Strange Brewfest '08

Several of us drove up to Port Townsend yesterday for the Water Street Brewing Company Strange Brewfest '08. This annual festival attracts many of the best breweries in the region and they typically bring something beyond their normal lineup. This year close to 30 breweries were represented.

It's very hard for me to pick a favorite beer from such an extensive list of unusual choices. I think the strangest beer I had was Elk Head's Dandee, brewed with dandelions, ginger, ginseng and honey. I got some dandelion in the aroma but couldn't really identify it in the flavor. The other flavors were an interesting mix that you don't see often in beer, although ginger isn't unheard of. In fact, the second beer I ever brewed was a brown ale with some grated ginger root in the boil. The sample I had was not very carbonated and what little head it did have dissipated almost immediately. It weighs in at 10% ABV but didn't taste like it.

Another very notable beer was also from Elk Head, I think (it's not on the list, but I'm pretty sure it's from Elk Head). Last year they had a smoked hot pepper ale that was very hot and I loved it. This year they brought dark habanero beer that was almost painful. Although I loved the hotness, it was actually difficult to finish, and my palette was wrecked for at least half an hour afterwards. I had planned to wait until near the end to try that one, but someone who couldn't finish their sample gave it to me pretty early in the day.

In contrast, Flyers had a Red Pepper Porter that was pretty tasty with just a subtle hotness from the pepper.

Big Daddy was there with Silver City's Basilsener. It's his Gold Mountain Pilsner infused with basil. The basil aroma and flavor were easy to identify and went very well with the crisp, refreshing Pilsner. A lot of people were raving about this beer and it may have been one of the crowd's favorites.

Iron Horse from Ellensburg brought their Saison and Irish Death, an "Imperial Sweet Stout." Matt tried the Saison early in the day and proclaimed it a pretty good attempt, but not as good as his. That's actually fairly high praise coming from Matt. It was good enough that he went back to it later in the evening. That's especially notable because he was driving and therefore had a very limited number of samples that he could drink. The fact that he used two of them for the Saison says a lot. I tried the Irish Death late in the evening and therefore don't remember many details about it.

Hopefully some of the other folks who were there will send me some of their comments so I can post them here.

Update: Here are Alan's comments:
My highest scores went to Peaks Plum Porter (9.9) and Stix Strong Belgian (9.9). I also gave a few 9.8s, to Elk Head Coconut Grove 500, Iron Horse Saison, and Sierra Nevada Whiskey Barrel Aged Scotch Ale. Other favorites included the Silver City Basilsener, SN Whiskey Barrel Aged Bigfoot, and the RAM (Northgate) Maker's Mark barrel aged Sleigher.

Peaks brought one of my favorites last year too, Ed's Bad Az Spruce (13%abv), but I didn't score it. My notes just say, "Friggin' A!" Elk Head also made some of my favorites last year, incl. that 5 squash imperial stout and an amazing multipepper beer. I suppose it makes sense that some of the smallest breweries have time to make more experimental brews but it's nice to see them perform so consistently at the high end.

I was bummed that Laht Neppur didn't come back this year, their winter warmer was one of the best at last year's fest. Chris Hem (Sierra Nevada rep) said they're likely to make the SN tripel again soon, but he's not sure how widely it will be distributed. It was one of the best at last year's Strangebrew too and very much like Westmalle Tripel.

Next year we need to drag the whole club up there. Years ago Don Spencer talked about starting a new beer festival featuring weird original beers and wondered if the club wanted to organize it. I've never asked if he inspired the Water Street crew with this idea or if it's a case of great minds thinking alike.