Great American Beer Festival Suggestions?

[Sherwood]

This Friday (9/25) I'll be attending an evening session of the Great American Beer Festival here in Denver. Much as I would like to sample all 1,800 beers, time is limited to 4.5 hours, and I can't drink one sample per 9 seconds for more than an hour or two.

Therefore, I was hoping some of you brew aficionados (read: feckless drunks) might have some suggestions for me for a beer/brewery/style I should not miss.

[grawk]

dogfish

weyerbacher

ommegang

brooklyn

unibrou

[morphsci]

I would add in Three Floyds to Grawks list as well.

[grawk]

and cigar city brewery from ybor, if they show up

[909]

Russian River

[Sherwood]

I know for a fact cigar city will be there, so I'll hit them up

[catscratch]

Sample the best Russian Imperial Stouts if you can find them - Dark Lord, The Abyss, Kate the Great, Old Rasputin, Stone Russian Imperial, Sam Smith's Imperial, Founders Russian Imperial, Kentucky Breakfast Stout, and so on. Also sample the very best IPAs, though I know less here than I do in stouts, maybe some more experienced hop-head can chime in. I do think that these are the two styles that American breweries have taken to a peak that's not found anywhere else.

Also, try some American-brewed Belgian-style beers. Allagash makes some really good ones as well as some pretty mediocre ones. But Allagash Odyssey is one of my favorites (as is Allagash Four, if it comes out well, it's hit or miss with this one). I also like Ommegang Abbey Ale (more than their Three Philosophers Quad), but that's just the start and nowhere near the end, or the best. See if you can find any Lost Abbey beers there.

But yeah, Grawk's list is great. I'd add the following as well:

Allagash

AleSmith

Stone

Port Brewing/The Lost Abbey

Founders (their stouts rule)

Are there any Trappist beers at events like this? I can't help but think that climate change has affected hop quality since there's been a global drop in the quality of most Belgians, but Orval is still good, and Rochefort beers have been hit or miss, but still good at their best.

[Sherwood]

As a registered republican, I'm not able to physically see a beer affected by climate change, so those are, unfortunately, out.

I'll definitely take that Russian Imperial Stout list to heart, however. Sounds delicious.

[grawk]

I don't think it's climate that's hurting the belgians, I think it's popularity. As they increase production, the quality drops. A lot of formerly Trappist beers are now corporate, too.

[Sherwood]

Plus the Trappist lifestyle isn't as appealing in modern Belgium as it may once have been.

[Sherwood]

Also, there may be Trappist-style beers, but so far as I know there are no trappist breweries in the States, and it's a US-only competition/exhibition.

[NightWoundsTime]

Add to the list of russian imperials, Cigar City's Hunaphu's (as in run straight there and get yours before it's gone). I've only had one small glass of that stuff, and right now I'm hating on the brewer for electing to take a batch of it out to Denver, of all places. My personal opinion is that the brewery should stop making its' more pedestrian beers for widespread consumption, and focus solely on this beer and just a few others.

[NightWoundsTime]

And on the love for Hunahpu's, this may be the most beautiful image I've seen in a long time.

Here's hoping that makes it to bottles as a special release.