Lupulin Reunuless Do

photo by: http://twogirlsonefoodprocessor.com/

SAVOR isn't SAVOR if we didn’t have some version of the Lupulin Reunion the night before. I’ve attended this event each year before SAVOR and it is every good as it would appear from the list of brewers. It is quite rare that you can get the top craft beer pioneers in the world together on the stage. They each have very busy schedules (and little financial reason to attend). These are the people who live the lives every beer geek wishes they could live. They sit around and ponder how to make better beer while traveling the world representing their brewery and drinking the best brews the world has to offer. It is a tough life I’m sure.

Marc Wismer joined Teri and I. It was great to get Marc out on his first beer tasting. What a first event for him. We missed Bob Tupper this year as the moderator. Daniel Bradford from All About Beer took the helm and he did a great job of moving the event along. Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head missed the event because he was opening up his new beer bar on some rooftop in NYC. The brewers that did show up included:

• Ken Grossman - Sierra Nevada
• Tomme Arthur - Port Brewing / Lost Abbey / Pizza Port
• Kim Jordan - New Belgium
• Rob Tod - Allagash
• Bill Madden - Mad Fox
• Nick Funnell - Sweetwater Tavern VA / Great American Restaurants VA

And their beers...

• Mad Fox - Orange Whip IPA
• New Belgium - Imperial Berlinerweisse
• Sweetwater Tavern VA - Midnight Rider Black IPA
• Allagash - Little Big Beer
• Port Brewing - Mongo
• Sierra Nevada - Barrel Aged Life and Limb
• Dogfish Head - 2yr old Pangaea
• Lost Abby/Port Brewing/Pizza Port - Anniversary Ale
• Sierra Nevada - 30th Anniversary Grand Cru
• Allagash - Avancé
• New Belgium - Vreinden
• Dogfish Head - 2 yr old Immort Ale
• Mad Fox - Oaked Slobberknocker
• Great American Restaurants - Oak Aged High Desert Imperial Stout

Bill Madden started off with a local favorite and a favorite of mine and Teri’s: the Orange Whip IPA. It is a beer with all citra hops and Bill can’t brew enough to keep it in stock. He said the name came from the Blues Brothers when John Candy ordered an Orange Whip while at the concert. Bill said he has been brewing since ‘95. He helped grow four different locations for Cap City. I guess he was only at Vintage 50 for a year while Teri was working there. July 12th will be the one year anniversary of the opening of Mad Fox. Orange Whip IPA is definitely the beer of choice for my growler if it's in stock.

The next beer was an Imperial Berlinerweisse from New Belgium. Kim Jordan, the owner, was here to talk about it. Kim took New Belgium brewery from a basement home brew to the #7 brewery in the country in 20 years. This Berlinerweisse was nice, not too tart, and definitely a big imperial. They got the yeast from Berlin. Only a few breweries brew this style. Kim and her husband put sangria blackberries in their berlinerweisse while in Spain and that sounded like an excellent idea. This came in at 7.5%; hence the imperial.

The Midnight Rider Black IPA from Sweetwater Tavern VA was next. Nick Funnell was there to talk about it. It was Nick’s 25th year as a brewer. Nick is a Brit and he said it was time to leave the UK when he got complaints about his wheat beers. It was a very well balanced and malty IPA.

Rob Tod of Allagash came with two rare ones from his brewery. The Little Big Beer was brewed with the Alström Bros for a Belguim beer festival. They also made a Big Little Beer using the second runnings of the Little Big Beer. From BeerAdvocate.com:

First runnings from "Big Little Beer." Fermented with a blend of Allagash house yeast and Allagash house brettanomyces. Aged in a mix of french oak wine barrels and bourbon barrels for 2 months.

I haven’t been in the Bret mood the last few months. This beer was about 10.5%.

Tomme Arthur brought the Mongo from Port Brewing. Mongo has an interesting story. They had a rodent problem at the brewery. Lots of grains you know. So they invested in some "bio-dynamic pest control" as they called it: cats. Mongo was the first cat in their brewery litter and was the biggest. Unfortunately Mongo died after 7 or 8 months but his spirit lives on in the beer. It’s a new double IPA and a very high seller of theirs. It was one of my favorites of the night.

The Sierra Nevada Barrel Aged Life and Limb was next. This was a collaboration with Dogfish Head made with maple syrup. It also had barley from the Sierra Nevada farm and aged in whiskey barrels. It had a very maple syrup taste.

The seventh beer was a two year old vintage of Dogfish Head Pangaea. The Dogfish Head guy filling in for Sam said that Sam thought up this beer while watching “The Land Before Time”. It has an ingredient from every continent. They sent some World Wide Stout (former highest alcohol beer of all time) up to the scientists in Antarctica and got back water to use to brew the beer as one of the ingredients.

Lot’s of high alcohol beers and the night is only half over.

The next beer was one of my favorites. It was the Anniversary Ale from Lost Abby or Port Brewing or Pizza Port (I forget which of Tomme’s breweries brewed this). It was a double IPA brewed with five different hops. I believe this was barrel aged. Tomme said they have 600 oak barrels and do 6-8 beers a year with their barrel program. He said you get a ton of shrinkage with barrel aged beers. A lot less beer comes out of the barrel then you put in. I liked this one because it had a fresh hop taste. It came in around 10.5% to 11%.

Sierra Nevada’s 30th Anniversary Grand Cru’s was next. I’ve had a few of these and still have a couple in my beer stock. It is a favorite of mine this year and was cheap. Read all about this one and their other anniversary ales here.

One of the beers I found most interesting and was very happy to try was the Allagash Avancé. From Allagash...

Avancé is a product of patience. Aged with strawberries for three years in bourbon barrels, this strong, sour ale has the aroma of strawberry preserves and toasted oak. The oak and berries continue their presence in flavor, and compliment the sweet, warm finish. 10.8% ABV

This was the beer I had last night. I really enjoyed. Teri not so much. Rob said wheat beers are 80% of their sales. Rob also talked about their 450 gallon cool ship used to brew open-fermentation spontaneous beers. They are careful not to call them lambics in respect for the Belgium lambics. This was how beer was brewed before heat exchange technology. I’ve yet to try one of their cool ship beers because they haven’t distributed them yet. Very much looking forward to that. All the other brewers sounded jealous of Rob’s set-up. Nothing like opening up your beer to all the bacteria and yeast floating around in the air.

The next beer from New Belgium was advertised that night as a double hop double malt Fat Tire but when I talked to Kim at SAVOR she said that was not the case. From their website...

Allagash and New Belgium are pleased to offer you our collabeeration brewed with the slightly fruity hibiscus flower, the aromatic Brettanomyces, and the flavor-boosting Lactobacillus.

The 2 year old vintage of Dogfish Head Immort Ale was next. I believe this was Dogfish Head’s first beer with maple syrup. From what I understand they had a crap ton of maple syrup at the brewhouse during a snowstorm so they decided to brew a beer with it. It is a hefty one. This comes in at 11% ABV.

Continuing with the big beers at the end of the evening we had an oaked Slobberknocker from Mad Fox next. Being a local brew from a favorite brewer Teri and I have had this one before. I believe I like this one out of the three barleywines that Bill has brewed. For some reason while drinking this beer they told the story about Sam and Tomme driving from RFD to the Brickskeller with an open 120 Minute IPA (~20% ABV). They said it was a 90 minute trip. Glad I wasn’t on my bike in DC that night.

Finally we had the Oak Aged High Desert Imperial Stout on cask from Great American Restaurants VA (Sweetwater). And as usual I have no notes on the last beer. I think we drank it all though. :)

It was another great night before SAVOR with the top craft brewers in the world hanging out, getting drunk, and having fun. Lots of good stories and good beers. Hopefully they do it again next year.