Bubba83

Bleh, I woulda shown up! Oh well, doesn't sound so competitive anyways!

just a warning, if you only preranked a few players it's going to grab those before anyone else... Which means it's going to grab the kicker you put in there in like the 4th round unless you preranked pretty much every single player in the draft... My friends have had very bad experience with the pre-rank, you must drag all the players over and then up and down some for it to be effective.

^ Too bad it's going to autodraft a kicker for you before filling bench spots with depth.

^ If you drop out can I have your spot? I didn't see this until just now and I'm a huge fantasy football players and I'm quite competitive!

^ Try Breckenridge's IPA when you get a chance, it's fantastic.

I felt like the song didn't have a focused direction. It changes pace a few too many times for me. It almost feels like they are trying to send a message to the fans like "Hey check out this part, doesn't it sound like our old stuff?" So they'll do like some crazy speed guitar but it just comes off as a little cheap to me and not well thought out. They haven't come up with a new song in a long while where I've liked the inner core of the song that I can really get behind... And with this one, though not horrible, it pretty much has no inner core. Maybe I'll be happier with the rest of the CD where they aren't trying to pack a bunch of stuff into one song they think will impress people on the radio.

Bah, I meant to make a post last weekend but quite frankly, I've been too dang busy. My friend from New York flew in for a couple weeks so I've been catching up with him and whatnot. Anyhow, I have indeed been drinking a lot of new beers and I am happy to post them on this eve! This is the face I make when I am contemplating something really hard. Hmmm, what do I think of this beer? Well I think it's delicious! Finally a summer seasonal that is exciting and that I can get behind. The yeast doesn't dominate, and gives way to an awesome wheat base with citric highlights of orange and lemon... Highly refreshing on this warm night in my house with no AC... And lastly Bell's Oberon was on the menu for me tonight. I'm not usually one for summer seasonals but I've heard good things and Heath sent me a bottle! The head is so dense it looks like root beer float head. We couldn't decide between Shakespeare Stout and Rasputin for which we liked best, even back to back... They tie! Can't follow that one up with anything but a Rasputin... Can't say much more than deserves its spot in the top 100. Rogue knows what they are doing on the malt end of things (and surprisingly, the hop side too which I've recently found out!) Stouts seemed to be the theme with my uncle this week as he'd bought a Shakespeare stout as well. Quite chocolately but it doesn't offer much more than that. I had tried this a while back on my own and felt the same way. B- perhaps. And finally last night we started off with some Bison's Chocolate Stout, all their stuff is Organic! This is one of my uncle's standby that he always buys at BevMo. As Heath sends me more Imperial Stout awesomeness I've started to realize it's a little one note. Heavy alcohol flavor with dark roasted coffee notes. Good heavy flavor but no subtleties. We'd end that night with some sludge. Moylan's Ryan Sullivan's Imperial Stout. You may be asking, what happened to the O' before Sullivan's? Well, funny thing, the label company printed the guy's name wrong that the brew was named after, it's actually just Ryan Sullivan! That's weird, apparently I forgot to take a followup picture with this guy in my hands, but this another one of Maui's offering in cans, Big Swell IPA. And boy, this is one fine brewery let me tell you, these hops tasted FRESH. Like, we're talking wet hopped fresh. Awesome awesome floral notes, glad I picked this up and I hope you'll like it too Heath! But - It impressed us both. A very solid porter on its own with just the right amount of coconut flavor. The smell is actually heavily coconut, but wow, pretty awesome combo and a great smooth mouthfeel... Maui's Coconut Porter... So glad to see BevMo finally carrying the canned ones Heath and I have been waiting on for a while. I was skeptical of this one, as was my uncle. A good oatmeal stout. Not quite on the level of Barney Flats but still very good, a bit hoppy actually which is a nice change of pace. I'd say a solid B+ for this guy. I picked up a couple bottles of Alaskan's Stout when I was up in Oregon. It's too bad I can't get stuff like this around here. It's actually technically an Oatmeal Stout. I was hot that night as you can tell by my lack of a shirt. I was really impressed with this IPA. It is almost more of an east coast style with a sturdy malt flavor highlighted by some pungeant hops. Despite the heavy flavor the mouthfeel is actually quite thin, which makes it highly sessionable. I give it an A-... Sorry if I'm previewing these beers before you get them too much Heath! Had this one on this past thursday night. 21st Amendment's Brew Free or Die IPA. And I'm with you all the way. It just doesn't seem like a wheat beer in any way shape or form... I actually think the amount of watermelon flavor is in perfect balance with the malt backbone, but the problem for me was that the malt backbone pretty much fell flat. It seems a lot more like a lager backbone or something, and I was wishing I had a heavier wheat backbone for better contrast. Nevertheless, a refreshing, interesting beer. Later in the week, I had a can of 21st Amendment's Hell or High Watermelon Wheat Beer. I know what you're probably thinking, that's a wheat beer? Actually a pretty good pale, but dang, after Dreadnaught, it falls pretty darn flat! I was stupid and decided to drink another beer that night after Dreadnaught. Steelhead's Extra Pale Ale. Now this is a beer that deserves its standing, holy mackerel, this is DANG hoppy stuff. Awesome pine flavors yet it's still delicate and has a very solid malt backbone. We were both absolutely stunned by this beer, and I would have to say I just don't know what I like better, Pliny the Elder or Dreadnaught, it's darn close! Thanks so much for this Heath! My uncle asked me after we finished that, well how are you going to top that? I replied with a Three Floyd's Dreadnaught, the 4th best Double IPA in the world, and 18th overall on BA. My uncle and I loved Stone 11th and this beer was no different, it's his new favorite stout pretty much, and we wish we could get more around here. Awesome stuff. I decided to bring over a Stone 12th, which I picked up in Oregon, since the stupid BevMo's here never got it. Another Oatmeal Stout, brewed with some bitter chocolate as well. Good stuff as always, never lets us down with the excellent mouthfeel and subtle yet delicious flavors. That same weekend over at my uncle's we started off with a Barney Flats, which he likes quite a bit! Heath's shipment of beers came in for trade and boy was I amazed at all the goodies he sent, wow! I must say though, I expected more out of this IPA. I mean, it's top 100! It seemed to me like the malt backbone was very similar to DFH 60 min, and the hops were a little more earthy/spicy than I normally like. Don't get me wrong, still a darn good east coast IPA, it's just not deserving of top 100 for me. This picture turned out pretty dang blurry but you have seen the bottle before so it's not like it needs to be clear! Bell's Two Hearted. First, I'll start with my dinner a week and a half ago, was proud of this one I guess, looks yummy eh? The cherry tomatoes and zucchini are both homegrown!

I usually don't like the opening ceremonies because I find them boring but this one was great. They did a really awesome job incorporating technology in the performances as well as just sheer numbers of people that were all coordinated in a stunning fashion. The only boring part for me was when they have all the countries walk in, that's just downtime for me. I predict this Olympics will be one of the best in the last 30 some odd years because I think China took the games very seriously and with a high level of planning and importance. They see this as an opportunity to prove to the world that they can pull off something amazing and gain some respect from countries who currently don't respect them (ours included) With all the media negativity about the games over here I think anyone who actually gives this games a chance will see past the media negativity and realize that China is hosting a great games.

Worth noting that the topic starter will be too young to vote! I'm supporting Obama. Edit: OP, have you considered that he may still be a conservative republican while still realizing there is more to voting than staying in party? Nothing annoys me more than people who vote blindly for their party's candidate instead of looking at the candidates on their own and deciding for themselves, so I give mad props to chmilo24 for doing just that and picking the candidate for him.

^ Belmont just wasn't going to work out for us that night, but I'll check it out next time. John's is a real dive, I failed to take pictures of their busted cooler with stagnant water on the floor among other dirtier things. Their prices can be a little high too, but the selection is so outstanding that you have to kind of expect some price hikes since they had to jump through hoops to get a bunch of the stuff. If you can get past it being so rundown though the people really know about their beer in there and the selection is OUTSTANDING. Another Pro-Tip I heard at the Festival/Russian River's Newsletter, they just had a special event yesterday at the Horse Brass welcoming Russian River's beers to Oregon (Vinnie even made an appearance) and tapped some Pliny the Elder, they might still have some, not sure.

Wow Justin got those pics up quickly. Looks like this weekend may just have been the most action packed beer thread weekend ever? Didn't expect those sweet posts from Derek and Heath doing seperate and individually awesome trips... So what have you been up to Joe? Here come the Portland Trip pics! I was able to meet my cousin and his friend up there which worked out really well. Nice to meet Justin too! Maybe next time you can show me around town a bit more if business settles down. And I'd enjoy a quick Organic Tree Hugger porter before I had to board the flight. Another really good porter that I enjoyed quite a bit. The tap list. Attempted a tap picture but the mirror didn't help things. 8 taps though! In the airport while waiting for our flight to begin preboarding I seeked out Laurelwood in the airport, which was by far the best airport brew place I've seen. This poster was hanging on a wall in the corner, and I thought our PA pals might get a kick out of it! And who could forget the wonderful food at a place like Rock Bottom, the pulled pork sandwich. And Todd, a crazy Flanders Red that was sour and reminds me of red wine vinegar. Still not sure I like the style. This time I got the 4 brewmaster choice samples which included some really innovative stuff, like this blitzen belgian golden ale. And the lunch before we left to catch our flight was again at Rock Bottom since it was close to our Max Light Rail stop. Back at Deschutes for a late dinner because it was the only place still serving food. Here's a half pint of Red Chair IPA, which wasn't even on the tap list 2 days prior. Not quite as good as the other IPA I had but still dang good. Quite a few belgian selections as well. I am glad I talked beer with the cashier guy because after he realized how hardcore I was he pulled some stuff out of the back after okaying it with his boss. They try to save special stuff for people they know will appreciate it. More awesomeness. Every bottle in these six packs is also for individual sale and they have 5% discounts for building your own. Another cubby of crazy rare bombers all over the place. This is definitely the best beer store I've ever been into. Looks like a run down liquor store but they know what they're doing. It was great meeting Justin and briefly Sandy, and I'm crazy happy about the unexpected present Justin got me. I owe him big now! But I still wanted to shop for some bottles in Portland since I bought an extra suit case. And we both agreed it was a really nice beer. Then I suggested one for Justin since all the other ones he wanted to try were unfortunately tapped out (Like Bell's Porter and Coffee Bender) Hazed and Infused, one of my favorites from when I was in Omaha. Justin met me at probably the busiest time at the beerfest the entire time I was there, Saturday around 5-6. Levitation was tapped out so we made some Bubba faces for Ruination. Delicious. As good as it is in a bottle it's even better on tap. On Saturday I made sure I jumped on a full glass fill of Lagunitas Hop Stoopid early in the day, which quite frankly was probably best in fest for me yet again. And we just had to get a picture of this girl's shirt. Ride the South Lake Union Trolley (it's an up in Seattle thing) Nice floral notes that the normal Bridgeport IPA falls flat on. Bridgeport's Hop Czar was also quite good. Good stuff, seemed like a high ABV milk stout that had been aged in bourbon barrels. Another standout at the fest was New Holland's Dragon's Milk. Had a really strong oak flavor to it. And I finished up the night with an Old Crustacean, since I'm too cheap to spring for their ceramic offerings at BevMo. This was an impressive barleywine for sure. Then I had a sample of the Eugene Track Town Honey Orange Wheat Ale, which was also quite good. I started off with their Smoked Ale, which was quite nice with the right amount of smoke. And more tables to sit at. Holy bombers and other knick knacks on the wall batman! Really cool interior and a good vibe. Once my cousin got there friday night we headed over to Rogue, also in the Pearl District. Another look at the sea of people on friday afternoon. Live Music at the Fest was good too, and a couple was even married on stage later in the weekend. An awestone hopped up strong ale that I just wasn't sure Rogue would be able to pull off but it was really great. Sorry for the terrible picture but Rogue's Glen was outstanding. And I walked around the Pearl District a bit near Deschutes and just found a random Lamborghini Murcielago parked on the street. I just had to get the King Screamer IPA which was quite frankly awesome. Great juicy malt backbone with awesome hop presence. The taplist. My Elk Burger, yes you read that right, and yes it was ridiculously good. Had Deschutes for dinner on thursday (I know it's out of order, sorry!) My Salmon BLT, which was quite frankly ridiculously good. This bread was the best ever! The view from our table. Ate here at Marina Fish House which used to be Newport Bay. For lunch we went down by the Marina. It was a curiously vibrant and tasty interpreation of a witbier. Boulder's Zon was a big surprise for me at the fest. Quite happy with this hopped up amber, yet it was still smooth. Amazing how fast Hop Stoopid was tapping out each day. I was very happy to get to try Levitation though. A swag booth. I bought a shirt I'm sure you guys will see at some point. Bell's porter was also pretty good. Excellent stuff, really tasted like strong coffee more than beer but I loved it, perhaps my favorite beer of the fest. I'll post a few highlights now, one was Surly's Coffee Bender. A better inside view of the seating inside the tents. That was another huge plus, even when it was really busy they planned seating really well and provided as much as possible. More overview and a tent shot. They had a north tent and a south tent, each serving about 36 beers with trailers to keep the taps cold. It worked out pretty well except when it got busy line organization was confusing and sometimes it was unclear what line you were in. The sign in the middle told you where each brewing company was location wise within the fest, which was nice. They also sold programs that were really well made with details descriptions of every beer served. The crowds were light on thursday, which was when I had the best time at the fest, maybe early friday. However this picture is an overview when it was busy on Saturday. The entry point. One of the cooler aspects of this fest is anyone can come in and out as they just check ID at the gates and give wristbands for free. Then once you're inside there are mug and token lines if you choose to partake in beer sampling. Look at all them kegs! The main sign so you guys know where I'm at! The beautiful Tom Mccall Waterfront park that is always alive with activity and people out and about. Here's some boats near the Marina. The Photo TR wouldn't be complete without some shots of the beautiful city that is portland. This is on the waterfront park walk on the way to the fest. It's right on the Willamette river. Equipment picture up in the 2nd store window. And their Porter was also quite impressive. Two standouts. The wheat was phenomenal, very different from any wheat I've had before. The spicing was perfect and very smooth. I'd start with the sampler as Justin had informed me a ways back all their standards are good at this one. He was right. No brewmaster choice sample at all though due to the fest and a shortage of sample glasses. Tap List. 4 Special beers on in honor of the Oregon Brewer's Fest. First stop was for a late lunch on thursday at Rock Bottom since it happened to be right at the exit of the Max Light Rail System.

^ Sweet post fellow slacker! Yeah, Fire Station 5 doesn't really brew anything good that I've tried. I thought their IPA was pretty terrible. Also: I am jealous of the Surly. I'm going to finish cleaning out all the old pictures tonight as I'm leaving tomorrow for vacation, yay! And the finished product of my labors. 12 bombers, 17 standards. In about 2 weeks my uncle and I will be the fearless test dummies who taste this hoppy concoction. The army of beers waiting to be sealed with the capper. Now that it's siphoned off into the bottling bucket, we've attached the bottling hose to the spigot and started the flow to the bottle filler. Okay so I accidently sanitized my air filter, which makes it inoperable, so I had to start the siphon without an air filter, risking contamination... I hope it turns out alright as I did everything else perfectly. Sanitizing the bottles one by one certainly takes a while, especially when you decide to include some 12oz ones this time around. And now for some bottling pics (I bottled Monday night after work, boy that was a long day) Here's the setup before I began. And this one my friends deserves a bubba face for supreme excellence. I'm glad my friend Heath is an Imperial Stout connoisseur. Awesome all around, we like it better than Rasputin and Ryan O' Sullivan, which is impressive. Old Heathen is still top dog in my book though. And this pretty much catches us up because Heath's shipment of trade arrived saturday morning so I shared this Heresy bomber with my uncle on Saturday night. And I don't see what all the fuss is about. It's pretty good, tastes similar to a well crafted hefe, just darker in color. I would only give it like a B+ though. After being dissapointed again and again by Gordon Biersch, I had to see if this beer was actually as good as its rating on BA. My "dude, I forgot how good this beer is" face. Staying classic with some Anchor Steam because we haven't had it in a while. What's that off in the distance? Not far from my work, it's Drop Zone's tower. Great America is just down the street. You can actually hear the screams from outside my work. See? The grounds are nice outside the building. I work at Vertical Communications. I'll toss in a few pictures of my new work as well for good measure. I work in this building on the 4th floor. Simply brilliant beer. Can't go wrong when you're racing in gran turismo 5 while drinking a racer 5 IPA! Still a lovely british style porter, low key yet the flavors are there! We've been having more Blank Slate recently because I needed the empties to bottle my IPA. Still really awesome stuff. My last bottle of expedition from the six pack. It's really a very satisfying oatmeal stout, good all around and doesn't fall short in any department. We'd follow it up with some Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout, which we've had quite a few of lately. And it was still good stuff for sure. We both can't wait until the real Harvest comes back though, as it's decidedly better. My uncle and I had some more Southern Hemisphere Harvest.

I'm glad they made a feature out of this on the front page because otherwise I would have missed it! No wonder you haven't been posting around in the beer thread lately... You've been doing all this! I especially enjoyed the architecture pictures. How much does the London Eye cost to ride?

Sorry I'm breaking this post up a bit, but that was from one set of photos I had, and I have a bunch more. I'm just worried the inadequate TPR uploader is going to kill my entire long photo post again and waste a bunch of my time. On to the photos. I know you guys are digging the shirtless pics because of how jacked and tan I am. This isn't from too long ago now, Stone's Imperial Stout that I decided to drink on a random worknight? I must be crazy. It was hot out so I reached for something, refreshing? Here's the IPA the next morning, already with lots of active fermentation and krausen building. Malt bill is like a stout, hop bill is like an IPA. Sort of like Stone XI light, a little mellower and less alcohol than Stone XI. After a hard days work of brewing I decided it'd be nice to have a thought provoking inventive beer from Drake's. Their Expedition Ale. Ice water bath time to cool the wort as quick as possible to help prevent contamination. I must say, it was a nice 85 degrees out that day, and brewing outside was definitely more relaxing. Plus I was able to sanitize right next to the boil this time so I wasn't running inside and outside all crazy like. I ended up using Willamette and Glacier as substitutes, and the resultant beer should be quite a bit different than blind pig. Though, it is kind of exciting to have a recipe of my very own even though I'm borrowing Vinnie's malt bill. Here's the ultra light malt extract going in. This stuff is STICKY! My recipe I picked up at the homebrew shop for Vinnie Cilurzo's famous Blind Pig IPA! Wait a second though, you have this recipe but you're out of every single hop variety on here due to the hop shortage? Nooo!!! Time to pull the spent grains. my mom was actually around this time so I had a camera person to get some pictures of the process! Let's have a look inside. Here are the specialty grains steeping as it comes to a boil. After the semi-disaster in the kitchen last time and my mom flipping out, I decided to borrow my friend's dad's outdoor propane burner. I woke up the next morning realizing that I needed hops! That's why I decided it was time to brew the IPA that I had picked up the supplies for the day before. Drop Anchor Baby! This stuff is flat out insane as always. Still my favorite Barleywine, the best malt complexities I've ever had flavorwise perhaps, who needs hops anyways??? Looks like the fog is rolling in from San Francisco. That must mean it is late and time to end the night. Time to sound the foghorn. From Anchor! Lacks the great body this guy has, check. Lacks the more intense chocolate cocoa flavor this has, check. I'll go more robust with the next porter I brew. Let's see where blank slate porter falls short... He never ever lets you down, to the mad monk! More of that crazy guy they tried to kill a multitude of ways over in Russia. A classic american IPA and all around really solid. The best beer I've had from Lost Coast (Not much of a feat there though!) Another one we've been meaning to try but hadn't gotten around to yet. Lost Coast's Indica IPA. My uncle and I had Lagunitas' Imperial Red, which we thought would probably be similar to this. We were wrong, this was much better than the Imperial Red. Nice hoppy kick and a big red backbone, almost gave Red Rocket a run for its money. A first for my uncle and I, Lagunitas Lucky 13. It's a Mondo Red Ale, read: BIG!

I got a new 2008 Honda Civic LX (Automatic, Black, 4dr) today. Maybe I'll post a few pictures of it soon. I dunno if I mentioned I got a new job or not, it seems pretty awesome so far, I'm about a month in. Here goes nothing! By the way Derek, what pharmacy do you work at? Might be a funny connection between our jobs if you answer a certain one. I'm going to skip the ones my uncle and I have all the time in favor of the more interesting ones that we were trying for the first time since I have so many pictures. My weak attempt at an eerie moon photo. My camera gets pixelated quick when I zoom really far. Almost forgot how good this is too. There's a reason this has been on the top 100 and held there for so long. Finished the night with a Sammy smith Impy Stout. One of the lower ABV Imp Stouts out there. Overall it is really solid. Nice hop bill hinting at west coast status yet has a very similar big malt backbone to Dogfish Head's 60 minute. Firestone's Union Jack, a first for my uncle and I. A very well balanced Belgian Pale that I adored. I was a little underwhelmed by the first few Lost Abbey's I had, but the last two have redeemed the name a bit. And to celebrate my devotion to my new job (you like that? eh? eh?) Lost Abbey's Devotion Ale. Pretty extreme. Not as extreme as Aventinus, but a bit more palatable in my opinion. Erdinger's Weizen-Bock. New to us. It looks awfully dark from this picture, but it was still a tremendous red, probably my favorite red out there, super aggressive hoppy with an awesome malt backbone! Another old friend. Actually, not sure if my uncle had this one before. We were both surprised that we liked it so much, actually thought it was better than Samuel Smith's? Revisiting an old friend. Still holding up well! Blank Slate Porter. From what I can remember, it was a really nice saison. Malt flavor actually came through which was key in making it better than a lot of saisons I've tried. These beers really are from a month back, I hope I can remember them! Lost Abbey's Red Barn Ale.

I hope to get the pics from the last month up tomorrow. Things have been way too hectic lately even on the weekends, it has been really annoying actually! My beer shipment from Heath arrived today, and WOW, Heath just gained like 8,000 points in my "cool dudes" book. I can't believe some of the stuff he sent me, what a psycho! I can only hope to send him back stuff that's half as rare/good, because he really outdid himself! I leave on thursday this week for a special trip! Not telling where though...

Do you have any more pictures Nicole? You guys didn't take nearly enough!

^ *Mental Note For Next Trade* Beer pics from the last month coming soon... Did I say month? It has been a month since I've posted? NO WAY! By the way Derek, what pharmacy do you work at?

^ Nice post. When meeting Natalie I didn't really want to snap a picture of her since that might seem a little weird. I was planning to snap a picture later in the day when she was busy pouring beer, but it seems she left a little early and had some other goobers take over. Now if I had had a few more samples in me when she was there I probably would have asked to have a picture taken with her! At first I thought she was just kind of Vinnie's PR person but now I understand that she is a whole lot more involved with everything than I first thought. Really glad she gives the outside world a look at what's going on at RRBC.

Alright, I have pretty much had it with the picture attachment on this forum, it always seems to screw up when I do my huge posts too that take me over an hour to do. I'm going to repost the Santa Rosa Beerfest pics from flickr into here, and I'll probably keep the same format for future long posts. Description: First I have some pictures from the friday before I went, over at the Uncle's house. Here's St. Peter's Old Style Porter. Description: Very weird stuff indeed. They mix two different beers to make it. You get the hop bill of a pilsener, and the malt bill of a normal porter, basically. It's interesting and pretty good, though the mouthfeel is a bit thin. Description: Haven't had this in a while, and I've never shared it with my uncle until now! Description: Hooray, buckets of awesomeness! Pretty alcoholic tasting stuff that has a nice big beefy malt backbone and of course, a TON of hops. Description: Racer 5 was our third and final beer that night. Description: Amazing that this beer can hold up to Hopsickle, and taste almost hoppier even? Hard to describe how great Racer 5 is. Description: I see golden arches, where's all the fog today??? Description: Crossing the Golden Gate is actually the quickest way to Santa Rosa from where I live. Traffic wasn't so bad on a saturday either. Description: Now at the fest, deciding which booth to hit first wasn't too hard. Description: Say hello to the elusive Bear Republic Black Mamba. It's a belgian dark ale weighing in at 5.3%. Very complex flavors, caramel, roastyness, and some dark fruits all in here, a nice beer from Bear Republic! Description: This fest was very crowded. Hard to take the kind of pictures you want to take in such conditions. Here's North Coast's booth. Unfortunately they didn't have anything uncommon. (Rasputin, Red Seal, Thelonious, Old No. 38 Stout, and Pranqster) Description: But wait, Old Rasputin was on nitro! Yay!!! It was quite awesome on nitro too, wow, probably a tie for best in fest... Description: One of the best parts about this fest is that there are just as many food booths as beer booths. It promotes beer and food pairing, and helps to keep people from getting too drunk. The fest only lasts 4 hours which is also a plus. You pay $35 and get a taster glass and unlimited beer and food. The food samples weren't small by any means either. Here's the fruit and veggie booth, awesome local produce here! Description: A lot of local breweries turned up that I hadn't even heard of before, like Stumptown Brewing in Guerneville. Description: Their Rat Bastard Pale Ale was quite nice. I like trying places like this, but couldn't try every little guy booth at the fest in the short amount of time. Description: Well, I guess you could also consider this a little guy based on their very limited keg distribution and no bottles, but I think most people know who Moonlight is by now, an amazingly creative cutting edge brewer. Description: And who's serving the beer today? None other than Brian Hunt himself. On tap from left to right was: Working For Tips, Death and Taxes, Out To Lunch, and of course, Reality Czeck. Description: Had to start off with the Reality Czeck. The #52 beer in the world and the highest rated pilsener. It was damn good for sure, actually a little more delicate than Trumer Pils but the subtleties were more complex and overall delicious. Description: Since I had already had a sip of Heath's Death and Taxes last September, I skipped that and had some Working For Tips. Appropriately named, this is a gruit, spiced with Rewood Tips, no hops. The malt backbone is somewhere between a brown and a red. Very good stuff! Description: On to another one of the most exciting booths, Russian River of course. They had Pliny the Elder, Bling Pig IPA, and Fleurette. Natalie was there, pretty cool to meet her, but too bad no Vinnie appearance! Description: I am very lucky to be trying Fleurette, as only one batch was brewed when Agostino Arioli was visiting Vinnie from Italy. This beer used edible flowers like rose petals, smelled great, and was quite delicious as well. Description: I also tried Blind Pig IPA from Russian River, which tasted a lot like Pliny... However, Hop Stoopid on tap blew it out of the water. This was my other favorite of the fest. Description: And I'd enjoy some of that while meeting Jay Brooks, the blogger that runs www.brookstonbeerbulletin.com, which is my favorite local beer blog. He lives up in the north bay so this fest is practically in his backyard. Description: And there's my attempt at an overview shot. Pretty big location with tons of parking lot space that they didn't utilize, I really don't understand why they didn't spread out the booths. It was really really crowded, but the lines weren't bad at all, and the food makes for a good fest. I enjoyed it. Description: After the fest that night, Russian River Brewing Company in Santa Rosa for dinner! Description: The board. It's really too bad they don't have their wild ales on tap very often. Maybe that will change with their new production brewery? Description: Here's the wall of shirts. I'd take home a pliny the elder one. Description: I ordered the sampler, which covers pretty much everything. A few standouts for sure, excellent sampler all around. Description: One such standout would have to be Perdition, a Biere De Garde. Excellent example of the style, the only one that could rival this on the sampler was Salvation, which I have had before. Description: And the deliciousness that was our pizza. Wow, awesome pizza here folks, awesome! Description: A picture of the bar area, to the left in the window you can see some barrels of beer aging. Bye Russian River, I'll miss you! Description: And to end this Photo TR, a picture of Flavor Bistro, which has around six Moonlight brews on tap at all times. Will have to eat lunch here next time or something. Just a short walk from RRBC. Wow, that ended up taking a lot longer than I expected because flickr has no organized sequential naming convention, and doesn't leave the pics with their filenames. Oh well, hope you guys will now finally be able to enjoy it!

Weird, they showed up for me for like a day, maybe they were just cached on my cpu or something though. I will edit the post and put them back up. Edit: Now I'm getting an error when I hit Upload New Version. Unable to update the Attachment. DEBUG MODE SQL Error : 1064 You have an error in your SQL syntax. Check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 's house. Here\''s St. Peter\''s Old Style Porter.', extension UPDATE forum_attachments_desc SET physical_filename = 'p6060001_204.jpg', real_filename = 'P6060001.JPG', comment = 'But first I have some pictures from the friday before I went, over at the Uncle\''s house. Here\''s St. Peter\''s Old Style Porter.', extension = 'jpg', mimetype = 'image/pjpeg', filesize = 102494, filetime = 1213908210, thumbnail = 0 WHERE attach_id = 194216 Line : 633 File : posting_attachments.php Looks like someone forgot to escape apostrophes in the SQL string somewhere.

^ Joe, what happened to all of my glorious pictures? They showed up fine yesterday Edit: Kinda weird all of them are gone now but one. Am I going to need to edit the post and re-up them?

I just saw this. Thanks for posting it. Feel free to come visit the beer thread every once in a while!

For Joe's Birthday I have finally decided to post my pictures from the Santa Rosa Beerfest. Happy Birthday Joe, sorry I couldn't get a Salvation to you! Went to SFDK on the way home from the Beerfest too... If you're interested in some pictures from there, you can visit my flickr photostream at: And to end this Photo TR, a picture of Flavor Bistro, which has around six Moonlight brews on tap at all times. Will have to eat lunch here next time or something. Just a short walk from RRBC.

^ Sweet action guys, I am way jealous at the Masala Mama among other things. Hopefully I'll get my pictures up tomorrow, I had a great time this weekend!