Now that my liver has recuperated from the SF Beer Week 2010 events,it’s time to reflect and hook up the cirrhosis machine. It was definitely a good week for beer connoisseurs/geeks to journey to San Francisco. This week is sandwiched between two events that have been going on for a while: the Bistro’s Double IPA Festival and the Toronado Barleywine Festival. Add the “kickoff”SF Brewers Guild opening party and the “meltdown”Celebrator Beer News Anniversary Party and you have one liver punishing week of amazing beer.
This year saw a huge increase in the number of beer dinners and events (check out the huge list of SF Beer Week events). It seemed like there were three beer dinners every night and tons “special”beer events all around the Bay Area. I heard that there were over 120 events in all over the week.
So how did I spend my SF Beer Week? Good question. Let me count the liver damaging ways:
- Saturday –Alesmith tasting at City Beer which included a barrel aged Speedway Stout,Decadence 2009,Evil Dead Red Ale,Winter Yulesmith,Horny Devil,Lil Devil and Old Numbskull.
- Sunday –Lost Abbey and Pizza Port beers at Toronado including a Cuvee De Tomme wild,Duck Duck Gooze,Veritas 007,Cable Car 09 wild,Red Poppy and Older Viscocity
- Monday –Liver timeout
- Tuesday –Russian River “tion”night at Pi Bar (Pliny the Younger was gone in 45 minutes) followed by sausages at Rosamunde and Magnolia for Firkin beers
- Wednesday –The amazing Mostly Barrel Aged Beer Dinner at Scala’s Bistro
- Thursday –Liver timeout
- Friday –Beers from Midnight Sun debut at City Beer (3767 is great),Cellar Vault at Magnolia and finally Toronado for some Pliny the Younger
- Saturday –Liver,body and mind recuperation
I skipped out of the Toronado Barleywine festival this year. It’s always a zoo and full of drunks (hey! I’ve represented that comment). The winning Barleywines usually run out during the festival but magically appear later in the month. So I’ll be back to Toronado soon enough. But the holy grail of beers was Russian River Pliny the Younger. It sold out in four hours at the brewery and single kegs seemed to last about 30 minutes in any beer that tapped it. You crazy beer drinkers!
In case you’re wondering,here are the winners from the Bistro Double IPA Festival:
- 1st Place:Welcome Back Wipeout IPA,Pizza Port Brewing
- 2nd Place:HopSauce,Rubicon Brewing
- 3rd Place:II Max Imperial IPA,Triple Rock Brewing
- People’s Choice Award:Pliny the Younger,Russian River
And the results from the Toronado Barleywine Festival:
- 1st Place:Big Woody,Glacier Brewhouse
- 2nd Place:Abacus Blend,Firestone Walker
- 3rd Place:Old Gnarlywine 2008,Lagunitas Brewing
- Honorable Mention:ODB,Oskar Blues Brewing
The other beers that reached the final round were AleSmith Old Numbskull,Alpine Brewing Great,Anchor Old Foghorn,and Big Sky Old Blue Hair.
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