I made it home last night from GABF. I made it home in body only, because I do not quite think I am alive yet.
A group of us (7 people) flew out to GABF on Thursday from Austin. Our flight got diverted but we ended up in Denver at 10:15 as opposed to our scheduled time of 7 PM. Just meant that we were starting our drinking late that night. We went immediately to the beer store and got supplies for the night:
Something like $350 worth of beer for our quick Thursday night tasting. There were some beers that I was not extremely happy we got solely due to them being in Texas, but that is what you get when you have people grabbing bottles you want. Maybe I am just too picky. But....that was a rough night. We crashed about 4 AM with 23 of those bombers and some 12 ozers done.
Friday - main goal - hit up Crooked Stave and then do GABF later.
Crooked Stave was packed (no picture) but had some quality stuff. Ran into some of the breweries from Austin there who I know.
GABF. I have been twice before. This time, we decided to show up late to avoid the line. Apparently, showing up at 6 and walking in did not work as well this year as previous years. The line was long but fast moving.
I was mainly in it just to try random breweries as opposed to the big/longer line ones. Some ones that stood out were Tahoe City, Due South, and then one that I cannot remember out of Kansas/Nebraska or Missouri. Somewhere in that area (it was a long night).
Here is a bad iphone picture.
I left GABF the most sober I have ever been there (good thing). We tried to hit up Black Shirt Brewery but they were shutting down at this point (I think they were trying to avoid post-GABF crowds). Luckily, it was a block from our rental house so we continued drinking some more bombers there.
Next day - our brewery tour day. Goal....hit up as many breweries as we feel comfortable with in one way and pass out in Fort Collins. It started early (OU/UT people in the group wanted to watch RRR). So, we were in Boulder at 10 AM to watch the game. We left the sports bar at 1, so this is what happened after.
1) Upslope
2) Twisted Pine
3) Bootstrap Brewing (their IPAs were effin great)
4) City Star Brewing
5) Loveland Aleworks (no picture)
6) Grimm Brothers
7) Equinox Brewing
8) Black Bottle Brewing
Half the group called it a night after Equinox. I had to push it to 8 and then pass out. It was a great adventure to say the least.
Sunday morning. Woke up in Fort Collins and had to continue.
1) Odells
2) Funkwerks
Drove back to Denver...had a 6 PM flight...so we squeezed one more in in Denver:
3) Epic Brewing (no picture).
It felt so damn good to get home last night and sleep with no real alcohol in me.
Made it back with 10 bottles (2x Funkwerks, 1x Epic, 2x Alesmith, then a couple more that I cannot remember).
Looking forward to my next beercation.
There needs to be a session for CO residents only!
