Urban Oyster Co-Founder Dave Naczycz has been posting reports from the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado:
Intro | Day 1 | Day 2

One of the new components of this year’s GABF was a focus on sustainability, both for the conference and for the brewing industry.  GABF teamed up with Zero Hero, Ecosyste.ms, A1 Organics, and the Colorado Carbon Fund to take a number of steps to green the conference.  Here are some highlights:

• Divert 70% of waste from landfill at this year’s GABF
• Offset 33.70 metric tons of CO2 emissions
• Disposable items at GABF will be recyclable or compostable.  Water cups, plates and utensils are compostable.  As always, the beer tasting glass is reusable.
• All glass and plastic bottles, cans, paper and cardboard will be recycled
• Comprehensive pre- and post-festival recycling program
• The use of styrofoam at food outlets in the event has been banned
• Bulk condiments will be used at concession areas
• All compost will be processed by A1 Organics, located in Platteville, CO. This is a permitted commercial composting facility and will mix GABF compost with other food waste, animal waste, yard waste and wood chips. Within 90 days this compost will become a rich soil amendment.
• GABF will be part of the Green Meetings Industry Council’s goal to divert one million tons of trash from the landfill

In addition to these steps, there was a large section in the conference devoted to the conference’s sustainability efforts as well as efforts by the brewing industry as a whole.  The area was divided up into different areas of sustainability, including water, waste, carbon and social responsibility.  Each section contained information on what was being done by the conference, what was being done by the industry and what you could do as an individual to affect those areas.  There was also a great custom-built keg delivery bike that I think could have a future in New York City.  Again, I’ll be doing a follow-up article on sustainability in the beer industry in the coming month, so we’ll be revisiting a lot of what was talked about at GABF.  Though it was pretty significant to see such a large amount of floor space committed to the topic. 

My first GABF was an amazing experience where, in addition to tasting lots of delicious beer and food, I learned a great deal about the industry, brewers, and the beer that is out there.  That said, there were some things about the festival that I didn’t think were positive either for the festival or the industry. 

First, the GABF has spent its entire 30 years in Colorado; first in Boulder and later in Denver.  This event has amazing potential to raise the visibility of craft beer nationwide and to generate millions of new customers and aficionados.  Having the festival in Denver every year is like preaching to the converted.  Denver is a place where craft beer is ubiquitous.  Everyone drinks it and it is found in every restaurant and bar.  I don’t have any city specific figures, but my guess is that while only about 6% of the beer consumed nationwide is craft beer, the figure is much closer to 30% for Denver as a city.  I urge the Brewers Association to take this party on the road.  It would do wonders for the industry.

Second, and this is related to the first issue in my mind, the GABF in Denver has increasingly become a drinking party.  It got worse as the festival continued, but there were hordes of people there on every night that didn’t seem to care at all about craft beer.  They had only one goal in mind, and that was to get trashed.  Now, far be it for me to begrudge people a good time; however, I just don’t think it serves the craft beer industry to have a majority of attendees to its biggest festival getting plastered.  Craft beer’s true advantage over mass produced beer is that it is not something you chug.  It’s a fine food to be savored and appreciated.  I’m not saying that people shouldn’t have fun; I just think it was over the top at this year’s festival, and that was a sentiment I heard over and over.  In fact, many of the brewers avoid the weekend days or stay away from the event entirely for this very reason.   I think a lot of this could be solved by taking the event on the road, since I think one contributing factor is that a lot of Denverites are used to going to this event, and it has become an annual party for them.

Finally, the volunteers, of which there are over 3,000, should not be the ones that people are meeting at these booths.  Most breweries did not staff their tables with brewery people who were knowledgeable about the beer and the brewery.  I understand that many small brewers don’t have the staff to spare, but then they should at least have a way of training the volunteers.  The volunteers I spoke with knew nothing about the beer they were pouring or about the brewery they were representing.  Most were placed at a table just minutes before the festival opened.   This just reinforces that this is too much a drinking event and not enough an informational and educational one. 

Aside from those issues, this remains a great event.  It’s the only time you are going to see that many breweries in one room and be able to try that much great beer.  The food and beer pairing events were phenomenal, and the efforts at sustainability for the conference were inspiring.  I do recommend going to at least one GABF in your life if you are at all interested in beer. 

Last but not least, one of the purposes of the GABF is to have a competition for US brewers.  This year that competition awarded 278 medals in 87 catagories.  New York State produced three medalists and our sole Gold Medal winner was Ommegang for their Witte in the Belgian Witbier category.   You can check out the full list of winners here.
Read Dave's other blog posts from GABF:
Intro | Day 1 | Day 2

Stay tuned for our last blog post about our experience at GABF tomorrow.  For questions or comments about this blog post, please contact Andrew Gustafson or leave a comment. If you would like to follow this blog, subscribe to our RSS feed or sign up for the Urban Oyster email newsletter. All photos courtsey Dave Naczycz.

Urban Oyster Co-Founder Dave Naczycz has been posting reports from the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado:
Intro | Day 1 | Day 3

So, day 2 turned out to be all about the growing focus on beer and food and how the line between the two is blurring, as many brewers are getting into food and vice versa.  The day started off with a press luncheon featuring different beers from around the country paired with several dishes.  The meal was delicious as was the beer.  I’ll share the menu with you here:

Welcome Beer:  (Yes there was a welcome beer.  Perks of going as press)
Taps Fish House & Brewery (Brea, CA) – Belgian White

Salad:
Roasted Carpaccio Beet Salad with Fennel, Green Apples, Goat Cheese, and Bacon served with Vinaigrette
Paired with: 
Chuckanut Brewery and Kitchen (Bellingham, WA) – Vienna Lager
McKenzie Brew House (Malvern, PA) – Saison Vautour

Main:
Grains of Paradise Seared Lamb Loin, Ginger Forbidden Rice with Apricots and Cranberries
Paired with:
Nebraska Brewing Co. (Papillion, NE) – Melange A Trois
Devils Backbone Brewing Co. (Roseland, VA) – Danzig

Dessert:
Pumpkin Bread Pudding topped with Ska Ten Pin Porter Caramel Sauce and Lefthand ESB Ice Cream
Paired with:
Barley Brown’s Brew Pub (Baker City, OR) – Turmoil
Rock Bottom Breweries (La Jolla, CA) – Moonlight

American Artisan Cheese Plate:
Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company  – Original Blue and Toma
Beecher’s Handmade Cheese – Flagsheep,
Cowgirl Creamery – Mt. Tam
Paired with:
Pagosa Brewing Co. (Pagosa Springs, CO) – Pagosa Pale
Fat Head’s Brewery &  Saloon (North Olmstead, OH) – Head Hunter IPA
Freetail Brewing Co. (San Antonio, TX) – Bandito

So needless to say this meal was amazing.  All of the food was delicious as was the beer.  The lamb was some of the best I have ever had, and the Grains of Paradise really added a lot.  For those that don’t know or don’t watch Sam Adams commercials, Grains of Paradise is a historic brewing spice that you can still find today in some beers.  The pairings sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t.  There was some grumbling about that among the assembled press corps, but I always feel that food and beer pairing is not an exact science, and part of the magic are the unexpected successes.  I felt the best pairing of the meal was the McKenzie Brew House Saison Vatour with the salad.  The tart fruitiness of the Saison helped to highlight some of the bright flavors of the salad.  It really made the salad come alive.  Alternatively I didn’t think the Vienna Lager did anything for the salad, but it was still a fine beer. 

After the luncheon we headed out for a tour of local Colorado breweries.  Perhaps the highlight of that trip was a stop at Strange Brewing Co., which is a new brewery in Denver located in the middle of an industrial area where you would never think to find a brewery.  Think Brooklyn Brewery circa 1996, except in an industrial strip mall.  It is a tiny brewery with a bar in front and a three-barrel system in the rear.  Yes, three barrels – and even that small capacity is due to a recent expansion.  The brewery was reminiscent of the early days of craft brewing due to the fact that much of their equipment was either custom-built or repurposed dairy equipment.  Their mash tun was an old dairy separator, and two of their fermenting tanks had been hand built.  These were all hand-me-downs from older breweries that had once used them to get started; so in effect, this is the first generation of craft brewers, all grown up, supporting the second-generation siblings.  We tried their 7 Barrel Saison, the Fresh Hopped Pale Ale, and their Cherry Bomb, which was created due to a mistake in their attempt to brew a normal cherry beer.  They lost a lot of water to evaporation when adding the cherries, and the resulting brew was quite a bit stronger than they had planned on.  However, it was so popular that they keep making it.  All three beers were delicious, and I recommend a trip to the brewery if you are ever in Denver.

The bus then went on to LoHi Tap & Burger.  This is a bar and grill that prides itself on excellent food and a great beer selection.  We enjoyed pairings with Oskar Blues HGH (I’ll talk more about this later) and Odell Brewing  Mercenary (DIPA) and their Bourbon Barrel Stout.  Pairings included meat sticks (kind of like jerky) made from meat direct from the Oskar Blues farm.  The beers were delicious, as was the food, though by this time my stomach was starting to rebel.  Finally, we were dropped off at Wynkoop Brewery in Denver, which was founded by the current governor of Colorado, John Hickenlooper.  They were hosting Pints for Prostates, which is a fundraiser for prostate research, and a couple dozen breweries were there pouring rare beer from their collections.  I tried a couple, but at this point I was past the point of being able to appreciate either food or beer.  So I quickly retreated back to a hotel to rest and get ready for the night session. 

The food and beer did not let up in the evening.  It was relentless.   First, I had a ticket to visit the special Farm to Table pavilion, where breweries had teamed up with chefs from around the country to offer spectacular food and beer pairings using local, straight-from-the-farm ingredients.  The first table I visited was our own Brooklyn Brewery, whose Garrett Oliver is widely considered the preeminent expert on food and beer pairing.  They were pouring their latest batch of Brooklyner Weisse and the Black Chocolate Stout and pairing it with a cheesecake topped with barley sauce and a barley tiramisu prepared by Patrick Sheerin of the Signature Room in Chicago.  The beer was of course delicious, but I had my doubts about the food and wasn’t sure that a barley tiramisu would be that great.  However, it was absolutely delicious with a rich caramel flavor that went very well with the Weisse.  Another highlight was the Three Floyds Brewing table that teamed up with another Sheering, Mike of the The Trencherman in Chicago, to offer their Moloko Milk Stout with a Lamb Bacon.  I thought I had died and gone to some sort of food and beer heaven.  The rich creamy stout joined forces with a tender and savory strip of lamb bacon to produce perfection.  The things I do for this company. 

The rest of the night was food and beer marathon where I had to tear myself away from the Farm to Table pavilion, which was easily the best part of this year’s GABF, and attend a couple of presentations.  The first featured Garrett Oliver along with other brewing luminaries as they discussed the lack of quality beer scholarship when compared to wine.  The second featured former Top Chef Winner Stephanie izzard teaming up with Goose Island Brewery on a food and beer pairing.  This session was a bit of disappointment.  The beer and the food were not that great, and the presenters seemed to be having fun amusing each other rather than explaining what they were doing. 

Luckily the third session made up nicely for that, as it featured Oskar Blues.  Most people know Oskar Blues from their popular canned beer, Dale’s Pale Ale.  They were the first craft brewery to can beer back in 2002, and now well over 100 breweries are canning beer.  The brewer owns a brewpub, has recently purchased a farm and is now taking the merger between beer and food to its next logical step by creating a complete cycle between brewery, farm, and restaurant.  The session illustrated this by pairing vegetables and beef raised on the farm (using spent grain and grey water from the brewery) with their HGH Double Dry Hopped Strong Ale.  The HGH is made with hops grown on their farm so that everything we tasted in the session had been growing on the farm just a few weeks ago.  The dish was amazing, and the beer was also spectacular.  Sustainable, locally produced food and beer are big topics on Urban Oyster’s tours and I have been inspired by my experiences at the festival to produce a more detailed post about different practices around the country being used by brewers to enhance the sustainability of their production.  That post will be coming in the next month or so.

By the end of day 2, my stomach and liver were both maxed out and I went to bed happy and very, very full.

Read Dave's other blog posts from GABF: Intro | Day 1 | Day 3

Stay tuned for our last blog post about our experience at GABF tomorrow.  For questions or comments about this blog post, please contact Andrew Gustafson or leave a comment. If you would like to follow this blog, subscribe to our RSS feed or sign up for the Urban Oyster email newsletter. All photos courtsey Dave Naczycz.