An Extremely Good Day

I got a great Christmas present this year (straight from Santa Claus, I swear), a ticket to the Extreme Beer Festival in Boston.  The event offers a great selection of hard to find beers in 2oz increments.  I planned to limit myself to 24 tastings, or 3 pints over 3 hours, so that I could maintain the ability to come home that night.  With the selection being so excellent, the trick would be to make sure I got the best beers.  So I got on the road early, because I knew that I needed food before the event, and when I head to Boston I love to stop at Deep Ellum (http://www.deepellum-boston.com/).

Deep Ellum is a 4 year selection on Draft magazine’s top 100 beer bars, and on the weekends they open at 10AM for brunch.  The menu is great, with me usually choosing the breakfast burrito, but today I got the kielbasa and egg sandwich (actually house-smoked kielbasa, fried egg, horseradish aioli, VT cheddar on an English muffin).  Oh so much better than the one offered at Dunkin Donuts (sorry Jenn, I know that’s sacrilege), especially with the hot sauce and the beer to go with it.  I got Switzerland’s BFM brewing square root of 225 historical saison, a 5% ABV brew that had a nice sour touch to it that went great with the meal.  The bartender allowed a couple of tastes; including local brewery Trillium’s Mettle, an Imperial IPA to celebrate their anniversary, as well an Hill Farmstead / De Blaugies collaboration called La Vermontoise, a spelt rye saison that was not my favorite.  Next I had some time to kill so I headed over to Draft magazine’s newest favorite beer bar, Lord Hobo (http://lordhobo.com/) in Cambridge.

Lord Hobo has been a “want to get to destination” for me for years, and since it opens at 11 on the weekends, I had time to stop in and check it out before heading over to the festival.  The place is rough, real rough, with hard music and signs that said, “F$%# It, Lets Drink!” (of course without the symbols), but it had a great beer selection.  They had plenty of offerings from Jack’s Abby, Trillium, and Pretty Things, plus a great selection of Stone.  I asked for a recommendation (no half pours, no tasters), and chose a delicious Pale Ale from Trillium, Fort Point on draft, which had a 98 rating on Beer Advocate.  I also got an order of cheesy grits to go, deep fried balls that were great snacks before and after the festival.  So with Garmin as a guide, I avoided the I90 construction and made it to the Seaport to queue up

It was pleasant outside, and I got to meet the other folks around me.  The Extreme Beer Festival shared a map of the booths and the available beers, so I had mapped out my strategy about which beers to seek out early, and which breweries I was to be sure to visit.  My first brewery was Cascade from Portland Oregon, who specialized in barrel aged wild ales.  I started with Sang Noir (BA 99 an #73 beer on the list), a wild ale aged in pinot and bourbon barrels and then blended with a barrel of Bing cherries.  The next must beer for me was from Toppling Goliath from IA, and their Mornin’ Delight (BA 100 and #47 on the list), an Imperial Stout brewed with maple syrup and their own secret ingredient.  The other real score for me was from Funky Buddha, a Miami area brewery that offered their Maple Bacon Coffee Porter (BA 99 and #154 on the list), which was delicious and whose name is self-explanatory.

·         Toppling Goliath’s King Sue (BA 100) and Sosus (BA 99) – A pair of delicious Imperial IPAs that had the line running up and down the venue.
·         The Bruery’s Chocolate Rain (BA 100) and French Oak Aged Bois, a special version of their 5^th anniversary beer.
·         Cascade’s Bourbonic Plague (BA 94) – A blend of porters aged in wine, bourbon, and oak barrels.
·         Funky Buddha’ Last Snow (BA 98) – A Coffee Porter brewed with coconut, white chocolate and caramel.

There were 2 other breweries worth highlighting for me.  The first is Cigar City, one of my favorite breweries in the country.  I got to try their rum barrel aged Marshal Zhukov’s Imperial Stout, a Margarita Gose (LOVED this beer), a Passionfruit Guava Grove, and Don Gavino’s Big Guava.  Their beers are always so innovative (especially if you like fruit in your beer), and I can’t wait to take Jenn to the brewery in May.  The next was a new MA brewery that has taken the beer scene by storm.  Tree House brewing is only locally distributed and their farmhouse brewery does limited growler fills, so the line at their booth was extensive all day long.  Today they offered their Juice Machine (9.8% ABV Imperial IPA, BA 95) and their Double Shot (7.6% ABV Coffee Stout, BA 98) and both were excellent.  I’ll need to make a side trip to visit the brewery someday.

I had my 24 beers so it was time to go.  I got stuck in construction on 90W, and made a course correction (with the permission of Boston’s finest) to take 93N to get out of the city.  The trip was a bit longer, but allowed me to stop for dinner at Armsby Abbey (http://armsbyabbey.com/) in Worcester.  This food centric beer bar always has a great beer selection, but also great food using local ingredients.  Tonight I got their gourmet mac & cheese (yeah, the diet didn’t do so well today) which uses their farmstead cheeses with an IPA, and with the owner’s recommendation a taste of Trillium’s Pot & Kettle (7.4% ABV Porter, BA 93) which went perfect with my meal.  And with my belly full, I headed home safe and sound.

It was a great event to try rare beers that you would never be able to find anywhere else with a bunch of “enthusiasts” who may be MORE beer geeky than myself.  The only downside was that after a while all the great beers blended together so it was hard to say that something knocked my socks off by taste when compared to the other brews.  They all were fantastic! I can’t wait to go back next year, so let me know if you want to go and I’ll get more tickets. - 15471

 
“24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence?” - Stephen Wright