Anyone who encountered The Wench during The Great American Festival post-Thursday night is probably aware of my “vocal complications.” Needless to say, the combination of high altitude, dry air, not enough rest, endless consumption of libations and copious amounts of talking … ultimately led to my vocal downfall. Aka: I lost my voice. There were times when I couldn’t even make a single sound. And for the most part, I sounded like a raspy old man who smoked 5 packs a day for 50 years.

Truth be told, I did way more talking and mingling during GABF than I did tasting beers. Sure, I tasted my fair share of beers — but I was not as diligent and dedicated as some of my other beer geek friends, who made sure to take notes, pictures and hit up all the special rare beer tappings.

This is why I’ve called upon Twitter to help me create a recap list of the “best beers” tasted during the Great American Beer Festival. And this is what they have to say, in 140 characters or less:

@TheBeerWench — Not gonna lie, we all know that the collaboration beer between New Holland + Mutineer Magazine that I helped design and brew was my ALL TIME HIGHLIGHT of GABF — and probably of my life, but moving on…

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@hookedonwinter — Bruery Black Tuesday & Oude Tart, Fat Heads Collaborative Evil, Founder CBS (Canadian Breakfast Stout), Lost Abbey Cable Car, Rocky Mountain Cherry Pie, Odell Deconstruction

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@kerryfinsand — My favorite #GABF Beer was Two Brothers Brewing Cane & Ebel. A malty rye pale ale with citrus notes & a hoppy finish.

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@odiedog52 – Saint Arnold Fancy Lawnmower Kolsch .. light, crisp, and full of flavor of fruity and grassy hops. Beautiful beer with a fitting name.

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@BasicallyRed –
Rocky Mountain Brewing Da Yoopers-Cherry Pie beer-you could smell cinnamon in the crust & taste the cherry filling! Plus, Duane is crazy

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@darthweef — Funkwerks Saison was by far my fav for the fest .. Legend of the Liquid Brain from Bull & Bush and Pizza Port Bacon & Eggs

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@DosBeerigos — Best Surprise beer: Upstream Grand Cru. Fav beers: Cable Car (Lost Abbey) and Deconstruction (Odell)

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@drinkeattravel (Stan) — TAP’S Remy, New Glarus Engima, The Bruery Black Tuesday, Bull and Bush Royal Oil

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@drinkeattravel (Cambria) — New Glarus Enigma, Bull & Bush’s Royal Oil + Legend of the Liquid Brain Imperial Stout, TAPS Belgian White, Salazar’s Tart Lychee

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@SteveParkes — Beers based on pie rocked this year. Key lime, lemon meringue beers made a nice change from the normal selection of pumpkin pie spiced beers

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@madhouselarry — Capt. Lawrence (all), New Glarus (all) and really dug the brews from Oregon’s Cascade Brewing and Oakshire Brewing. Peace, love and cheers!

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@MSJernigan — Trinity Brewing Co’s TPS Report and Rocky Mountain Brewing Co’s Peach Beer. So Good. Also the Bruery’s Black Tuesday.

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@adrianh77 — I loved the Dogfish Head’s Theobroma. I loved the cocoa powder in the beer and the chilies at the end gave it an awesome aftertaste.

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@Phil_from_MD — Kona Brewing Coconut Stout & Pipeline Porter. Founders Breakfast Stout, Great Lakes Blackout Stout. Ithaca Flower Power.

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BeachBumChris — Easy. the Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout was amazing! Great chocolate malt flavors with a touch of bacon. I want it on my pancakes!

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@AlexPDavis — Cable Car 09, Key Lime, Fatheads Collab Evil, Cuvee de Castleton, CBS, Sang Noir, Apricot, Deconstruction, BB Stout, Coffee Monster

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@mbl4889 — Either the Cherry Pie from Rocky Mtn (believe that’s them) or the Jewish Rye from Triumph Brewing, tastes just like eating Jewish rye bread.

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@sarahhuska — I’d have to say my favorite beer came not from the festival but from Falling Rock. 2007 New Belgium La Folie…holy heaven in a tulip glass!

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@GISBREWMASTER — Gella’s Diner & Lb. Brewing Co. in Hays, Kansas There Red Rider (Amber) and Liberty Stout (American) stout.

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@WindAddict — Tough question. So many great beers! I’ll shout out uncommon brewer’s bacon brown ale & Alaskan’s smoked porter. Yum!

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@taphunter — Boulevard Tank 7, 90 Shilling, Freshcrafts Avery special tapping of “The Missionary” Guava Quad = beergasm

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@MlleBess — The fruit beers from Rocky Mountain the sours from Brugge and the Pumpkin Stout from Elysian! Go!

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@threefrenchs — Cascade’s Bourbonic Plague-Big, no huge beer but amazingly smooth. Tart with a clean finish. A very complex 11+% abv that is a great sipper.

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@AmieDM17 — #GABF Favorite Beer: Tie b/t @CigarCityBeer’s Final Push (Zhukov w/ Weasel Poop Cofffee) & Short’s Anniversary Ale (blood orange wheat wine)

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@StoneBrewJason — From Wood and Red Ale Marble Brewing. Foothill’s Sexual Chocolate. Cascade’s Vlad the Imp Aler. Real Ale’s Rio Blanco and Stone’s Sublimely

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@Beervangelist — Why Mutinous (Battle Chai), of course! Favorite non-New Holland experience was Victory Helios with pate and fruit jelle at Farm to table

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@Hillhaus — Bell’s: Oracle; Bruery: Oude Tart; Cascade: Apricot Ale; Cigar City: Final Push (Kopi Luwak!!!); Alesmith: IPA; MI Brew Guild: sour stout

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@egabrewing — GABF beer favs: Lost Abbey Frambois de Amarosa, Cable Car 08, Bruery Oude Tart.

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@100beers30days — Barrel-aged Coton/The Bruery.Tons of rich molasses, dark caramel, dried dates, maple toast, vanilla.It was UNBELIEVABLE. Chewable. Seriously.

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@AZGirlsPintOut — @FirestoneWalker Velvet Merlin, @YazooBrew Sue, Rocky Mountain Blueberry Cobbler, Founders Canadian Bfst Stout, Hollister Tiny Bubbles

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@COBeerWeek — Hmmm gotta go with a sour, either Snake River Brewing’s Le Serpent Cerise, or The Bruery’s Oude Tart. Both were amazing too hard to pick one

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@brewcrewtv — Raspberry Tart and Key Lime Pie for their sweet ingenuity ………………………………….

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@romejohn5 — Buckbean Very Noddy Double Black Lager

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@thefullpint — @OdellBrewing rocked my world. Rocky Mtn Da Yoopers Cherry Pie & Tatonka Blueberry Cobbler were big surprises. <3 Brugge Brasserie!

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Did I miss your response on Twitter? No fear … just post it in the comment section!

CHEERS!

DRINK WITH THE WENCH PRESENTS:

The Beer Blogger Interview Series

Curious what goes on in the minds of your favorite beer bloggers? Well, The Beer Wench is and she has embarked upon a mission to interview as many beer bloggers that she can — from all over the world. Are you a beer blogger? Do you want to share your story? Send me an email!

INTRODUCING: ANDREW DUNFEE

AUTHOR OF: HIPPO LANE

Beer Blogger Interview

Full name: Andrew Dunfee
Twitter handle: @adunfee
Name of blog: Hippo Lane
Current location: Denver, CO

Background “Snapshot”

1. Where did you grow up?

Pickerington, OH. It’s a suburb of Columbus. It was all farms once. There are now two high schools. I think the football coach is gone. They put in some street lights, a few signs, made it real pretty.

2. What sports if any did you play growing up, through college and beyond?

I played basketball during lunch in high school. Junior year I realized sweat is not hot. 13 years later (aka 6 months ago) I realized, again, that basketball is fun. I now play in a league and shower after the games. They have liquid soap dispensers.

3. How old were you when you had your first beer?

Three.

4. If you can recall, what is the story of your first beer? Where did you have it? What style and brand was it?

I think this guy said, “Here, drink this. It’ll put hair on your chest.” I remember a diving board, orange arm floaties, a pool. If that didn’t actually happen, I know there was this time when I went to a bar on the way to go camping. My head was not yet to the top of the stool. People smoked in bars back then, too.

5. Where, if applicable, did you go to college? What did you study? What additional activities, organizations, sports did you partake in during college?

Ohio University. I studied business. I wanted to study history. I really dug the Reformation and American Indians classes. I had a band called Loesha the Swan Goddess. We were very white. The last time I was interviewed was with them. It was 2001, I believe. We drank coffee and then beer. I sounded pretentious. How do I sound so far?

Craft Beer Epiphany

Every craft beer enthusiast has at least one pinnacle craft beer experience that completely changes ones perspective on beer. I refer to this mind-blowing moment as a “craft beer epiphany.”

1. What was your first craft beer epiphany? Recall as many details about it as you can:

I drove west on 270, an outer belt in Columbus, just past I-71 and said, “What smells like geese shit?”  I was alone, so nobody answered, but in a minute I saw it: the Anheuser Busch plant.

I’m just being dramatic. I really had a few slow epiphanies at different times. In college, the discovery of Guinness and Newcastle was my first foray into non-yellow fizzy beer. Some of my uncles liked this stuff, I think. There was a brewpub called O’Hooley’s in Athens. I tried heavier pale ales, stouts, and porters. It felt more special, somehow, to drink those beers, but still I mostly drank PBR at the Union.

After college, there was a place called The Elevator (still is) in Columbus. It’s kind of a snooty place, so at the time I was a bit of a beer snob. I learned a little and actually liked the beers; this is when I realized stout is my favorite. But I eventually felt like a douche and switched back to PBR, which seemed nice because I didn’t have to think about it and it was cheap.

Then, over the course of several months when I started to brew my own beer and read the Charlie Papazian books, I got back into craft beer big time. I brewed with a friend. He pushed us to learn as much as possible about the process and different styles. Making your own beer is a great way to distinguish the different flavors and styles and come to appreciate them. After, it’s hard to want just one type of beer.

2. Have you have additional craft beer epiphanies since the first? Detail as many of them as you wish:

There were some places that influenced me, places with massive selections of beer and a great beer environment: The Brickskeller in Washington D.C. Flying Saucer in Raleigh and Fort Worth. Falling Rock in Denver. Valhalla in New York. Toronado in San Francisco. St. James Tavern in Columbus, OH.

Beer Blog Background

1. How long have you been writing your beer blog?

I started this site in April, but wrote for brewclick.com for a couple months before that.

2. What inspired you to start writing your blog?

Those guys asked me to. They knew I was writing a book, knew how to make beer, and could put down a few. I was confused at first, but got into it after doing a couple posts and meeting some of the brewers. I started to see that there is a story to be told and meaning in this industry, in offering more choices, going back to tradition and stronger local communities. After a couple of months, I wanted to write more often and have the ability to talk about other topics. So I started hippolane.org.

3. Why did you chose the name of your blog?

That’s not a very nice question. I know; it’s pretty stupid. It has nothing to do with beer, writing, travels, or any of the topics I try to cover. But it’s a nice image, isn’t it?

4. What are you personal goals for your blog? What do you hope to achieve with it?

The things I’ve come to care about the most in the craft beer industry are the sense of pride and artisanship that goes into making great beer and the community that exists around local breweries. For many reasons I won’t go into here, I think we need more of that. I hope I can help. I try to tell stories that make people like they want to be there, like they could be missing out. In the case of craft beer, missing out on fun, friendship, pride in community, and a greater range of experiences.

On a personal level, I want to write books and screenplays. I’m working on my first novel, about 5 major drafts in. This blog helps sharpen my skills. In the future, I hope it leads to a better connection with people that might be interested in any book I write. I also want to do non-fiction books about travel, beer, and other (maybe more political) interests.

5. What is one of the coolest things that happened to you as a result of being a beer blogger?

Every time I go out with my friends to see a new place is the coolest thing that has happened. No seriously, that’s lame. Can I take it back? Can you, like, edit this part out?

6. What are you top 3 favorite beer blogs/beer websites?

• http://jennandbeer.com/
• http://beernews.org/
• http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/

Beer Talk

1. What are your top 3 favorite beer styles?

Stout, ESB, Pilsner.

2. What are your top 3 favorite breweries?

Great Divide, Stone, Deschutes.

3. If you could work with or for any one brewery, which one would it be and why?

Brooklyn. Garrett Oliver seems like he’d be a cool boss; he wears jackets and jackets are cool. There’s a ton of tradition in the brewery, the area, I’m assuming the building. They make fantastic beers.

4. Are you a homebrewer? If yes, what is the most unique and interesting beer recipes you’ve brewed as a homebrewer?

I am. I recently made a gluten-free, sorghum-based beer. After three sips, it went down the drain. My favorite, though, was a hefty imperial coffee stout. I don’t think I answered your question. Can you ask something else?

5. Do you have any beer certifications (BJCP, Cicerone, Siebel, American Brewers Guild)?? If so, what are they?

None. I got a certification in Java once. That’s a computer language. I just labeled myself as a dork, didn’t I? Even more so because now I’m saying things like someone’s actually talking back.

6. What is your favorite beer and food pairing?

I was going to say waffles and a stout or a lambic to be amusing, but in all actuality, that’s probably pretty damn good. A real favorite is Fuller’s ESB with Saag Paneer at the British Bulldog in Denver.

The Personal Side

1. What is your current day job?

Code monkey.

2. If you could change your career at this very moment, without any restrictions on what you could do, what would you want to do and why?

I would like to be a tailor in a large department store. Because you get to look good all day. I had a job in a dressing room once.

3. Are you married? Children?

Not that I’m aware.

4. Outside of beer and writing, what are some of your other hobbies?

I noodle on guitars, garden some, do the weird things we do in gyms, paint, read. I’m a bit obsessed with IMDB. I have a crush on Ellen Page, but that’s not a hobby.

Off The Beaten Path

1. If you were a style of beer, what style would be an why?

I don’t want to answer this question.

2. You were caught smuggling beer illegally, which has now been made punishable by death. Right before you are sent to the executioner, you are offered one last beer. What beer would you chose and why?

Great Divide’s Espresso Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout. Is it okay that I had to look up the exact phrasing and spelling of that beer? It’s over 50 characters long.

3. If I contracted you to brew a beer (or design a beer recipe) called “The Beer Wench” — what style would you chose and what, if any, extra ingredients would you add?

An Oktoberfest. A toad’s scrotum comes to mind. Butterscotch. I picture Germany and witches. What am I supposed to say?

4. If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?

It would definitely not be to swim really fast. Seriously, what is the point of Aquaman?

5. What is one of the craziest things you have ever done and lived to tell the story?

We started a lot of fires as a kid. We burned circles in the cornfield, threw smoke bombs down chimneys, put sparklers in the back of rocket engines, made hairspray flamethrowers, and did something utterly stupid with shotgun shells and fire; I’ve forgotten the specifics.

6. What are your thoughts on bacon?

Great next to eggs. Terrible in salads.

SPECIAL THANKS TO ANDREW FOR AN AWESOME INTERVIEW!

CHEERS! (GO BUCKS!)

DRINK WITH THE WENCH PRESENTS:

The Beer Blogger Interview Series

Curious what goes on in the minds of your favorite beer bloggers? Well, The Beer Wench is and she has embarked upon a mission to interview as many beer bloggers that she can — from all over the world. Are you a beer blogger? Do you want to share your story? Send me an email!

INTRODUCING: JOHN BIDWELL

AUTHOR OF: THE BUSINESS OF BEER

Beer Blogger Interview

Full name: John Bidwell
Twitter handle: businessofbeer
Name of blog: The Business of Beer
Current location: Denver, Colorado

Background “Snapshot”

1. Where did you grow up?

Denver, Colorado

2. What sports if any did you play growing up, through college and beyond?

Hockey growing up, cross country in high school, and I played rec-league inner tube water polo and kickball in college – those are the sports that really separate the men from the boys.

3. How old were you when you had your first beer?

19

4. If you can recall, what is the story of your first beer? Where did you have it? What style and brand was it?

It was a Keystone Light at a beer pong table at some random party.

5. Where, if applicable, did you go to college? What did you study? What additional activities, organizations, sports did you partake in during college?

I went to Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado (home to New Belgium, Odells, Fort Collins Brewery, and a few other small brewpubs). I studied business (shocking). I was the assistant director of a computer lab on campus and I was Vice President of Alpha Kappa Psi (the business fraternity).

Craft Beer Epiphany

Every craft beer enthusiast has at least one pinnacle craft beer experience that completely changes ones perspective on beer. I refer to this mind-blowing moment as a “craft beer epiphany.”

1. What was your first craft beer epiphany? Recall as many details about it as you can:

My craft beer epiphany came before I ever drank a beer. My Business Ethics and Social Responsibility professor at CSU sat on the board of New Belgium Brewing and would always use NBB for examples in his class. It was in this class that I first heard about all the awesome things that they were doing from a business practices standpoint. At that point I really had no interest in drinking beer but I knew I loved what NBB was doing as a company. Once I started buying beer, it was pretty much a no-brainer as to which companies I wanted to support.

2. Have you had additional craft beer epiphanies since the first? Detail as many of them as you wish:

My next major craft beer epiphany was moving back to Denver. While living in Fort Collins, I was a very narrow beer drinker – 75% of what I drank was New Belgium. If you’ve ever been to Fort Collins, you would understand why – New Belgium DOMINATES that city. Everybody has friends who work there, the Liquid Center (their tasting room) is like the living room of the city, and the fat tire cruisers are all around town. While it is an incredible site to behold, I was sheltered living there. Since moving to Denver I have been exposed to many more great breweries.

Beer Blog Background

1. How long have you been writing The Business of Beer?

Since November 2009 – I’m a newbie

2. What inspired you to start writing your blog?

What interested me about the industry in the first place were the business practices and employee cultures at breweries. I threw around the idea of writing a tasting blog or a beer news blog, but in the end it came down to my passion which lies on the business side of beer.

3. Why did you choose the name of your blog?

My blog name isn’t very fun or creative but I feel it’s very concise and to the point (how business-like of me). It gets the job done.

4. What are you personal goals for your blog? What do you hope to achieve with it?

For me, this blog is mostly an education tool. I have learned so much in the last few weeks from talking to brewery owners and other beer bloggers than I could ever learn from reading books on the topic.

For my readers, I hope it can provide a different take on an aspect of the brewing industry that I find fascinating. There aren’t many beer websites out there that talk about strategy, marketing, and entrepreneurship – my personal goal is to have The Business of Beer become the premier website for people who are looking for this type of content. With this in mind, I just launched a series (shameless plug) called ‘The Startup Dialogues’ where I interview people who are in the process of starting a brewery and we talk about a different aspects of the business (from branding to differentiation to legal hurdles) in each post.

5. What is one of the coolest things that happened to you as a result of being a beer blogger?

Interviewing brewery founders has been really fun. Recently I spoke with Garrett, the founder of Maui Brewing Co. They’re doing some cool things in terms of community involvement and sustainability – go check out their website.

6. What are your top 3 favorite beer blogs/beer websites?

I really enjoy Fermentedly Challenged (written by a fellow Coloradan). I also enjoy Monday Night Brewing’s page – it’s fun watching them progress. Finally, I’d have to say Appellation – it’s well written and Stan (the author) always has interesting things to say.

Beer Talk

1. What are your top 3 favorite beer styles?

In no particular order: Wit, Porter, and Saison

2. What are your top 3 favorite breweries?

I’m going to have to go outside the lines here and give you my top 3 favorite breweries in terms of the beer they make, and then my top 3 favorite breweries in terms of the business operations they run.

Favorite Beer (in no particular order):
1. Breckenridge Brewery

2. Left Hand

3. Oskar Blues (ok, I’m a little Colorado centric)

Favorite Breweries:
1. New Belgium Brewing

2. Full Sail

3. Stone (ironically I don’t really like any of their beers)

3. If you could work with or for any one brewery, which one would it be and why?

I know it’s the popular answer, but I have to go with New Belgium – among all the other awesome attributes of working there, I really want that bicycle that they give their employees!

4. Are you a homebrewer? If yes, what is the most unique and interesting beer recipe you’ve brewed as a homebrewer?

Not a homebrewer yet, might get into it to learn a little more about the process

5. Do you have any beer certifications (BJCP, Cicerone, Siebel, American Brewers Guild)?? If so, what are they?

Cicerone certified

6. What is your favorite beer and food pairing?

I prefer my beer and food separate, thank you very much.

The Personal Side

1. What is your current day job?

I’m a management consultant

2. If you could change your career at this very moment, without any restrictions on what you could do, what would you want to do and why?

Well I know a fair amount of my coworkers read my site, so I can’t say anything incriminating! In all seriousness, I love my current job and I’m not really looking for a career change. We do have a big contract at one of the big 3 American breweries (I can’t divulge which one) – if I could somehow get on that project it might be fun.

3. Are you married? Children?

No and no.

4. Outside of beer and writing, what are some of your other hobbies?

I spend some time helping out at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. I also really enjoy road trips, making ice cream, the ocean, and photography.

Off The Beaten Path

1. If you were a style of beer, what style would be and why?

I’d be a macro lager because I’m pale and unappealing to the ladies

2. You were caught smuggling beer illegally, which has now been made punishable by death. Right before you are sent to the executioner, you are offered one last beer. What beer would you chose and why?

I would choose New Belgium’s Sunshine Wheat. It’s not necessarily my favorite, but there is something incredibly comforting about it

3. If I contracted you to brew a beer (or design a beer recipe) called “The Beer Wench” — what style would you chose and what, if any, extra ingredients would you add?

It would be a bacon brown ale brewed with a heaping helping of pork.

4. If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?

Teleportation would be pretty boss, I suppose

5. What are your thoughts on bacon?

My roommate makes it several times a week and now our whole apartment smells like bacon ALL the time, but I’m definitely ok with that – it’s like a manly Febreeze.

SPECIAL THANKS TO JOHN FOR AN AWESOME INTERVIEW!

CHEERS!

As a result of a last minute conspiracy, which will be unveiled at the most opportune moment — The Beer Wench is currently sitting at the Denver Airport in route to Napa via Oakland, CA. And guess what. My flight IS F*ING delayed. Grrrrr.

After the 3 hour flight from Columbus, all The Wench could think about was a pint of beer (ok more like 5 or 6 pints) and some delicious food (ok maybe just ANY type of food). Of course, airports are not known for having the best choices for beer … or food.

And on top it of — unfortunately for me, I read a good portion of “Brewing Up A Business” by Dogfish Head founder, Sam Calgione, during the flight. I was craving craft beer like it was my job (hell … why isn’t it my job?!!!)

Lucky for The Beer Wench, Denver is a bit different than other cities. The airport actually has some good options for beer.

Some of you many have heard of this little brewery called … ummm … what was the name … OH THAT’S RIGHT. New Belgium Brewing Company … a brewery that I have coveted and blogged about a few times in the past. Super eco-friendly and sustainable. Plus, they give all their employees bicycles. IDEAL JOB. (MY resume is inthe mail … AHEM).

WELL! Let me tell you how surprised I was to find a NEW BELGIUM BAR & RESTAURANT within the Denver Airport. Of course, though, it was exactly at the OPPOSITE end of the airport from the gate that I needed to be in.

Once again, lucky for me my 2 hour lay-over turned into a 3+ hour layover. And so, I stayed as long as possible (unfortunately airports close early). As for beer, I had 2 Trippels and an Abbey Style Ale (their double). Both were delicious. I also got a sample of the 1885 on draft. Not bad, but the other Belgium styles were so much more desirable.

ABBEY Belgian Style Ale: Winner of four World Beer Cup medals and eight medals at the Great American Beer Fest, Abbey Belgian Ale is the Mark Spitz of New Belgium’s lineup – but it didn’t start out that way. When Jeff and Kim first sampled the beer at the Lyons Folks Fest, reviews were mixed at best. One of founder Jeff’s first two Belgian style homebrews (along with Fat Tire), Abbey is a Belgian dubbel (or double) brewed with six different malts and an authentic Belgian yeast strain. Abbey is bottle-conditioned, weighs in at 7.0% alcohol by volume, and pairs well with chocolate (or boldly served by itself) for dessert.

TRIPPEL Belgian Style Ale: Our Trippel Belgian Style Ale (pronounced triple) opens with a bold blast of hops that slowly gives way to the fruity esters implied by our Belgian yeast strain. The Three Graces hand-painted on the label are Zeus’s daughters Aglaia (splendor), Euphrosyne (mirth) and Thalia (good cheer). In the Belgian tradition of brewing singles, doubles and triples, Trippel is the strongest with the longest fermentation. Remarkably smooth and complex, our bottle-conditioned Trippel is spiced with a trace of coriander.

Unfortunately for New Belgium, The Beer Wench has become a rather large Belgium beer enthusiast these days. And while their beers were rather extraordinary for Belgium style American craft brews, they still did not compare to the real thing.

What can I say? I have become a Trappist Ale Whore … it happens. (To the best of us!!!)

Still, I’m looking forward to Cavalier importing New Belgium across the Ohio Border. After all, the beer is damn good and their dedication to the planet is more than noteworthy.

Cheers to New Belgium!!! Cheers to Denver!!! Cheers to the mile-high city!!!

Oh, did I mention … that I was born in Denver? It might explain a small part of my insanity!!!