More GABF & Random Pictures

Jeff Alworth at Beervana posted the Oregon winners at this years GABF. He also has some well done analysis on the Oregon winners.
Go read!
Now some random beer pictures:

John Harris of Full Sail and Me - People keep getting us mixed up, really!

More GABF random stuff later...

Fredericksburg Brewing Wins Gold

I also wanted to post about our good friends at Fredericksberg Brewing. Rick Green of Fredericksburg Brewing was won Gold in the Keller Beer category for his Helles Keller beer!

Great job Rick!

Brian Peters of Uncle Billy's Takes Home GABF Silver!

Swifty Peeps a.k.a Brian Peters of Uncle Billy's Brew & Que has won a silver metal in the Kellerbier/Zwickelbier category for his Hell In Keller beer! Great job Swifty!

I have to leave for the airport right now but I just wanted to post the news this morning since I was too tired from the celebrating to post last night.

I also want to thank Swifty for giving me the opportunity to represent and serve for Uncle Billy's Brew & Que. I had a blast!

I'll post a rap-up with some pictures later today...

Cheers!

I'm in Denver - It must be GABF time again!

I got in last night and headed to the Falling Rock were I was to meet with friends food and beer. Then we headed over to the Pre-GABF warehouse Party where many good beers were opened and enjoyed.



It's always good to see friends old and new at this event.




































Things got a little blurry later...



Now I'm sitting waiting for my wife to get in town and then head down for Thursday night session. As usual, we are going to Thursday and Saturday day sessions. This time I will be represented Uncle Billy's Brew & Que and working some at the Friday night session at the both.
For the first time in a long time I have mapped out some of the breweries I want to hit. We'll see how well I stick to that plan...

Hood River Hops Festival

I made it to my first festival since officially moving here. The 5th Annual Hood River Hops Festival was a blast. The weather was pretty good other than it dumping rain a few times. There were enough good beers on tap to keep me busy between the rain downpours. One of my favorites of the festival was Vernon the Rabbit Slayer from Big Horse Brewpub (from right there in Hood River). Vernon is a big fresh hopped Double IPA with tons of flavor and body. Another of my favorites was also a fresh hopped beer - Elemental Ale from Pelican Brewing in Pacific City, OR.

Overall it was a nice small festival and a good start to a busy festival month and season. Next week I'll be in Denver for the GABF once again! Than back home for some more fresh hop festivals (if I survive GABF).

Cheers!

2009 Hop & Brew School

This years hop & brew school was once again fun and informative. The main speakers this year were Tomme Arthur of Port Brewing, Steve Drsler of Sierra Nevada, & Bryan Selders of Dogfish Head.
There was good news about the harvest this year: Yield is up an average of 27% over last year. And on average alpha acid % are up. We still are going to see a tight market this year, which means high prices still. But we should see a loosening of the market next year if all goes well.



Of course, the highlight of the event is always the tours of the hop fields:








I'll post more picture to my Flickr account. I'm going to post some video I took of the hops being harvested as well...

Most of the move is over.

I have not posted in forever!
Well, my wife and I have made it to the Pacific Northwest. For now we are renting a house in Vancouver, WA which is right north of the Columbia River from Portland, OR. I still have to go back and get the a lot of stuff and put our house on the market, but I got the pets moved and Teresa has started her new job (in Battle Ground, WA) on time, so all is well.

Tomorrow I will be heading up to Hop Union in Yakima with my good friend Marc for their Hop and Brew School that I have been going to every year for the last 5 years. This year I don't have to travel quite as far!

Teresa gave me a great new camera for my 40th birthday so I will be posting more and adding more pictures soon.