Brawlin' - The Follow Up

While I wasn't correct about the brewery that made my favorite beer at Concordia's most recent Beer Brawl, I was part of the majority that voted #11 most often in the Brewers Choice category. The beer was in fact Hop Venom from Boneyard Brewing. Of the 674 taster trays that were ordered during the week-long fest, 342 people besides me voted for this beer in the category. That's pretty impressive but it should be noted that it just barely edged out Nectar IPA, my favorite in the IPA category, who had 334 votes. So while voters weren't given the opportunity to vote for their favorite out of all 12 beers (as Tracy suggested) it still speaks to the appeal of the beer.

The Pale Ale category contained Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Fremont Pale Ale (my choice in this category) and Hopworks Organic Pale Ale. Looking back at my tasting notes, I'm surprised to see my unfavorable comments regarding Hopworks as I generally enjoy their brews.

The IPA category contained Pelican IPA, Nectar IPA (my choice in this category) and Hale's Supergoose IPA. My notes also surprised me here as I noted a big "uck!" for Pelican.
The Stout category contained North Coast Brewing Old Rasputin Stout, Elysian Dragon's Tooth Stout (my choice in this category) and Deschutes Obsidian Stout. Here my notes, when paired up with the beers didn't surprise me a bit. I noted that Old Rasputin was "boozy" and Obsidian had "very coffee aroma."
The Brewers Choice category contained Walking Man Homo Erectus, Boneyard Hop Venom (The Best!) and Firestone Walker Double Jack. Now that I know the final beer was FW Double Jack I'm not surprised in the least that I noted it gave Hop Venom "a good run for favorite."

This was the first time I had participated in a Beer Brawl and I believe the first time I've ever done a blind tasting. Going back and referencing my notes (yes, I am an uber-geek) after finding out what I had been drinking was interesting. My only regret was that I hadn't taken more detailed notes. Ah well, there's always a next time for me to sit, with a tray of beer in front of me, scribbling notes instead of interacting with my fellow drinkers.