This was P and my second trip to the Spring Beer & Wine Fest (you can see the previous post here: Spring Beer & Wine Fest 2009). We had a great time at last year’s festival, but this one didn’t seem quite as fun (that didn’t stop us from spending like 5 hours there though). I think the problem was that several of the beers they had were the same as last year, or I’ve previously had them already.
List of beers in no particular order:
- Mateveza Ale – Yerba Mate Ale
- Schneider-Weisse – Schneider-Weisse
- Full Sail Brewing Co. – Session Black Lager
- Crispin Cider Co. – Crispin Original Cider
- Gilgamesh Brewing – Black Mamba
- Seven Brides Brewing – Oatmeal Stout
- Howe Sound Brewing Co. – Diamond Head Oatmeal Stout
- Hopworks Urban Brewery – Organic Secession Black IPA
- Oakshire Brewing Co. – O’Dark :30
- Block 15 – Nebula, Naked Oat Stout
- Everybody’s Brewery – Daily Bread Common Ale
- Lompoc – Saison the Beach
- Eel River Brewing Co. – Porter & Organic IPA
- Ninkasi Brewing Co. – Reign
- Redhook Ale Brewery – 8-4-1 Expedition Ale
- 10 Barrel Brewing Co. – Apocalypse IPA & Sinister Black Ale
I think my favorite out of all of the ones tasted was probably the 8-4-1 Expedition Ale by Redhook. It had a slight vanilla flavor to it along with a taste of bourbon. For the most part though none of them really stood out as a superstar beer unfortunately. I also had a pint of Walking Man Brewery’s Homo Erectus as my beer for donating $5 to the MDA.
One thing that we were both happy about was a particular winery that we ended up buying 4 bottles from. Their website can be found here: Gouger Cellars Winery. Our two favorites were:
- “Mine” (a red dessert wine similar to a port)
- Blend # 903 which includes: Malbec 30%, Cabernet Sauvignon 30%, Cabernet Franc 20%, Syrah 20% from the Walla Walla Valley.
Their other wines were also good, but these two stood out the most.
The other winery we liked and bought a bottle for aging is from Palotai Winery called Attila.
