GABF 2023: Top 40 Breweries at the Fest
With over 500 breweries pouring at the 41st Great American Beer Festival, you’re going to need a plan. Well, you’re going to need a ticket to the fest, travel, lodging, food before the fest, lots of water, comfortable walking shoes…and a plan. So we put together a list of the 40 breweries we are most excited to drink at this year’s fest and arbitrarily ranked them based on how psyched we are to stop by their booths. Some of these are breweries that are very well known to us, and some will be first time experiences.
But, none are Illinois breweries, because Craig did a whole separate writeup on Illinois breweries that you should read. Plus, we drink a hell of a lot of their beers already, so we’re staying out of our own state for this list, despite the fact that we’ll still be hitting many an Illinois booth while there.
Also, we’re only focusing on breweries in attendance, though there is an impressive list of brewers in the “Wish We Were Here” taproom section. Be warned too that beer options, breweries at the fest, and booth locations are all subject to change, so we’ve based this off of the GABF website as of the week of 9/11/23.
And yes we know, we know. Here are just some of the other great breweries we left off of this list: Alaskan, Allagash, Avery, Belching Beaver, Black Market, Cerveceria Colorado, Creature Comforts, Crowns & Hops, Dogfish Head, Faction, Fat Head’s, Firestone Walker, Heavy Riff, Modern Times, Odell, Perennial, Pizza Port, Prairie, Prost, Sierra Nevada, Snake River, Wiseacre... We’ll probably try to hit all of these as well, but cuts had to be made for the sake of a tidy list.
Also, we did something of an audio version of this for the podcast as well – check it out here.
Our Top 40 Breweries at the Fest
40. Crooked Stave (Denver, CO) – Booth 1-20
Our first pour: Spon, 6% ABV
Medal winners pouring: Spon (2021)
In 2014, the first year we went to GABF, Craig made a beeline to Crooked Stave at The Source and had a flight of 18 beers. We also featured the brewery twice on the podcast in our early years. So what changed? Well besides adopting some of the newer styles and trends, Crooked Stave is still a dependable option, especially if sour and brett beers are your thing. Nightmare on Brett is a 9.6% dark sour aged in oak foeders before being transferred to bourbon and whiskey barrels. Spon is their coolshipped, “Methodè Traditionnelle” golden sour, and it’s hard to pass on that.
39. Ecliptic Brewing (Portland, OR) – Booth 5-3
Our first pour: Starburst IPA, 7.8% ABV
We love a brewery that commits to the bit. This space-themed brewery puts a heavy emphasis on hoppy beers, and Craig chose this one based on missing out on going to one of their locations while in Portland after many locals recommended it. The Starburst is like an all-star team of hops: Amarillo! Azacca! Centennial! Citra! Mosaic! Simcoe! Sounds like a solid option to us.
38. AleSmith Brewing Company (San Diego, CA) – Booth 14-4
Our first pour: Speedway Stout: Affogato Edition, 12% ABV
This 28 year-old brewery shouldn’t be a stranger to anyone, but if you’re like us, the glut of options in beer has pushed San Diego’s AleSmith a bit to the margins, at no fault of the brewery itself. They’ve become more versatile, taking on new trends like hazies and a non-alcoholic IPA, while continuing to put out one of the stalwarts of stout: their Speedway series. Three of those imperial coffee stouts will be pouring, including a barrel-aged one with vanilla, but I’ll be reaching for the espresso and Tahitian vanilla-enhanced Affogato version first.
37. Ratio Beerworks (Denver, CO) – Booth 3-15
Our first pour: The King of Carrot Flowers, 5.9% ABV
Medal winners pouring: Dear You (2020)
Being a 41 year-old guy who grew up on punk and indie rock, I’m a sucker for the beer names at Ratio. Well fortunately, we’ve found that the beers themselves are just as good as a heavy dose of nostalgia. They are pouring two big barrel-aged beers: their 8th Anniversary barleywine and the Genius Wizard imperial stout with molasses. Their french saison, Dear You, is also a lovely choice, but the weird beauty of the King of Carrot Flowers elderflower carrot saison is something you have to experience.
36. Reuben’s Brews (Seattle, WA) – Booth 5-9
Our first pour: Three Ryes Men, 13.7% ABV
Medal winners pouring: Three Ryes Men (2022, 2019)
You’ve gotta love a brewery that counts a Roggenbier as one of the first things they ever bottled, and Reuben’s Brews has been a Seattle staple since 2012. The Stay Frosty is a Cold IPA, and that’s a style that never took off as much as we wished. But it’s hard to skip the reigning gold medal winner for barleywine aged in rye and whiskey barrels, their Three Ryes Men.
35. Taxman Brewing Co. (Badgersville, IN) – Booth 10-20
Our first pour: Bourbon Barrel Deduction, 8.5% ABV
Medal winners pouring: La Maison (2022), Deduction (2018, 2017), Qualified (2020, 2018, 2015)
A versatile brewery that’s been around in Indiana since 2014, Taxman does a lot of things well but might be best known for their Belgian styles. Their booth features a dubbel, quad, and saison that are all well-decorated regulars, but we’re going to try the bourbon barrel version of their dubbel Deduction to start.
34. Estuary Brewing Co. (Johns Island, SC) – Booth 9-13
Our first pour: Cowboy Coffee, 5% ABV
As the “barley” arm of Estuary Beans & Barley, an artisan beverage company out of South Carolina, this brewery is bringing a big list of options and serving from a “Featured” booth – so they should be easy to find. The Kiwi’n Me Smalls is intriguing based on the name alone, but the Cowboy Coffee takes their base amber ale and loads on coffee – something they also specialize in – so I’m sold.
33. Sun King Brewery (Indianapolis, IN) – Booth 10-19
Our first pour: Cherry Busey, 6.5% ABV
Medal winners pouring: Soul Shakedown Party (2022), Cherry Busey (2020, 2017, 2016, 2015), Pachanga (2020), Afternoon Delight (2020, 2013)
With Sun King, all they do is win. Whether it’s FoBAB, the World Beer Cup, or GABF, their awards list is a mile long, and for good reason. The Soul Shakedown Party is a rum barrel-aged scotch ale, which would be an easy pick if it weren’t for the Afternoon Delight bourbon barrel-aged doppelbock and Polynesian Passion barrel-aged tripel with pineapple, orange, and coconut. But we are simple men who love a perfect pun, so the barrel-aged flanders red, Cherry Busey, is our easy pick.
32. Deadwords Brewing (Orlando, FL) – Booth 12-15
Our first pour: Orwell, 6.2% ABV
Medal winners pouring: Bridge (2022)
Only launched in 2020, Deadwords winning a gold in the sizable American-Style Lager category is a feat not to be overlooked. Their pourlist is absent of the big pastry stouts or overfruited Berliners that many Florida brewers have made their names on; instead, they have a lager, robust porter, Pacific Northwest IPA, and a cold IPA. I’ll take the Orwell robust porter to start, because it’s just one of my favorite straight styles.
31. Ghost Town Brewing (Oakland, CA) – Booth 15-5
Our first pour: Nose Goblin, 9.2% ABV
Medal winners pouring: Nose Goblin (2022, 2021)
When Craig was recently in the Bay Area, he spent some time chasing that Nose Goblin, to no avail. The beer is the reigning gold medal winning Imperial IPA for 2021 and 2022, so I understand Craig’s determination. The rest of their list is pretty hop-focused as well, and their Scissor Hash is an interesting second choice as a fresh hop Strata IPA.
30. Von Ebert Brewing (Portland, OR) – 5-12 and 5-13
Our first pour: Flaming Glow, 6.5% ABV
Medal winners pouring: Pils (2022), Volatile Substance (2021)
We were fortunate to try the Volatile Substance on an Oregon-based episode last year, and it ended up 12th on my top 40 beers of 2022 list. They’ll have a few other IPAs I’ll be interested in along with some easier drinking lagers. The Waning Echoes adjunct-free, 6.7% stout is calling out to me, but the Flaming Glow is a mixed culture sour with nectarines that sounds amazing.
29. Our Mutual Friend Brewing Company (Denver, CO) – Booth 3-7
Our first pour: Biere Ovale, 4.7% ABV
Medal winners pouring: Biere Ovale (2022, 2021), Inner Light (2021, 2020)
This is a brewery you might be best served going to visit while in Denver, because their taplist showcases a wide variety of saisons, sours, IPAs, and barrel-aged fare. But if you can’t get there, they’ll be pouring some of their mixed-culture beers and sours at the fest that should be high on anyone’s list. It’s hard for us to pass on a mixed-culture foeder saison with two silver medals, so we’ll go with the Ovale first.
28. Pax Verum Brewing Company (Lapel, IN) – Booth 10-4
Our first pour: Expand Your View, 6.8% ABV
Called “a small destination brewery steeped in mystery” on their own website, I have to admit that coupled with their name and logo got me intrigued. Their booth has a heavy focus on hoppy beers, but we have our eyes on a robust porter that uses bourbon barrel-aged chocolate malt.
27. Boneyard Beer (Bend, Oregon) – Booth 4-20 (heh heh)
Our first pour: Notorious IPA3, 11.5% ABV
Medal winners pouring: Diablo Rojo (2019)
Though they have a red ale, a pilsner, and a barrel-aged barleywine on their pour list, Bend’s Boneyard is best-known for their hoppy beers. I’m on record as a Triple IPA hater due to the common imbalance of booze and palate-zapping bitterness, but Boneyard’s Notorious is everything that style should be and more. It’s still huge in all the right places, but it achieves a balance most examples of that style do not. Just stick to one or two little pours, and you’ll be a-okay.
26. Fort George Brewery (Astoria, OR) – Booth 5-4
Our first pour: Matryoshka Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stout, 12.2% ABV
This Oregon-based brewery has been cranking out notable IPAs since 2007 and landed on our radar with their yearly rotating collaboration 3-Way IPA. We also had an impressive spruce beer from them last year, and their flagship Vortex IPA has a strong reputation. We’ll try the Matryoshka because we love a good barrel-aged base stout.
25. Tonewood Brewing (Barrington, NJ) – Booth 11-5
Our first pour: Halcyon, 6% ABV
This New Jersey brewery has two production breweries and taprooms, but they are working hard to make their imprint on the environment as small as possible. They utilize solar power to run the whole brewery and they employ carbon dioxide recapture technology to reduce emissions and the need to rely on manufactured CO2. With all of the beers pouring in the 5 to 6% range, you’ll find mostly IPAs and lagers here. The Halcyon is a “classic” American IPA with Mosaic, Simcoe, and Amarillo, so we’ll start there.
24. Third Eye Brewing Company (Cincinnati, OH) – Booth 10-22
Our first pour: Space Toast Continuum, 12% ABV
Craig talked with brewer Kelly Montgomery last year, and he had forgotten that Kelly had been on our mic before back in 2019 when he was part of the medal machine Brink Brewing. Medals seem to follow Kelly, as Third Eye pulled down a gold in 2021 for a milk stout. They are going for bigger flavors this year with a pina colada milkshake IPA (Jelly Brain), a milkshake sour (Third Eye Kandy), a rye beer made with pretzels (Gettin’ Twisted), and a barrel-aged double oatmeal stout (BA Double Astral). But we’ll go with the massive Space Toast Continuum breakfast stout to give us a little wake up.
23. Fieldwork Brewing Co. (Berkely, CA) – 15-2
Our first pour: Guardians of a Loveless Isle, 9.8% ABV
It’s kind of funny that this brewery is only occupying one booth with four beers listed, considering that they have 8 (!!!) locations. The Watermelon Pulp is intriguing, as it’s an IPA collaboration with 21st Amendment (who knows a thing or two about brewing with watermelon). But the Guardians of a Loveless Isle is a big oak-aged sour with passionfruit and kumquats – and I can’t say I’ve had that combination before.
22. Wayfinder Beer (Portland, OR) – Booth 5-16
Our first pour: Earth’s Eris, 5.1% ABV
Medal winners pouring: Hell (2019), Freiheit Festbier (2018)
Known as the inventors of the Cold IPA style, Wayfinder has been recognized for much more through many medals and brewery awards along their 7 year history. They’ll have some clean and easy lagers pouring, but we’re going to predictably stick with the one Cold IPA on the list, Earth’s Eris.
21. Ghost Hawk Brewing Company (Clifton, NJ) – Booth 6-7
Our first pour: Saison d’Automne, 7.2% ABV
Reading the background on Ghost Hawk, the moving story behind their name was enough to get me interested in trying their beers. Add in the fact that head brewer Chris Sheehan has been responsible for at least 9 GABF medals through his time at breweries like Triple Rock and Gun Hill, and this intriguing beer list has me excited. Overlooked classic styles like a foreign/export stout and a cream ale are a draw, but a saison with sassafras, lemon balm, bee balm, and sage harvested from their own property is an easy choice.
20. Real Ale Brewing Company (Blanco, TX) – Booth 16-18
Our first pour: Real Heavy, 9.3% ABV
Medal winners pouring: Real Heavy (2021, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015), Firemans 4 (2022, 2017, 2012), Oktoberfest (2021), Hans Pils (2012)
If you were a betting person, I’d put some solid money down on Real Ale winning something, as they have 14 GABF medals since 2010. Their pour list is a good variety of highly drinkable options, but it’s hard to ignore one of the most well-decorated American Scotch ales on the floor as their Real Heavy is a big and bold expression of English ingredients.
19. Heronmark (Allegan, MI) – Booth 5-24
Our first pour: Elderflower Saison, 5% ABV
This farm-based brewery and winery might be the youngest at the fest, having just opened a taproom in June. As a Michigan summer vacationer, some of my motivation for stopping at this booth is selfish. But then scanning their website and beer list, there’s an impressive dedication to local ingredients from almost all Michigan producers and ingredients foraged from their own farm land. A triple decoction mashed and oak foeder-fermented Weisse beer is certainly interesting, but the barrel-aged Elderflower Saison is the pick for me.
18. Montclair Brewery (Montclair, NJ) – Booth 6-17
Our first pour: Verb Saison, 4.5% ABV
This husband-and-wife owned brewery opened their doors in 2018, and since then they’ve used their beers to celebrate African American history and culture. They have a Black History Month beer series that combines important history with inspired recipes, and the Salute golden ale is a tribute to the Awesome 2, a 40-plus-year hip hop DJ duo from New Jersey. The beer highest on my list though is a light saison with lemon verbena.
17. Altstadt Brewery (Fredericksburg, TX) – Booth 11-21
Our first pour: Hefe, 5.2% ABV
Medal winners pouring: Lager (2022, 2019), Kolsch (2019)
Opened in 2018, Altstadt’s German-style beer has gathered some serious hardware in a short amount of time. Their hefeweizen recently won gold at the World Beer Cup, and they have gathered three GABF gold medals to boot. The only things that haven’t won a medal at their booth are a peach radler and an Oktoberfest, but I have a feeling those are going to be pretty good too. Since we’ll probably just try everything here, we’ll go with the somewhat less-common hefeweizen to start.
16. Peculier Ales (Windsor, CO) – Booth 3-9
Our first pour: Kinda Italian Ice: Berry Lemonade, 5.1% ABV
Only opened since 2020, Peculier is a brewery we know because Craig had a chance to talk with head brewer Kurt Kandler last year, so this year I’m playing catch-up. Their three beer lineup features a kolsch and a hazy, but we’re in for the sure-to-be a crowd pleaser heavily fruited sour lemonade beer.
15. Chuckanut Brewery (Bellingham, WA) – Booth 4-23
Our first pour: Japanese Style Lager, 4.8% ABV
Medal winners pouring: Pilsner (2010), Kolsch (2021, 2017, 2015, 2012, 2011), Chuck Light (2022, 2020), Dunkel (2018, 2017, 2015, 2014, 2011, 2009)
Another ridiculously well-decorated brewery, Chuckanut has become well known out West for their lagers and traditional styles, making this booth a safe bet for volume drinking (one ounce at a time). Since we don’t see a lot of American breweries making Japanese-style lagers, that’ll be the first of many from here, I’m sure. Plus, here’s where I can resume my Dunkel Jagen from 2019.
14. Wren House Brewing Company (Phoenix, AZ) – Booth 16-24
Our first pour: Triple Vanilla King Snake, 13.3% ABV
Medal winners pouring: Spellbinder (2020)
We have a few selfish connections to their gold-medal winning Spellbinder: it broke the two-year Illinois gold medal hazy IPA streak (Alarmist and Old Irving won those in 2018 & 2019), and we were lucky to try it on our recent AZ Show. If their other beers are nearly as good as that, everyone’s in for a treat. The standout for me is the Triple Vanilla King Snake which is a big stout aged in Rip Van Winkle barrels, then aged in an oak barrel used to cure Ecuadorian vanilla beans, and finished with Mexican and Madagascar vanilla beans. Imagine trying this next to the brewer and saying, “Needs more vanilla.”
13. Wild Fields Brewhouse (Atascadero, CA) – Booth 17-22
Our first pour: Unstuck in Time, 9.5% ABV
Medal winners pouring: Magic Swirling Sip (2022), Three Bridges Brown (2022), Pine Mountain Monolith (2022, 2021)
Last year’s winner for Brewery of the Year (500-1,000 barrels) did so on the merit of gold medals for a Scottish Ale, American-Style Brown Ale, and an English-Style Brown ale – three styles that aren’t necessarily sexy, unless you’re a burgeoning old fogey like me. So we’ll obviously be trying all three of those, but they’ll also be pouring a lambic-style sour and the Vonnegut-referencing imperial coffee chocolate stout, Unstuck in Time, which I’m grabbing first.
12. Breakside Brewery (Portland, OR & Milwaukie, OR) – Booths 4-21 & 4-22
Our first pour: Are You Afraid of the Dark?, 13.3% ABV
Medal winners pouring: Passion Fruit Sour Ale (2022, 2021, 2017, 2013), I Purple You (2022), IPA (2017, 2014)
Talk about consistency: since 2011, Breakside has won at least one medal every year except in 2015; and in seven of those years, they took home multiple awards. (If you have an hour to kill, scroll through the Awards page on their website – good God.) Hoppy beers are always a safe bet from most Oregon breweries, but there are two big beers that caught our eye. The Finders Keepers is a stout blend from a variety of bourbon, rye, and maple barrels. But our pick is the Are You Afraid of the Dark? which is a blend of stouts and barleywine aged in bourbon, rye, and apple brandy barrels.
11. Bottle Logic Brewing (Anaheim, CA) – Booth 14-14
Our first pour: Voltaic Stack, 13.08% ABV
Beware the timed tappings here, but if you are a thrill-seeking adjunct barrel-aged beer lover, this is a line worth hopping in. Bottle Logic will be pouring both of their back-to-back FoBAB Best of Show winning beers, Fundamental Observation and Arcane Rituals, which shouldn’t be missed. But for my money, a banana, walnut, maple syrup, and cinnamon barrel-aged waffle stout is the type of decadence I can get down with.
10. Blind Tiger Brewery & Restaurant (Topeka, Kansas) – Booth 7-18
Our first pour: Blind Tiger Bock, 7% ABV
Medal winners pouring: Blind Tiger Bock (2022 & 2018), County Seat Wheat (2010 & 2009), Capital City Kolsch (2012 & 2011), Maibock (2006)
This Kansas-based brewpub has been open since 1995, and their website might’ve been created a few years after that. But who needs a flashy online presence when you’re blinded by the stunning number of medals and awards this place has gathered in their nearly 30 years of existence. They even added the prestigious award for Brewer/Brewery of the Year (1001-2000 barrels) last year. Many previous medal winners are pouring at their booth, but I’m a sucker for a good 7% bock beer.
9. Seedz Brewery (Union Pier, MI) – Booth 10-18
Our first pour: Hopper’s Hell, 5% ABV
This regional favorite is making foam sexy again through German and Belgian styles made with a multitude of locally-sourced ingredients. We have yet to have a Seedz beer that didn’t impress, so you’re pretty safe with this whole taplist in our opinion. Though we may opt for their Helles first simply because we haven’t had it yet, it’s a sure bet we’ll try everything here, twice. The only unknown is if they’ll be slow pouring out of their festival-provided pitchers.
8. Live Oak Brewing (Austin, TX) – Booth 16-4
Our first pour: Grodziskie, 3% ABV
Medal winners pouring: Hefeweizen (2019)
I was shocked to see that Live Oak has only one GABF medal in their 26-year history despite their stellar reputation for old world-style ales and lagers. Their Hefeweizen is widely considered one of the best American interpretations of the style, and a cereal decoction-mashed Pre-War Pils sounds pristine. But Live Oak and smoked beers are synonymous in my brain, so we’ll take the 3% Grodziskie to whet our appetites.
7. Rhythm Brewing Co. (New Haven, CT) – Booth 6-16
Our first pour: Rhythm Unfiltered Lager, 5.5% ABV
Opened in 2018 by Alisa Bowens-Mercado, Rhythm was the first black woman-owned brewery in Connecticut, and she credits her grandmother’s love of lagers (and dancing) as inspiration for her brewing focus. Though only having two unfiltered lagers is unique these days, what sets Rhythm apart is their focus on their community and helping other entrepreneurs meet their goals. I’m really looking forward to trying their mainstay unfiltered lager, and lots of it.
6. Buried Acorn Brewing (Syracuse, NY) – Booth 6-4
Our first pour: Vincent, 8.6% ABV
Even though they only have two beers listed, this is a new-to-me brewery that is near the top of my list to try. Opened in 2018, Buried Acorn makes, “barrel-aged mixed-fermentation sour ales, farmhouse-style beers, and even some varieties made for all the hop lovers out there.” The Ghoster Blanc is fermented with Sauvignon Blanc yeast and Brettanomyces and aged in wine barrels and sounds fantastic. But the Vincent is a potential showstopper: a barrel-aged dark sour wine hybrid blend of 1, 2, 3, and 4-year old oak-aged dark refermented on grape must.
5. Pure Project (Vista, CA) – Booth 17-8
Our first pour: Corylus, 12.9% ABV
Medal winners pouring: Roes Red (2016)
This is another one of those breweries that feels like it went through a time warp with the pandemic, as it seems like just a few years ago that we learned about them and chatted them up on the GABF floor – and now they have five locations in and around San Diego. In reality, they’ve been making great beer since 2016 and there’s a wealth of good options here: the Corylus might not last very long, as it’s a barrel-aged stout with hazelnuts, cacao, and coffee; but the Roes Red is a also big highlight, an oak-aged Flanders red which is a rarity on the floor.
4. Bow & Arrow Brewing Co. (Albuquerque, NM) – Booth 13-25
Our first pour: Funksloth, 6.3% ABV
Last year, we were lucky to talk to co-founder Shyla Sheppard about the innovative and inspired beers coming out of Bow & Arrow, the first Native American woman-owned brewery in the United States. Through their beers, they pay homage to local ingredients and terroir like the Denim Tux pilsner made with New Mexico blue corn; or Sunbloom, a saison with prickly pear and juniper berries. They’ll also be pouring their excellent sour IPA Savage Times that we were lucky to try on the podcast. But for my money, the Funksloth stands out, as it’s a foeder-aged mixed culture farmhouse beer with wild yeast cultivated from their own peach tree and nearby lavender fields. This is one of the most exciting breweries pouring at the fest, hands down.
3. WeldWerks Brewing Co. (Greeley, CO) – Booth 48
Our first pour: Medianoche: Amburana Vanilla Luar, 13.7% ABV
Medal winners pouring: Extra Extra Juicy Bits (2019), Medianoche (2017)
The WeldWerks booth is always a highlight, as they really capture the right combination of playfulness and technique in their bombastically flavorful beers. People may grouse over the wacky experiments or over-the-top use of adjuncts and barrels, but the proof is in the glass, and Weldwerks rarely disappoints. This year’s list is another wild ride, featuring three different takes on their barrel-aged stout Medianoche, a few hazy IPAs that are made with more hops than liquid, and *gulp* a Sweet and Sour Cream Cheese Rangoon beer. In the past, they’ve wowed us with the gross-sounding Spaghetti Gose and Taco Gose, but this one…well, I’m going to try it. The one that has us the most excited, though, is the Medianoche: Amburana Vanilla Luar, which is double barrel-aged in Old Rip Van Winkle and Amburana barrels for a total of 22 months.
2. Russian River Brewing Company (Santa Rosa/Windsor, CA) – Booth 17-4 & 17-5
Our first pour: Peach Beer, 7.15% ABV
Medal winners pouring: STS Pils (2018, 2015, 2014), Porter (1998, 1997), Redemption (2008)
I could’ve just as easily left this brewery off of the list because everyone at GABF will be stopping by the Russian River booth at least once. Yes, the lines are absolutely worth it. DDH Pliny the Elder is an impressive update on their infamous DIPA that wasn’t asking to be updated. The Small Batch Intinction is awash with complex grape flavors from Nelson Sauvin hops and Sauvigon Blanc barrels, and it might be the best beer at the fest. But another Small Batch sour, the Peach Beer, has my interest absolutely piqued.
1. The Lost Abbey (Vista, CA) – Booth 15-1
Our first pour: Duck Duck Gooze, 7% ABV
Medal winners pouring: Peach Afternoon (2022, 2020), Duck Duck Gooze (2018, 2009)
In 2018, Tomme Arthur told us that the cost of the beers they poured that year was well into 5 figures. In other words, The Lost Abbey never fails to “bring it” in terms of rare and desirable beers, and you’ll be best served hopping back in line after each pour until you’ve sampled the whole booth. The Peach Afternoon is a stunning wild that has placed as overall Runner-Up at FoBAB (2019); Avant Gourde sounds like polarizing fun as a bière de garde brewed with pumpkin, spices, and Brettanomyces; the Pale Horse is a Sauvignon Blanc grape must sour blonde; and I had to do a double take when I saw Angel’s Share 2012 pouring to make sure it wasn’t a typo. But when you have a chance to try Duck Duck Gooze, that’s exactly what you do, because it’s one of the best beers in the world. (But hey, don’t sleep on the peach hard tea, either.)
