You love the blog, so subscribe to the Beervana Podcast on iTunes or Soundcloud today!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

OBF's 36 Other Beers

In addition to expanding their regular taplist by nine beers, the OBF is piloting the Buzz tent. I will confess to being slightly mystified by the intention behind this gambit, wherein 28 breweries were invited to send 1-4 "buzz beers." This would seem to subvert the idea of a "buzz beer"; by convention, such a beer is so good that it creates word-of-mouth buzz as festgoers relay what's tasty. So sequestering the beers you think will be the best in a special tent seems a bit odd.

And it does look like a tasty line-up. To select just a few: Cascade Brewing Night Fall, Deschutes Bourbon Quad, Full Sail 1998 Old Boilermaker (bourbon barrel), Stone 13th Anniversary, and from Wisconsin, Sprecher Brewery Bourbon Barrel Scotch Ale. Preston Weesner, the emerging Wizard of Rare Beers (he organizes FredFest and the Winter Ale Fest), put the list together--further evidence that the beers will be good.

It's sort of like a fest-within-a-fest. It has special hours and you have to buy special tickets. There doesn't appear to be a schedule, but it looks like you mostly take what they're pouring at the time. The downside seems to be that it's a bit of a crapshoot, and an expensive one. The upside is that the Fest has finally responded to beer geeks' demands that the beer quality match the OBF's reputation. Perhaps the Buzz Tent will even be a less-hectic, less frat-party-y oasis, too.

Here's the details:
OBF Buzz Tent
Time: Friday and Saturday, noon to 4:30

Admission: $20, good for eight 4-ounce pours. With admission, tasters receive a " ticket that will give you tastes of six different buzz beers, plus two tastings of your choosing."
Availability: 1000 tickets each day.

"Because of the different quantities of product on hand, we can’t guarantee what beers will be pouring at any single time. Look for the chalkboard outside the tent, or follow the Buzz Tent on Twitter: @OBFBuzzTent."
Here are the beers, with a special hat tip to John Foyston, who assembled them into a bullet list. The list at the official website is an unreadable block of text.
• Alameda Horseshoe Hefeweizen
• Alaskan Barley Wine
• Anderson Valley Huge'r Boont
• Ballast Point Sour Wench Tart Blackberry Ale #1
• Beer Valley Black Flag Imperial Stout 2008 Fresh Hop edition
• Blue Frog Barrel Aged Strong Amber Peligroso
• BridgePort 2008 Stumptown Tart in firkin
• BridgePort BBL Ebenezer
• Cascade Brewing Sang Royale
• Cascade Brewing Gold Yeller
• Cascade Brewing Night Fall
• Cascade Brewing Gose
• Cascade Brewing Mouton Rouge
• Deschutes Bourbon Quad
• Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron
• Fearless Strong Scotch
• Fifty Fifty Imperial Eclipse Stout (bourbon aged)
• Firestone Walker Double/Imperial Union Jack
• Full Sail 1998 Old Boilermaker (Bourbon Barrel)
• Grand Teton Brewing Howling Wolf Weizenbock
• Laurelwood Organic Deranger Imperial Red
• Laht Neppur Spiced Waitsburg Winter Warmer
• Lazy Boy Pomegranate Belgian Golden Ale
• Lompoc Barrel Fermented LSD
• McMenamins West Linn Largo Laws Treasure Strong Scottish
• McMenamins Obama Nation Domestic Schwarzbier
• McMenamins Old St. Francis Base Camp Coffee Stout
• McMenamins Oak Hills Das Schwertz Maibock (whiskey aged)
• Moylan's Brewing Co. Batch #1000 Double Kilt Lifter
• New Belgium La Folie
• Oakshire Glen's Hop Vice Imperial IPA
• Redhook Raspberry Tripel
• Rock Bottom Rod Flanders
• Stone 13th Anniversary
• Sprecher Brewery Bourbon Barrel Scotch Ale
• Widmer X-114 IPA.

3 comments:

  1. I don't like that you only get to pick two samples. If I spend $20 bucks and walk in the "special" tent and there is a bunch of Heifeweizen and Stumptown tart B.S., I want 8 damn pours of Sang Royal or La Folie.

    At least I wouldn't feel totally depressed walking away spending $20 on 32oz of Sang Royal, I'll just have major heartburn.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm in agreement -
    I don't think they are intentionally fleecing the beer geeks, but it sort of feels that way.

    The odds of the 8, even 4, of the truly rare beers that I'm dying to taste being on tap at the same moment, and on my card nonetheless seem pretty slim.

    I want to support it, get those 4 or 5 rare beers that I won't see being sold for $4.50-$5/pint outside of the OBF, but I want them to modify the program - which the organizers have less incentive to do if we all go.

    Jeff raises a good point in that if the vibe is of a lesser frat party quality that is certainly worth something. I've switched to going on the first day to avoid that scene.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I echo the negative sentiments of paying $20 for the privilege of being force-imbibed 75% of your beer, and practically being required to attend all 9 hours to ensure you're there when the beer makes its ever-so-brief appearance; but also…

    Noon to 4:30?! (even if I wasn't such a lightweight and drinking somewhat-moderate quantities much before dinner didn't make me horribly ill…) Some of us have to work! Not only is the first half of the schedule square within normal business hours, I have to make my way downtown a day early ("for lunch") in order to ensure I can pay for the privilege of attending either half. I suppose if I was so secure in my employment (or better, un…) I could take a couple days off… but having just started this job a couple-few weeks ago, and knowing that this job could well be gone tomorrow, I don't feel so entitled.

    Once again, the working stiff loses…
    -anónimo

    ReplyDelete