The 2nd Annual Raleigh Rare & Vintage Beer Tasting
After hearing first hand accounts from last years tasting, I immediately regretted not getting tickets for the inaugural event. I’m generally not a fan of big beer festivals. Fighting through crowds of drunk people that are growing rowdier by the minute, all to get a sample of one of the many beers featured, rinse and repeat. Don’t get me wrong, I love beer, I just love it more when I can relax and enjoy it. This is the reason I tend to avoid the big beer festivals.
With all that being said, I don’t look on the Raleigh Rare & Vintage Beer tasting as a typical beer festival. The price of the ticket tends to eliminate most of the more unsavory only-here-to-get-swasted crowd. Also, the quality of the beer is on such a higher level than the typical festival, that pretty much any booth you visit is going to be rewarding.
So I grabbed the Mrs, ate a big lunch, and headed out to Seaboard Station, to a large tent behind Tyler’s Taproom. After waiting about 10 minutes in line to get in, we grabbed our tasting glasses goblets and set out to overwhelm our tastebuds.
So without further ado, here is the list (that I thankfully wrote down) of the beers we tried, and for the ones I remember, some notes about them.
1. Aviator Bourbon Barrel Age Black Mamba Stout w/ cherries.
2. Abita Bourbon Barrel Aged Brown Ale
3. Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout (first time having this, very impressed)
4. Sierra Nevada Ovila Quad w/ Plums (sweet but well balanced)
5. Sierra Nevada Bourbon Barrel Aged Bigfoot 2010 vintage (spent 2 years in barrel. The characteristic hops are almost completely gone, I would love to get some more of this)
6. Oskar Blues Quadzilla G’Knight (super hoppy and fresh. Side note, the first cans from the new Brevard NC brewery are due in next week I believe)
7. Mystery Obelisk (very nice sour)
8. Mystery Caswell (herbed/spiced beer)
9. Haw River Farmhouse Ales Deciduous (really good sour, these guys almost stole the show)
10. Haw River Farmhouse Ales Cotton Pickin’ Farmhouse IPA (good Belgian style IPA)
11. Trophy Brewing Company Test Batch 27 – Wee Heavy Rum Barrel Aged (one of my favorites from the event, I can’t wait for these guys to open in mid-February)
12. Trophy Brewing Company Test Batch 29 – Iron Man Simcoe Double IPA (another solid hoppy beer, very fresh and floral)
13. Fullsteam The Common Good – California Common (very nice beer, 3rd Common I’ve had in a week, are they making a comeback?)
14. Fullsteam First Frost 2011 vintage – Winter Warmer (reminiscent of a tawny port, nutty and sweet)
15. Heavy Seas Siren Noire – Imperial Chocolate Stout aged in Buffalo Trace Bourbon Barrels with madagascar vanilla beans, casked with habanero peppers and cinnamon sticks (thats a mouthful, and it was served from a wooden cask, very good).
16. Terrapin Monk’s Revenge – Belgian IPA aged in Cabernet Barrels (nice fruity notes added from the barrel, very well balanced)
17. Bear Republic Cuvee de Bubba – American Wild Ale (very solid sour, another one of my favorites from the event)
18. Palm Royale – Belgian Pale Ale (very smooth for 7.5% abv, great balance)
19. Lagunitas Kill Ugly Radio – Double IPA (wet hopped with a big aromatic nose and nice bitterness)
20. Anchor Our Barrel Ale – American Strong Ale (very nice strong ale, malty and delicious)
21. NoDa Brewing Company NoDaRyeZ’d – Bourbon Barrel Aged Double Rye IPA (BBL aging added nice vanilla notes and helped balance the hoppy finish)
22. Green Flash Cedar Plank Pale Ale – American Pale Ale
23. Green Flash Silva Stout – Bourbon Barrel aged imperial stout (one of my favorite stouts from the tasting, incredible balance)
24. Left Hand Widdershins – American Barleywine 2003 vintage (slightly oxidized but still very good, especially for a 10 year old beer)
25. Rogue 21 Ale – Old Ale
26. Bell’s Bourbon Barrel Aged Cherry Stout – 2010 vintage (I wrote down something about chilies for this beer, hmm)
27. Elysian Bifrost Winter Ale
28. Elysian The Immortal IPA – American IPA
29. New Holland Blue Sunday #22 – American Wild Ale (fantastic sour)
30. Avery Dihos Dactylion – Sour Ale (simply incredible, the sours were very well represented at this tasting)
31. Victory Red Thunder – Baltic Porter
32. Anderson Valley Brewing Company Heefus Hooper – Bourbon Barrel aged American Porter
After a few revisits we stumbled back to the Mystery table and I was delighted to see that Erik had pulled out some bottles of:
33. Mystery Batch 1 – their first barrel aged Sour ale. (A very well balanced sour, the tartness was kept in check from the barrel aging)
We ventured back over to the Trophy table, had some more Batch 27, and chatted it up with Chris and Woody until it was time to leave.
After a stumbling walk up to Tyler’s, we had some food and caught a ride home with Mike and Heather, just in time to watch NC State take care of UNC.
My palate is exhausted, I still have a bit of a headache, but I will say it was a great time, and I look forward to next year. Cheers.
Note: Raleigh Rare & Pints for Prostates raised over $12,000 from the event! Awesome Stuff!