We had 289 votes.I have to say I'm a little shocked by the winner and the absence of any of my faves in the list. Perhaps the collective palate of Beervana has yet to attune itself to Belgian styles. Rarely do I feel so out of step...
In first place was the Lucky Labrador Brewing's Malt Bomb Belgian. In second place was the Laurelwood Brewing's Saison du Arduinna and in third place was the Alameda Brewhouse Lucky Devil.
The first place winner gets to host and name the charity for next year.
Anyway, Congrats to the Lucky Lab!
Jeff: The 2nd place Laurelwood was one of your faves, right? You're not so out of step.
ReplyDeleteIn your earlier review you said you hoped for more craziness, for "unpredictable style selection". Malt Bomb was the furthest out in style, maybe that's part of its success. I loved it.
Hey, the malt bomb is good!
ReplyDeleteBill--yes, I had Laurelwood, too. But my two very-faves (one with illegal yeast--FS's Dubbel) didn't rate in the top three. They seemed so clearly to be the cream of the crop to me.
ReplyDeleteThe Malt Bomb was good, but had the least Belgian character, to my mind. It was more like a Scottish ale than an Ardennes. And maybe that's where the clue is: maybe the Portland palate has not yet reached the point of full appreciation of the range of Belgian yeast flavors.
(Either that or my palate was shot.)