5 3/10 4/5 1/5 3/10

Jere:
This Bud ain't for me. "Superior Drinkability" is deceptively accurate--thankfully I won't be partaking again anytime soon. Less filling? I think not.

1.9	Appearance Aroma Palate Flavor Price Buzz Overall 2/5 3/10 2/5 3/10 4/5 2/5 3/10

Hoppy Boy (bottle) - 3.2

Hoppy Boy
India Pale Ale
Twisted Pine Brewing Company
Boulder, CO
ABV: ?

Jon:
Sweet orangey nose, followed by a real bitter taste that's harsh on the tongue at first, mellowing into a slightly unpleasant aftertaste. The right flavors are in there, and they're good, but there is some imbalance that takes a toll on this brew's drinkability.

3.2	Appearance Aroma Palate Flavor Price Buzz Overall 4/5 8/10 2/5 5/10 3/5 4/5 6/10

Mark:
This starts with a sweet caramel, NutraSweet taste and ends with a big pine flavor. Very flavorful and very different, but I'm not too fond of the Pine-Sol bitterness.

3.3	Appearance Aroma Palate Flavor Price Buzz Overall 4/5 6/10 3/5 6/10 4/5 4/5 6/10

Jere:
This ain't bad. I usually like the Twisted Pine line, and this one's no exception. Not quite sure what the aroma is but it's not offensive by any means.

3.1	Appearance Aroma Palate Flavor Price Buzz Overall 4/5 7/10 2/5 4/10 3/5 4/5 7/10

Spoiler Alert! LOST puzzle solution from Wired's May issue

I hope this doesn't go against the spirit of Wired's May mystery issue, but I figure since they've already spilled the beans on the metapuzzle, it's probably time to do the same with the LOST puzzle on pages 104-105 since the season finale it relates to has already aired.

Page 104 was solved by Steven Bevacqua (also the first person to solve the metapuzzle), who used a Vignere cypher to decrypt this message:

U S E L E T
T E R S B A
C K W A R D S F
R O M E N D

Steve credits Nick Tierce for the idea that the page was an alphanumeric code. I had nothing to do with solving this page and merely used the clue that they unearthed.

Page 105 solution:
In the recent LOST episode "The Variable," there is a quick shot of Wired issue 11.08 from August 2003. Scott Dadich's twitter hint led me to the time travel article in that issue. The part of the article on Thorne Plates refers to the "Casimir Effect," which was also referenced on LOST in the past. In order to USE LETTERS BACKWARDS FROM END, count the letters backwards from the end of the Thorne Plates portion of the article. So, count 4 letters back (the "t" in "trip"), then 34 letters back from that (the "h" in "happen") and so on. The final solution is:

T H E F O U
R T O E D S
T A T U E I S
T A W E R E T

which refers to one of the reveals in the Season 5 finale of LOST.

-Jon