BONNA-BREW

I had a few new beers at the Broo'ers Festival Tent at Bonnaroo 2010 this year that including a couple of new (to me) brewers as well. I actually didn't spend a whole lot of time in the tent since I have had most of what was being offered, but I did spend a lot of money in there because their prices were a little bloated - between $7 and $8 for a 16 oz. plastic cup of beer or $3 for a tiny "taste" of it. Ridiculous! Not a great way to drum up business, folks, when there is cheaper Bud and Miller just outside. But no one said snobbery was cheap!

First I had the new Sch*Wheat (great name) from my good friends down at Sweetwater Brewing in Atlanta. Wheat beers aren't my favorite, but this one was well made and they are extremely good as the temperatures rise outside, and it was absolutely boiling at Bonnaroo this year.

The first new (to me) brewery I checked out was Thomas Creek Brewing out of upstate South Carolina. The first of only two of their products that they had available was their Stillwater Vanilla Cream Ale. This was a great light summer beer and the vanilla was a pleasant finisher (photo below among the mass of humanity that is Bonnaroo). Much smoother than straight wheat beers. They also had a nice Irish Red they called the River Falls Red Ale. Not only was it good, but I got it for free with full 16 oz. pour from a pitcher that was starting to warm a bit. Still cold enough for me, however! Thanks, guys! I look forward to trying more of their products as they hopefully start distributing in Middle Tennessee. Their website only shows East Tennessee locations right now.

The other brewery I did not recognize was Nola Brewing out of New Orleans, LA. I started with their Brown Ale which was top notch. Nice nutty start and finish. Next I had their Belgium-style summer seasonal ale called the Hurricane Saison. This was another pleasant beer for summer weather, but I still give the winning nod to the Stillwater Vanilla Cream as the best that I tried. According to their website Nola is a small operation with only 3 yearly products and the one seasonal as of now. Their distribution map shows they only going as far north as Montgomery, Alabama, but it sounds like they are testing Tennessee waters with their visit to Bonnaroo.

ADDENDUM: A follow0up report on the canned beer from Oskar Blues Brewing that I took to Bonnaroo found both the Gubna Imperial IPA and the Gordon Ale to be outstanding beers. They especially helped ease the time to get into Bonnaroo this year which was a total cluster&#$@ of seven hours! Thank goodness for good beer on hand!

CAN you believe it's time for Bonnaroo again!

It's approaching the second week in June and that's means only one thing: Bonnaroo Time!! The annual 4-day Middle Tennessee Music and Arts Festival (of which my wife and I will be attending for our third straight year) starts June 10th and this weekend I stocked up on some beer for our campsite and since glass is not allowed. I decided on some Oskar Blues products out of Colorado. These guys are the leaders in producing great craft beer and distributing it only in cans. I have had a few of their products including Dale's Pale Ale (one of my favorites - in a can or not), Old Chub Scotch Ale, Ten Fidy Stout and Momma's Little Yellow Pils(ner) (bottom six-pack in the picture above and one of my wife's favs).

We stopped by Mid-Town Beverages in downtown Nashville which has an awesome selection but unfortunately while we were there they didn't have any Dale's Pale Ale (some lame story about a distribution problem) so I went for two new (to me) products: the Gubna Imperial IPA which I have been wanting to try for a long time and the Gordon Pale Ale which I had never heard of (I will report after The Roo how these two newbies were in terms of taste). I will also be visiting Bonnaroo's Broo'ers Tent again this year for more microbrew love during the event.

IN OTHER NEWS:

While at Mid-Town the dude who broke the bad news to me about not having Dale's Pale Ale did let me know they had just got in a case of the special Spring 2010 Limited Release of Stone's Imperial Russian Stout (it's the 10th Anniversary of this brew). I have been wanting to try this one for a long, long time probably since I bought a T-shirt touting this beer many pre-blog years ago only because I thought the logo and design were cool. If you will notice in the picture they have changed the logo a bit by giving the gargoyle a goofy-looking Russian hat (I don't like it). My wife and I enjoyed this pint on the patio tonight and it was deliciously smooth. I also purchased a 4-pack of high-gravity beer from Terrapin Brewing down in Athens, GA, known as Rye Squared Imperial Pale Ale. I shared it with my friend, John, who was cooking dinner for us the other night and we both liked it pretty well. It was a hair more bitter than I was expecting but had great hoppy aroma and the 9.5 ABV definitely had a kick.

Speaking of our patio, I have to mention the Mt. Hood hops (photo below) my wife is growing on our patio. She's doing it as decoration mostly, but we have been surprised how quick they have popped up and how vigorous they look in their pots. Maybe some home-brewing is in our future??