Last Friday was Jungle Jim’s Fourth Annual International Beer Fest – and I had been waiting a long time for this one. First off, a tip of the hat to all those at Jungle Jim’s for organizing this and to all of the brewers for participating and answering all of our questions. Thanks also to Rib City Grill for providing the yummy barbecue.
This years event had over 800 attendees, almost double that of last years event (or so I was told). There were also double the brewers in attendance. It is great to see the love of beer, and craft beers in particular, growing in the Cincinnati area.
The unexpected stand out award this year goes to Sam Adams for their Imperial White. Although Sam Adams makes a pretty damn good line-up, rarely have any been stellar – this one is.
The best new brewer find goes to Brew Dog. If you look at what goes into this Scottish brewers selections you may find yourself shying away – don’t. Their dogma is an interesting, complex, and easily drinkable ale. Their stout was superb. And the Storm? what can I say about this Scotch barrel aged IPA – you need to try it for yourself.
Unibroue again surprised me – how does such a large brewer make such great beers? I am adding the Don De Dieu and La Fin Du Monde to my stock keeping the always wonderful Trois Pistoles company.
My personally favorite of the night goes to Verhaeghe for their Duchesse De Bourgogne – a simply perfect Belgian sour.
And the beer you need to run out and get now? Shiner Bock’s 100 Commemorator – this delicious limited run beer won’t be around long.
My sampling is below – in no particular order (rating in parenthesis from 1-10). Please keep in mind that this was not a tasting, but a festival – ratings are rough. I plan to re-visit those brews that rated high and give them a more controlled tasting. You will notice that most of these were obscure – all were beers I had never had before.
- Bear Republic – Big Bear Stout (6)
- Bear Republic – Hop Rod Rye (6)
- Bear Republic – Red Rocket Ale (3)
- Brew Dog Brewery – Dogma (6)
- Brew Dog Brewery – Riptide Stout (7)
- Brew Dog Brewery – Storm (7)
- Coopers Brewing Co. – Stout (3)
- Coopers Brewing Co. – Vintage (6)
- Van Den Bossche – Buffalo Belgian Stout (7)
- Brouwerij Lindemans – Framboise (3)
- Brasserie d’rval – Orval (4)
- Sam Adams – Imperial White (9)
- Thirsty Dog – Old Leghumper (8)
- Thirsty Dog – Siberian Night (6)
- Unibroue – Don De Dieu (8)
- Unibroue – La Fin Du Monde (8)
- Wooden Shoe – Bock (4)
- Warbird – Shanty Irish (7)
- Anchor – Small Beer (6)
- Hook and Ladder – Pipe and Drum Irish Ale (7)
- Hook and Ladder – Backdraft (7)
- Shiner Bock – Commemorator 100 (8)
- Verhaeghe – Duchesse De Bourgogne (9)
Overall this event was fantastic and I look forward to June 18 2010 for the fifth annual event. But not all was perfect. Due to the large number of attendees their were no tables to sit at – I hate to eat standing up. The large number of attendees also made it extremely difficult to move about at times and made the overall noise level very high (you could not hear Ed announcing the prize winners). As you can see above I got to try plenty of brews, but the three hour time limit made me feel very rushed. Another hour or two would have made it a much more relaxed event and would have allowed me more time between drinks to eat, snack, and sober up. At the end of the night I also felt rushed/pushed out the door promptly at ten – last year we were allowed to stick around and relax. But I have no doubt the team at Jungle Jim’s is already working on ways to fix these issues.
A friend of mine was the unofficial photographer for the event – check out his photos here and his homebrew blog here.
That’s all for this year. Again a big thanks to the Jungle Jim’s team – bravo! And if you were there, let me know what you think and what brews I should have had that I missed.