Great Taste of the Midwest

First, for you Tally locals, don't forget that New Leaf Market does a tasting every Saturday at about 4:30pm where they sample a handful of beers. I'll probably stop by to check it out as I have the day off and it gives me an excuse to hit that side of town for new beer finds.

Also, Proof announced a last minute event tomorrow at 5pm:

"FRIDAY AUGUST 19th @ 5PM!
Tomorrow during Happy Hour we'll have the Owner and Brewer of Swamp Head Brewery in the bar for a FSU themed glassware giveaway! Hang with the Owner and Brewer and get a sweet glass when you buy a pint!"

Anyway, I was recently lucky enough to spend the weekend in and around Madison, Wisconsin for the Great Taste of the Midwest. I'll spare you the entire history, but I will say it is a highly sought-after, gi-normous beer festival and supposedly the second longest running beer festival in North America. Yikes.

Getting tickets alone is intense, and they sold approximately 6,000 this year. If you want tickets, you have to try hard, and apparently a lot of people do. Six local stores and breweries get a handful of tickets to sell, and lines start early. I got my ticket because my brother in-law stood in line for 16 hours, OVERNIGHT, to get his 2 tickets. If you don't have that kind of time to kill, you can enter the lottery system. To even be considered for the lottery you must send a self-addressed stamped envelope ON a certain date. Note I didn't say BY a certain date - ON. And yes, tons of people don't get tickets.

So anyway, I booked a SkyMiles flight, packed my suitcase full of beer to share in Madison, and flew out on Friday afternoon, arriving around 9pm. Next time I will definitely fly in on Thursday, as I missed out on a lot of pre-party events on Friday.

Yes, you read that correctly. As if the festival isn't enough, most breweries show up the day before and just about every bar in Madison hosts brewery parties, and they tap some ridiculous beers... some bars even have parties and events starting on Wednesday, if not earlier.

Well, arriving that late on Friday didn't help me a whole lot. I will say that the first beer I had on tap was Three Floyds Vanilla Bean Barrel Aged Dark Lord... currently number 13 on ratebeer.com, and a beer I had never had before. I was pretty excited, but a bit underwhelmed (rating), mainly because it was just too sweet... and overhyped. After that brew we explored a couple of other bars with no results, so we hit up a hotel to visit with some ratebeer folks, which was definitely the highlight of the night.

If you remember my post about the top beers in the world, then you remember that I LOVE ratebeer.com, and this festival further justifies that love. I basically walked into a room of complete strangers (I had never met any of these particular RBians), was instantly accepted, and was handed tons of beer, including rare brews, one-offs, and other crazy things (okay, it probably helped that I showed up with a load of CCB beers). I won't get into too much detail about the beers, but some highlights were definitely Cigar City Penultimate Push along with Bell's Batch 6000 & 7000. I love ratebeer!

Anyway, after some sleep, we met up with another friend and went to the fest. We got in line about 2 hours early (gotta get in fast) and sat around hydrating and discussing our plan. The festival is so giant that as an experienced beer seeker, you can't go in without a plan. I had already typed up every beer I wanted to try, all the release times for special beers, and locations of important booths, which I quickly transferred to my map when I got my program. I was pretty stoked, I'm not gonna lie.

Upon entry we headed straight to the real ale tent, which was filled with delicious casks of beers from all over the Midwest. I grabbed a sample of a tasty Kuhnhenn brew and we left the tent in search of bigger and better things. Don't get me wrong, I love all the goofy cask beers, or even just regular ones, but there were some heavy hitting beers at this fest and I didn't want to miss them. Some of the breweries didn't post their release times in the program, so we had to cruise, obtain information, and write shit down.

We wandered a bit trying a few randoms on our way to the Barley John's tent, dying to find out the release time for their infamous The Dark Knight (Returns). This bourbon barrel aged impy stout is known to go for upwards of $80 a growler, so snagging a sample would at least cover my $50 ticket right? (side note: I played a $50 Dixieland gig right before I flew out... at a funeral). Walking up to their booth, we were sad to see that they had no release board up... shit... so we walk up to the booth, with nobody impeding our way whatsoever... and it's already on tap! ZING! This beauty delivered, in my opinion. Delish.

Anyway, the rest of the event was pretty awesome as well. We got some tasty pizza and line hopped for the big releases while trying random beers in between. After awhile we perfected waiting in line and sending someone off to get beers for us while we waited. I tried a ton of beers, and it'd take forever for me to describe them all. Honestly, I could have probably tried a ton more beers, but I did spend a fair amount of time in lines for the big hitters. I was pleasantly surprised to see a new beer from a brewery from my home area in IL - Blue Cat Black Zemon, a black saison with crystallized ginger. It wasn't bad.

Highlights of the day mostly included various barrel aged stouts and rarities. I got to try Bell's Wild One, Three Floyds Conquistador De Muerte Porto, Great Lakes Barrel-Aged Blackout, Dark Horse Bourbon Barrel Plead the 5th, Three Floyds Bourbon Barrel Dark Lord, Cigar City Hopped Up Johnnie (shared, once again, by an awesome RBian), and a ton more.

Of special note are a few beers in particular, be them new, rare, special, or whatever.

The first beer I got to try that really stands out is Goose Island Bourbon County Neapolitan Stout. If you know me, you know that I love BCS, and that it was one of my first ever favorite brews. Well this is that same beer aged with strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla. Holy crap, it was very unique and quite good. You can read my whole rating here, but suffice to say it really reminded me of ice cream. Crazy.

Also of special note is the last special release brew I waited in line for at the event. Goose Island advertised that at the end of the event they would have a "Brewer's Choice" release, and everyone was pretty excited. It turned out to be a beer that has been deemed "Goose Island/Evil Twin Bourbon County Stout Soft Dookie Blueberry Blend." Quite a mouthful, as was the beer. The man pouring the beer told me it was a collaboration blend of BCS and Soft Dookie aged in Elijah Craig barrels with blueberries. Holy crap. It was dang tasty, too, and I'm super glad to have tried it (rating).

For those of you still with me (it can't be too many by now), there is one final beer that was my favorite of the day, and the one I was most excited for, oddly enough. This beauty that I waited all day for was Bell's Black Note, otherwise known as the original ratebeer moniker: Bell's Bourbon Barrel Double Cream/Expedition Stout. It is currently number 6 in the ratebeer top 50 (oddly enough, the highest rated beer of the day I had was BB Dark Lord at number 3, but I didn't care for it that much). I knew the release was at 5pm, so I went to the Bell's special release tent at around 4:15 while my friends waited in line for BB Plead the 5th (don't worry, they brought me some). When I hit the tent, I was told the Oracle line was still forming for the 4:30 release and I had to wait... so I got in line for Oracle, got some by around 4:35, and then just kinda lingered by the front of the line. Soon enough, people started walking up and asking for Black Note, so I just told them I had started the line, which started forming quickly. My buddies showed back up, and lo and behold - FIRST IN LINE FOR BLACK NOTE, BABY! I quickly texted a couple RB buddies and snuck their glasses in behind my back to get us plenty of fills. This beer is awesome. You can see my full rating here, but what made it stand out to me was the perfect balance of BA character with robust imperial stout characteristics. What an awesome beer.

Phew. All in all, I have to say that the festival was AWESOME and I'm going to give it 100% to go again next year, assuming someone can get me a ticket. I highly recommend the festival to anyone anywhere in the country. Make the trip up and you won't be disappointed... I promise.