Event Recap: Vail Big Beers, Belgians and Barley Wines 2010

This past weekend, some friends and I drove to Vail, Colorado, for the Big Beers, Belgians and Barley Wines Festival. After a lazy morning and a stop for some food, we arrived at the 8,150 feet about sea level base village. We had secured a hotel room at the Lionshead Inn on VailOnSale.com (definitely check it out, super cheap rates if you don’t mind booking last minute). The festival was to start at 2:30, so we hopped on the free in town bus and made our way to the Cascade Inn.

I’ve been to a bunch of beer festivals. From as small as the 12 beer Wet Hop Festival at Falling Rock to the enormity that is Great American Beer Fest, I’ve enjoyed my fair share. I had yet to attend the Big Beers fest, even though I lived in Vail for a year. I know, I know. For shame.

We got to the event 15 minutes early. A line was already starting to form, wrapping down some stairs and through the lobby. The clock struck 2:30 – sadly, there were no chimes or bells to ring us in – and we entered our first Big Beers, Belgians and Barley Wines festival.

To the right, Aspen Brewing. To the left, Allagash. Directly ahead, a table of bread and water. Bread. And water. It’s the little things. This table, and the other few scattered around the room, would prove to be the most popular booths after a while.

At this point, I was taking notes of each beer that I sampled. Next year I’ll bring an assistant or something to follow me around and write down what I say. Because there were way too many beers for me to keep track after a while.

With no rhyme or reason, we started to pinball around the festival, trying whatever looked good. Which, of course, was everything.
The room was a good size. Not too big, but bigger than, say, my living room. More like a banquet hall for a decent sized wedding. There were booths along all four walls, and then a rectangular island in the middle with more booths. So pinballing around meant getting a good sample of all that was out there.

After starting the festival with a Shot in the DARK from Aspen, my next stop was Avery. Yes, I live 45 minutes from the brewery. What of it? They brought a ridiculous selection of over 15 beers. My first choice was Moloch. Moloch can have a few meanings, but according to Wikipedia, ”‘Moloch’ can refer derivatively to any person or thing which demands or requires costly sacrifices.”

Good summary. My summary: “Holy Jesus!”

Avery Moloch, termed “big, barrel-aged beer”, is a 50/50 blend of Reverend and Samaels aged in a bourbon barrel “until it was ready to blow your mind…”

Like I said. “Holy Jesus!”

Phill thinks it's good too.

I moved down the row a few booths and grabbed an Allagash Four. Rob Tod was serving. We had a nice chat about how [expletive removed] tired he was after all the awesome skiing, drinking, and general socializing he’d done over the previous few days, especially at 8,000 feet and higher. I totally understood.

The next stop was a few booths back toward Avery, at Dogfish Head. Sam Calagione was serving 8+ ales. Some I’d had, most I’d heard of. I grabbed a Chateau Jiahu.

For your sake, Dear Reader, I won’t get in to every beer I sampled. Just know that there were a lot, and they were generally amazing to incredible. But I will tell you about a few.

We wandered to the other side of the room, where I saw someone I had spoken with via email, but hadn’t yet met: Chad Yakobson. Chad is a brewer at Odell Brewing Company. He also write a blog, or as he calls it, “An open source Masters dissertation from start to finish on Brettanomyces spp. and their use as a primary fermentation yeast.” You can read more at brettanomyces.wordpress.com. The moral of the story is that he loves a sour beer. So do I.

This is a great point to mention that Chad was pouring beer for Odell. Adam Avery was pouring at Avery. Rob Tod was pouring at Allagash. Sam Calagione was pouring at Dogfish Head. Almost every single booth was manned by the brewer, owner, or both. I love GABF and the volunteers do a great job, but this was something special. Every beer was poured by the hand that made it. Define “craft” better than that.

Overall, the festival is absolutely amazing. If you’re able to go next year, I highly, highly advise it. The beer, the people, the town, it all adds up to the best beer festival I’ve been to.

If you want to read more of this story, head over to my personal blog for Event Recap: Vail Big Beers, Belgians and Barley Wines 2010, Part II.

I’d like to thank Laura and Bill of Highpoint Brewing for setting up the event. Also, Kell Benson and Phill Tearse took some wonderful photos. You can see more of their shots in this slideshow, or their individual Flickr pages: Kell Benson’s Flickr – Phill Tearse’s Flickr

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