Mike and I attended the Extreme Beer Fest presented by BeerAdvocate on February 16 (that’s last Saturday for those of you keeping score at home).  It was and is a tremendous time.  There are many takeaways in experiencing the results of brewers pushing the limits of beer.  High alcohol content is just one part of the “extremeness” of what was offered at the fest.  Odd ingredients and brewing methods were also on hand, and certainly gave tasters a lot to wrap their palates around.

Beyond all the beers, there was a cool speaker panel session that we sat in on where brewers like Jim Koch from Sam Adams and Matt Cohen from Magic Hat spoke and answered questions from the crowd.

There were many great beers to discuss here on our site.  We videotaped our sampling of the Three Floyds Brewing Company’s Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout.  Here is the video of our experience:

We had to wait in line for 10 minutes (or so…I think it was longer) to actually get a sample.  They opened the tap for the Dark Lord at 4PM…the fest started at 1PM…last call was at 4:15PM…you do the math.

A lot of fest attendees were out of luck since the keg ran out before everyone got a sample.  After we tried the Dark Lord, Mike’s wife and I walked across the hall to try Sixpoint Craft Ales’ Sixpoint Bolshoi…which we liked better. 

It’s taken me a while to edit together all the little clips I recorded, but here is the recap video of our trip up to Portland, ME for the Maine Brewers’ Festival:

Some points of interest:

• Hurricane Noel hit Portland just in time for the beginning of festival, which made for walking from the hotel to the expo center a bit of a challenge.

• No Allagash booth this year. Bummer.

• Sheepscot Brewing’s Damariscotta Double Brown Ale was the beer of the fest, as judged by us.

A good time as always. Next year, we will make sure we get our tickets extra early. Ask me to tell you the story about how we almost didn’t all make it this year. Then again, don’t.

I write this post about the Maine Brewers’ Fest knowing full well that it’s a bit off topic, but I think the Brew Dudes’ love of homebrewing grew out of our annual pilgrimage to Portland, ME to attend this grand showcase of craft beer.

We have been going to this event since 1999. It is something we look forward to each Fall. A lot of our beer education comes from tasting all the different styles presented at the fest. What we have learned at the Maine Brewers’ Festival has been put into our own homebrewed beers.

Plus, it’s just a damn good time. Tickets sold out very quickly this year…so quickly a large group of us almost missed the boat. So if you were lucky enough to get tickets, we’ll see you there.

If not, we will recap it here for you on Brew Dudes.

http://www.mainebrew.com/

So, I wasn’t getting the name of the fest right. There is no word “and” in the name of the festival.  Anyway, it was an insanely hot day but we stuck it out and had a great time. Here is a video of the event:

I tried to post and edit on YouTube but their editor was having a hard time with my files.  Granted, this video was taken using my digital camera so the quality wasn’t so good…but if JumpCut could handle it, YouTube should have as well.  I’ll try again later. 

I took some still pictures of the event and posted them on Flickr:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/brew-dudes/

They tell a little more of the story. 

To sum up: the music was good, the beers were great, and the people were outstanding.

Best taste of the fest?  Well, my pick was Paper City Brewery’s Summer Time Pale Ale.   It had a lot of lemon flavor.  They must have zested a bushel of lemons to get that taste and on any other day it would have been overpowering.  After being in the sun for 3 hours, I was happy I made it over to their booth.  It was surprising but beyond refreshing.

Took my first stab at formally judging homebrew this past Saturday (8/18).  Drove out to Hubberston, MA to assist with the FOAM’s annual homebrew competition that they run in conjunction with the Blues n’ Brews festival which occurs the week after (8/25).   FOAM is a great club located in central/western MA.

What a great time.  I sat in on the Belgian Beer, Dopplebock and English Ale judging sessions (referred to as flights).  Overall, most of the beers were really good and a couple were exceptional. [To whom-ever submitted the English Mild…damn I loved the aroma on that beer, if that aroma had carried into the taste…I would have stopped brewing until I found that recipe]

Anyhow, I learned a lot about the tasting and judging process.  Got a chance to really exercise the palate.  The basic process is to smell, look and taste… all the while converting your observations into words.  Then comparing those experiences with th BJCP guidlines and seeing how close to style each beer had come.  And talking to other judges and brewers in the room really teaches you what phenolic means or malty and grainy really tastes like… and how it can differ beer to beer.

Judging is a great way to advance your skills as a brewer.  Once you learn how to taste the way ingredients work together you can better dial in your own recipes.  Tasting and judging others work really helps you decide what is “good” and what is “great”.  Often when tasting our own beers I think we can lose impartiality.

Fully recommend that anyone with brewing experience, volunteer at the next local competition to judge.  It’s a great way to get yourself moving towards the next level of experience as a true brewer.

Thanks to the folks at FOAM and all the judges.  I had a great time helping out and hope do do it again next year.  By then I will hopefully have judged a few more comps.