Thanks to some of my wonderful followers I was able to get a lot of superb suggestions on breweries to visit during GABF.  Specifically I needed help with those East of the Mississippi River, as many of them don’t make their way out to Colorado.  If you told me to go see a brewery at the festival, I probably did; I got to most of them but I’m sure I missed a few.  If you don’t see that brewery on my list, it just means it wasn’t one of my overall favorites.  But that’s o.k.; I appreciate every bit of the input and had a fantastic time sampling them all.  Below are some of the most memorable brews I tasted.

Midwest Region

• Brewhouse Coffee Stout (Central Waters Brewing Co., Amherst, WI)
• Samhain Pumpkin Porter (DESTHIL, Normal, IL)
• Perkulator Coffee Doppelbock (Dark Horse Brewing Co., Marshall, MI)
• Indignant Bourbon Imperial Stout (Haymarket Pub & Brewery, Chicago, IL)
• Hop Heathen Imperial Black Ale (Hoppin’ Frog Brewing Co., Akron, OH)
• DRPIA (Kuhnhenn Brewing Co., Warren, MI) This is a double rice IPA; first time I have had one of those and it was delicious.
• Peanut Butter Cup Stout (Odd Side Ales, Grand Haven, MI)
• Hop JuJu Imperial IPA (Fat Heads Brewery, Middleburg Heights, OH)
• Zombie Dust (Three Floyds Brewing Co., Munster, IN) ***2012 Bronze Medal Winner in the American Style Pale Ale category*** I wanted to try the Dreadnaught IPA, but they were already out as of the Friday night session.

Mid-Atlantic

• The Corruption IPA (DC Brau Brewing Co., Washington, DC)
• Sah’tea (Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales, Milton, DE) This is an ancient ale flavored with black tea, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and black pepper. Reminded me of chai.

Pacific

• Bacon & Eggs Imperial Breakfast Porter (Pizza Port Ocean Beach, CA)
• Dusk Till Dawn Imperial Coffee Porter (Pizza Port San Clemente, CA)
• Rampage Imperial IPA (Black Diamond Brewing Co., Concord, CA)
• HOP CRAIC XXXXIPA (Moylan’s Brewing Co., Novato, CA)

Pacific Northwest

• Jackalope Imperial Pumpkin Porter (Beer Valley Brewing, Ontario, OR)

Mountain

• Chai Milk Stout (Yak & Yeti Brewpub, Arvada, CO)
• Mexican Chocolate Stout (Copper Kettle Brewing Co., Denver, CO)

Southeast

• Humidor Imperial Stout (Cigar City Brewing, Tampa, FL)

I am doing one more post about GABF, focusing on a few of the absolute best ones I tried. All of the above were wonderful brews, but I’d like to specifically point out a few more beers/breweries that I feel deserve special attention.

I had such a great time at GABF. Thanks for all your suggestions, and thanks for reading!