Yeah, the cat’s a bit out of the bag (I’ve seen the news on the beer forums), but if you hadn’t heard, Lost Abbey’s The Angel’s Share is out this Saturday, November 10th!

Brewery doors open at 10am and everyone is limited to 6 bottles (and they’re taking ID, so don’t bother to try and come back for more). Cost is going to be $15/bottle and the supply is pretty limited, so get there early. (It’s not going into distribution — brewery sale only.)

Full details are on the Lost Abbey website.

We were there last weekend for th bottling. Here’s a few photos for your viewing pleasure:

Baumer (left) lines up empty bottles on the left while Adam and Damien (center) fill and move them to the right

Bottles lined up on the filler

Tomme (second from right) runs the corker and Bo (far right) the wire capper.

Corked bottles awaiting their caps and wires. Is one of those bottles yours?

Okay, by now you’ve read all the Great American Beef Festival Roundups, heard about the awards winners, and various pundit’s impressions, expressions and opinions.

So now you get to read the rest of the story.

This year was our (i.e., Molly, Mojo, Adam and me) first trip to “The Show”.

And what a show it was.

We’ve attended our fair share of beer festivals, but none has ever been quite like this. Beyond learning that it is simply not possible to hit every single booth at GABF even when you have four day, early access brewery passes, we found out that not all beer is good beer. Actually, we found that most beer is not good beer. (I can write that because my opinion carries no weight in the beer world – even though it’s totally, 100% true.)

More importantly, we learned ten valuable lessons at the GABF. Here they are:

1. Elvis is alive and drinking beer

(I have no idea who this guy is, but he has great hair and knew his beer)

2. Pabst comes in cans larger than 40 ounces

I’m pretty sure it was “samples” this size that led to Pabst being large brewery and brewer of the year

3. Bagpipes make great drinking music

I totally get why those guys wear skirts now

4. It is possible to do two things at once at GABF

No, there were no senators from Idaho there

5. There’s only one (okay two) way to get someone to drink Miller Chill

`nuf said.

6. Colt 45 actually does make guys look attractive

Let me make this clear - I am NOT saying this girl is a guy. Or that Colt 45 makes him more attractive… really.

7. Brewers are actually thoughtful, intellectual people with many important opinions

That’s Pizza Port’s Noah Regnery and Avery Brewing’s Adam Avery pondering the sum of two plus two.

8. The ladies dig Stan Heiryonmous

Sure, Hugh Hefner may have a mansion, but Stan’s got an endless supply of beer.

9. Tomme Arthur digs Ray Daniels

I think Ray knows, but he’s not talking.

10. Tomme Arthur is every bit as good as he thinks he is (but don’t tell him — he’s insufferable as it is)

Tomme wins small brewery and brewer of the year after collecting Two gold medals and a silver medal. Oh, and it’s his third time as brewer of the year.

Many thanks to Tomme Arthur and Port Brewing/Lost Abbey for having us as guests, as well as all the wonderful folks who were at GABF and showed us a great time.

You’ll find our full photo album here:

Great American Beer Festival 2007

Cheers!

That’s big Tom Nickel pub owner, beer festival promoter, and author.

He’s hanging out with all the cool kids in the Pizza Port wing of aisle M.

“I grow bugs”

Well, that’s what he said when I asked him what he did.

The sign reads “6 Pack water, $5.99; 6 Pack Miller Genuine Draft, $4.90; Proof that the world hasn’t gone completely crazy.”

I’ll have some water please.

Here we are in Coors country (or is that Molson Coors country, or MillerCoors country?). The biggest thing in the Coors booth is two flat panel TVs playing the NLCS. Not too many people drinking the beer though.

YEah, we’re in. People are rolling through the doors after us. Should be fun.

The start

Well boys and girls, we’re off to the Great American Beer Festival and four days of beer and the people who love it.

This is our first trip to “The Show”, so we’re not exactly sure what to expect, but you can be sure that we’ll be blogging live from the festival and keeping you up to date on all the beers and the interesting people we meet.

We’ll also have a video camera on-hand and the technology to broadcast right from the floor, so we’re hoping you’ll check in and see what’s going on.

Cautionary note: It’s GABF. Please don’t expect anyone (including yours truly) to make any sense whatsoever after, oh…. 3pm… or Thursday… whichever comes first.

Oh, and if you’re going to be at the GABF, make sure to look us up. Molly will be wearing the blue Dirndl you see in the pic on Thursday, a green one on Friday, and God only knows what on Saturday. So we should be semi-easy to spot (I’m always within arm’s reach of Molly since she has a tendency to wander after a beer or two).

See you there!