The weather was the nicest it's been in years, as far as I can recall. Sunny but only in the high 70s. Warm enough for lighter beers to work their magical powers of refreshment on you yet temperate enough to drink bigger beers as well. I had planned to hit the New Glarus tent immediately to sample their Aged Bourbon Barrel Kriek which was to be tapped at 13:00 but the line was out to John Nolen Drive by the time we got there. I suppose bourbon barrel fans hopped in line as well as folks who don't live in Wisconsin or near the border. And so we went off in search of shorter lines and this was my first beer of the Taste:
It's a Peach Berliner Weisse from Perennial Artisan Ales in St. Louis. It was good but I wished that it was a bit more sourness and that there was a smidge more peach. Still, it was tasty and refreshing. Here's beer nummer zwei:
This is Bubblelicious Weisse from Tenth and Blake, Miller's craft division. I've read articles by people who've been there for a meeting or conferences and who rave about the wonderful brews served there that are not for sale. In this case, they took a Berliner Weisse and added syrup bubbles a la bubble tea. This pour has mango bubbles – there were no woodruff or raspberry ones on offer. We craft drinkers may decry Miller Lite but the brewers there have the chops, I can tell you, because this was great stuff indeed. Very tart yet with a nice light body. The mango contrasted nicely with it. I grant you that there was novelty in the presentation but they made a seriously good Berliner Weisse. The D got a pour of their Jazz Hands braggot which was also excellent.
Goose Island had a tent where you could try your hand at mixing their stouts.
This was probably the best year ever for people such as myself who enjoy the less common German/Polish bier/piwo styles. I found zwei goses, vier Berliner Weisses, zwei Grätzers/ Grodziskies, and a roggenbier. I also saw a handful of Baltic porters, some fruit-flavored hefeweizens which sounded tasty, and a couple zwickels. The programs listed an alt or two, if memory serves and there were several Kölsches. Pale ales ruled the day, to be sure, but not a bad showing from the Teutonic/Slavic styles, all things considered.
I finally got a chance to try Sam Adams' Verloren gose. I simply have never seen the stuff in a liquor store here for reasons unknown. It had an incredible aroma. Tartness and coriander – ooh la la! Too bad it didn't taste as good as it smelled. Tartness was lacking as was salt. I am unsure if it was my palate or whether the beer was genuine lacking. I'd still try it again to rule out the former.
Lots of musos around. These guys drew a large crowd.
The better gose was by Destihl from downstate Illinois. This stuff had a wonderfully sour fruity aroma, like tart strawberries. It was much more sour than Verloren and the salt was present as well. Unfortunately I couldn't taste coriander. My tongue's fault? Hey, they got two out of three. Refreshing and I would definitely try it again.
Chicago's 5 Rabbit has quickly become a favorite brewery of mine. Their 5 Vulture is great and it irritates me to no end that I can never find 5 Lizard, a Latin-style witbier with passion fruit, on the northwest side when I'm in ChiTown. I only ever have it at the Great Taste. It is clean and fruity yet not overly sweet. A perfect summer beer. The D got a pour of it while I tried out their newest annual, 5 Grass. It's a hoppy ale brewed with herbs and spices including juniper, sage, and Tasmanian pepperberry. It smelled fantastic and tasted that way too. Sage and pepper were prominent and they complemented the hops very well. And it was all atop a nice malt backbone. I have three six-packs of the 5 Rabbit golden ale at home and hope to review it soon.
The crew from Metropolitan. I missed their zwickel. :(
New Holland threw a zombie prom and busted out the dry ice for the occasion.
About mid-way through the fest I ran into some former co-workers and we had the citrus IPA smackdown! We had just had Potosi's Tangerine IPA and were commenting on how tasty it was when they countered by saying that Blue Heron's Grapefruit IPA was even better so naturally we had to try it. Indeed, it was very good with a wonderful fresh grapefruit flavor. On the other hand, Potosi's variation had a sweet-bitter dichotomy that is hard to beat. Tough one.
We stopped in at the Vintage table to say hello to Scott and while I was there I had a Tippy Toboggan because it's one of the best beers in the known universe. He had his Grätzer on tap which reminded me that I had to try the Grumpy Troll's take on it. Here it is:
It was lighter that Scott's brew – only 3.7% ABV - which Scott admitted was probably more traditional. (He offered that his was an imperial Grätzer.) I liked the mellow smoke profile but, if Ron Pattinson is right, it wasn't hoppy enough. Despite this, it was tasty.
Towards the end of the day we ran into Doug from the Over Served Podcast. He led us over to Mineral Point's Brewery Creek to sample their shandies. The Frankenshandy was made with dark beer and was great. The "Another Side of Shandy" featured grapefruit and was also very tasty. A nice way to ease out of the festival.
Page hard at work.
Bell's was handing out capes to go with their comic which took up the side of their tent.
A few final tasting notes and thoughts...
I enjoyed Backpocket Scottish "Peated" Lager. The peated malt shone through yet it was crisp and not too heavy. O'so's Lemongrass Wit seemed to lack lemongrass. Maybe my tongue was just worn out by the time we made it to their booth. Arcadia's Shipwreck Porter, a Baltic porter, has only three legible words in my notepad: "could be deadly". Lafayette had two Berliner Weisses neither of which were particularly sour. Then again, it's possible some of those barrel aged Baltic porters temporarily damaged my tongue. I missed out on Flat 12 Bierwerks' Kiwi Kiwi Hefe and Kuhnhenn's chai and ginseng hefes. Anyone try these?
I'm reluctant to name a favorite brew but will say that it was nice to start the day off with goses and Berliner Weisses. Low octane but tasty. Throw in the Grätzer and some shandies to finish off the day, it was obvious that beer need not be high in alcohol to be interesting.
It seemed like I got many more "normal" 2oz. pours this year than at previous Tastes which seemed to have a lot which were 4+oz. Brought chairs for the first time. Didn't use them much but they were still nice to have. Where was the dunk tank? Somehow I missed any dirndls which were walking around but did see one guy in drag. Lastly, Rob Larson looked like he had forgotten his troubles with the Lake Mills government and looked to be in a cheerful mood.
Next beer festival is in Potosi.
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