World Beer Festival

Saturday October 4th was the date for the annual World Beer Festival over in Durham. Usually the locale is the old Durham Athletic Park, but due to renovations for the minor league baseball museum constructed there, it was moved to the newer Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The DBAP versus the DAP.

A gorgeous day: sunny, bright, and a comfortable 70 degrees. Fantastic for walking around the outfield on a minor league baseball field underneath huge white tents while imbibing 2-ounce samples of beers from around the world.

James and Monica drove down from Alexandria for a family visit, and we incorporated a manly afternoon out for Chris and James to get into whatever trouble they could.

We parked the Jeep at the American Tobacco Complex by 11:00 and stood in line for the 12:00pm gate opening. The entrance was the left field corner, and we arrived along third base pretty darn close to home plate. This year, it went smoothly as they checked ID's and scanned tickets down the line instead of a bottleneck at the entrance. We were inside the ballpark with first beer in hand by 12:15pm. Absolutely unheard of in past years.

We wound our way throughout all three tents, sampled plenty of beer, and met some great people. Gwen, a pourer for Top of the Hill brewpub in Chapel Hill was instantly taken with Chris's Indians jersey as she exclaimed she was from Ohio. James was lost in his beer as these two yammered on and on about being a Cleveland fan and the pain we must suffer. Plus it didn't hurt that she was so easy on the eyes.

The token, required, and mandated Gordonian stop at the Foothills booth resulted in yet another worshipping at the feet of brewer Jamie B. In his imbibing, James was floored by their Total Eclipse Stout, and he returned for repeat samples for that one with ease.

Plenty of really good beers were available, along with some so-so ones that would make you proclaim.....meh. A Croatian lager and a Lithuanian pale ale come to mind. Nice to try, but a 2-ounce sample was all that was needed to realize that a bulk purchase of these beers would not in fact be in our future.

As this festival obviously occurs in NC, it was easy to have local representation of our growing beer scene. Gordonian locals Natty Greene's and Foothills of course, plus Wilmington's Azalea Coast (what was up with all the buttered popcorn flavor in the Black Lure Porter???); Raleigh's Big Boss Brewing (with a yummy Black Diamond Express blackberry Belgian ale); Chapel Hill's Top of the Hill and also Carolina Brewery; Farmville's Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery; High Point's Liberty Brewing; Fayetteville's Mash House (whose Hoppy Hour IPA has severely gone downhill over the years); Durham's Triangle Brewing (and a snappy Xtra Pale Ale); a plethora from Asheville: French Broad Brewing (with a spicy Rye Hopper seasonal beer), old standby Highland Brewing (with a malty and nutty Clawhammer Oktoberfest seasonal), and new on the scene Wedge Brewing (with a fantastic organic Carob Maple Porter).

Best beer of the day? In a discussion and debate, it was decided by James and Chris that it was the Chico Estate Harvest Wet Hop Ale from Sierra Nevada in California. A mere six hours from hops picked on their own farm to enter the brew kettle. Delicious.

Afterward, it was dinner literally across the street from the ballpark at Tyler's Taproom for sandwiches, one final beer (full-sized), and plenty of water. A reuben and a monte cristo for us, with plenty of their succulent garlic fries.

Once we got back to Greensboro, the beery theme continued with the brewing of an imperial stout: Chocolate-Vanilla Imperial Stout to be precise. A beefy wintertime stout that will have cocoa powder and Madagascar Bourbon vanilla added to the secondary fermenter once initial fermentation is complete. We brewed into the night; a peaceful reflective time brewing is, allowing us to unwind and sample some homebrew. We did a side-by-side taste test of Chris's clone of Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter. It holds its own. James raves about it, but being Chris's baby he is far more critical and feels it lacks in the coffee aspect that comes through in the real deal. Either way, it was a tasty attempt to copy it. We also chilled a bottle of the Maple Pumpkin Ale, only one week into carbonation out of the required 2 to 3. It was AWESOME. Carbonated already, with plenty of autumnal spicing and a whisper of pumpkin flesh. This is going to be a GOOD one. Next year's batch will be MUCH bigger for October. With all the solids in the brew, Chris netted only 36 bottles out of a usual 48-53. The pumpkin flesh really held onto a lot of liquid in the brew, plus the required three transfers of the beer to clarify it more took its toll on the final volume. 2009's version will make up for that I assure you.

Brewday cleanup was completed at 9:45pm Saturday night. At 4:45am Sunday morning as Kimberly woke up for an overtime shift at work, she took the dogs out and checked the imperial stout. The fermentation was so vigorous and violent it blew the airlock off, splattering the ceiling, the walls, and the toilet. The floor was a mess, the room stunk of beer, and when Chris woke at 9:00am he couldn't be happier to clean up the mess. A frothy foamy fermentation in mere hours! Outstanding. And, there's no stopping it. Chris cleaned up the airlock and the carboy, but the yeasties just want to pop that airlock right back off. We're going to have to let it ferment a day open with a protective layer of froth and gunk to cover the carboy opening. Wow. We'll replace the airlock Sunday night or Monday. Resistance is futile.

Now the big question:
Who's going to help Chris drink all this homebrew? We've got Joe Jackson Tripel and Gordon Lightfoot Porter on the top shelf, then Carolinian Slightly Smoked Porter and Honey Molasses Porter on the bottom shelf. We need to make some room because the currently carbonating Maple Pumpkin Ale has to go in here SOMEWHERE...