The Science of Beer

My wife and I attended the 2nd annual "The Science of Beer" event at the Nashville Adventure Science Center tonight. It was a pretty neat little event that I just happened to hear about a few weeks ago. But evidently a lot of people heard about it because it was sold out with no tickets at the door available when we arrived about 15 minutes after it started. Good thing I had pre-ordered our tickets.

I decided to buy the $20 admission tickets for three reasons: Number One - there was going to beer there...hello...Number Two: I don't have to work tomorrow, and Number Three - we attended a wine-tasting event at this place a while back and really liked the layout for such an occasion. The NASC is a large, multi-level, hands-on science center for kids of all ages that sits on a hill near the Civil War's Fort Negley overlooking downtown. It has a lot of open space to set up tasting booths and for attendees to mingle. Plus, most of the science exhibits are open and can be even more fun to experience with a little buzz going!

The beers available weren't anything to get too excited about, but not bad. It was all bottle-poured samples, but it was at least mostly respectable American micro-brews. It was co-sponsored by Lipman Distributing, so, of course, their products were what was bing presented. It was also sponsored by Nashville's own Yazoo Brewing and it was a bit disappointing that they didn't have draught samples of their wares. There were tasting stations set up by beer category: stouts, porters, IPAs, wheats, pilsners and ales. The lines were a little long due to a limited number of pourers and a lot of lollygaggers tasting their samples while in the way of others trying to get a taste as well. The "science" part was a little lame with a few information booths set up, a beer Jeopardy room, a scavenger hunt and a silent auction on a few interesting items. Overall, it was OK, but probably not something worth attending every year. It was good to see it sold out and that much enthusiasm for good beer in Nashville. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since the Music City Beer Festival sells out fast each summer as well.

I was able to try a few new-to-me samples...at least one at each station we visited...here's how they went in a brief run-down:

Ass-Kisser Double IPA: I had heard of this one thanks to its unique name, and had been wanting to try it. It's brewed by Rahr & Sons Brewing out of Fort Worth, Texas. Unfortunately, it was an English-style IPA that I don't really care for too much. It was drinkable and a decent finish but the smell and first taste just weren't pleasing to me.

Stone Smoked Porter - excellent smokey taste and smooth finish. The Stone folks out of California are one of my favorites and always do it right .

Victory Storm King Stout - I have actually had a sip of this before from a bottle my friend, Nate, got one time when were out. It was good to have a few full swallows of this nice stout from Pennsylvania.

Red Tail Ale - I was excited to see this beer not for its taste (which was a decent Irish red ale) but for its brewer, Mendocino Brewing out of New York. They produce one of my favorite high-gravity IPAs in a bottle - the White Hawk Select - which you couldn't get in this area until now I guess....I actually bought it in Chattanooga which is under a different distributorship. And, yep, they had White Hawk at the IPA tasting station which made up for that nasty English-style one. Update: I also just bought a Blue Heron Pale Ale of theirs (unknowingly, I hadn't even looked at who the brewer was) at the Mt. Juliet Beer Company store in a variety six-pack so the distributing in Middle TN is definitely on. Haven't tried it yet, more on that later.

I also had some weird German pilsner as well that I had never had before, but failed to save the name of it. Doesn't matter much because it wasn't very good anyway. I do remember it being the bright yellow color of well....piss...sorry, that's just what it looked like. We never got to the wheats. The line was too long and neither of us are big fans anyway. Again, not a bad event. For $20 a person of which some of that went to charity you got a good variety of beer with plenty to drink, a nice full tasting glass from Yazoo to keep (I really hate those beer festivals where they give you some dinky little glass which is really good for nothing after the sampling is over) and admission to most of the science center without a bunch of brats running around in it.

When we got home I cracked open a pint bottle of Sculpin IPA from Ballast Point Brewing in San Diego (did I mention I don't have to work tomorrow!). My amazing wife, Ashlee, got me this beauty on a recent trip to California. It was excellent and easy to taste why it won a gold medal this year at The Beer Cup.