Thirty beer and food booths were placed on the Boardwalk behind Garrison Brewing, and in the adjacent Pier 20. The set up worked nicely, at least for the afternoon session I attended---close enough for easy taste testing, but not so close as to present problems moving around.
Vendors were gracious, the crowd congenial. The beer was cold.
To the nitty-gritty. Here are my notes on the beers tasted, at least as best I can decipher them a day later:
Bruce-Ashley Group.
Moretti.
My rating: 5 of 10.
My review: Yea, whatever.
Greene King IPA.
My rating: 8 of 10
My review: Complicated, in a good way.
Bellhaven Twisted Thistle IPA
My rating: 4 of 10
My review: Too malty.
Mainbrace.
Warsteiner Premium Verum.
My rating: 6 of 10
My review: Yea, whatever. You could drink this beer all day long, but why would you?
Innus and Gunn Brewing Co., Edinburgh Scotland.
Innus and Gunn Original Oak Aged Beer
My rating: 8 of 10
My review: Surprisingly, this works. Complex with a smoky flavour. But don’t drink more than one.
Gahan House Pub and Brewery.
Sydney Street Stout
My rating: 7.5 of 10.
My review: Onion-y, like straight of the dirty onion-y. Mmmmmmm.
Windway Imports.
Stiegal Bavarian Lager.
My rating: 6.5 of 10.
My review: Steve says, “Nice beer for sitting around drinking all day.” I agree, but ya know, I wouldn’t write home about it or anything.
Windward Imports.
Erdinger Weissbier.
My rating: 4 of 10.
My review: I don’t like wheat beers for a reason: they suck.
Windward Imports.
Affligem Blond.
My rating: 4 of 10
My review: Too much shit going on there.
Great Lakes Brewing.
Devil’s Pale Ale, 666.
My rating: 9 of 10.
My review: This is a great beer, right up there with Propeller’s Bitter.
Trafalgar.
Korruptor.(16% alc.vol)
My rating: no rating
My review: What was I thinking, drinking a barley wine?
Critical Mass.(17% alc/vol)
My rating: no rating.
My review: Who are we kidding here?
Wellington County.
Wellington Special Pale Ale.
My rating: 8 of 10
My review: There ya go.
Grand River Brewing.
Galt Knife Old Style.
My rating: 5 of 10.
My review: Steve says, “tastes like all the fucking shit I drank in the 60s.”
McAuslan Brewing.
Cream Ale.
My rating: 7.5
My review: Ray says, “Yea, 7.5. But, best cream ale there is.”
Pump House Brewery.
Dementia.
My rating: 8 of 10
My review: Even more hoppy than the SOB, but it works because the underlying [unreadable, and unguessable--- I think I was just making shit up by here]
Pump House.
SOB
My rating: 7 of 10
My review: Bit more hoppy than I would have liked, which kinda surprises me.
Shipyard Brewery, Maine.
Shipyard IPA.
My rating: 7 of 10
My review: They didn’t fuck it up.
Sebago Brewing, Maine.
Frye’s Leap IPA
My rating: 8 of 10.
My review: Hoppy but not too hoppy.
Rudders, Yarmouth.
Rudders Red.
My rating: 8 of 10.
My review: I’m giving this props because it doesn’t totally suck like most red beers.
Blue Heron Extra Special Bitter.
My rating: 9 of 10.
My review: They hit it with this. Hoppy beer done right. Watch these guys in the future.
Port is an Storm Porter.
My rating: 8 of 10.
My review: Wow. Where’d that come from? Is this really as good as I think, or have I simply been drinking for three and a half hours?
Planter’s Pale Ale.
My rating: 7 of 10.
My review: Light for a pale ale, kind of in that ridiculous American/Keith’s fashion.
In addition to being a first class news editor, Tim "Brewskay" Bousquet is a top notch home brewer.