DC Beer Week- Lupulin Reunulin

Friday we attended the gem of DC Beer Week (or one of the gems anyway): the Lupulin Reunulin at RFD. What could be better than drinking a bunch of beers and listening to a panel of brewers make fun of each other?

However, before heading to RFD, we met up with some Beer Advocates at the bar crawl Todd Alstrom organized. We had a couple beers at the DC Chop House. It was really cool to meet some other beer geeks, and hopefully we can hang out again!

Before I get into the beer reviews, I'd like to give a shout out to the random girl who was sitting next to me. This brilliant girl took a look at the RFD menu and decided she didn't want to eat bar food, despite the fact she had a beer list in front of her with FIFTEEN (and we were soon to learn, SIXTEEN) beers on it. She then proceeded to flat out chug the first 6 beers. And then, she pretty much passed out at the table. I was really irritated because I had to keep looking behind me to see if she was close to puking. Eventually, around beer 9, she got up from the table and didn't come back until the end. It was slightly amusing that her date didn't go look for her until approximately beer 14. Really not impressive, random girl.

Anyway, on to the good part of the evening! The panel was Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head, Tomme Arthur from Port Brewing/Lost Abbey, Adam Avery from Avery Brewing Co., Vinnie Cilurzo from Russian River, Rob Tod from Allagash and Bill Madden from Vintage 50. The moderator was Julie Johnson. I'm sure Julie is a nice woman but she wasn't a good moderator for this event. Every time the panel members said something remotely inappropriate ("the stripper was lactating") she interrupted them and called for the next beer. I think I'd have preferred Bob Tupper because he's my favorite beer host. He, however, was off brewing Tupper's Hop Pocket, so he wasn't available.

As I mentioned, we tasted 16 beers.

Dogfish Head Festina Peche: smells sour, tasted tart, refreshing and sour. We've had this beer before and it is pleasant enough, we both rated it a 3.

Port Brewing Hot Rocks Stein Lager: smells like raisins and grass, tasted very unlike typical lagers. It tasted of raisins and was sweet, but dry. It was 6.5% abv. We both rated this a 3.

Avery Brabant: smells of sour cherries, tastes sour but sweet and also of horse blanket and wet dog (gotta love that Brett). This was 10.5% abv. We both rated this a 5. I'm glad we have a bunch of this in our fridge.

Vintage 50 Molotov Cocktail: smells of pinetrees, citrus and soap. It tastes about like it smells, and a lot like lemons. We both rated this a 3. I'm looking forward to Bill Madden opening a new brew pub in Falls Church. I think overall his beers are really interesting, and I welcome a new beer place to add into our rotation!

Allagash Confluence: smells of jolly ranchers and peaches, tasted slightly tart, barnyardish and apples. We both rated this a 5. I'm also glad to know we have a bunch of this in the fridge as well! (Yeah we pretty much have no food, only beer)

Russian River Blind Pig IPA: Vinnie showed up right before this beer was served- good timing. I've also had this beer on tap at the brewery, and it is a great IPA. It smells floral and of pine, and tastes like pinetrees. It is a wonderful west coast IPA. It iwas 6.1% abv. We both rated this a 5.

Dogfish Head Hoppy Onion: It is unclear if this is the actual name of the beer. We're pretty sure it isn't. This is a new beer that Dogfish is going to be premiering sometime in the future. Hopefully soon. It smells of ginger and Thai food. It tastes of onions, Thai ginger chicken and Indian spices. It is actually made from Indian spices, so my nose/palate are not quite fine-tuned. This was the most interesting new beer of the night (I've had Consecration, Brabant, Confluence, etc. before). I think it was a love it or hate it kind of beer because I heard a lot of people around saying they didn't like it. I loved it. Ben rated it a 5 and I rated it a 6. However, once it becomes widely available I'll probably lower that rating to a 5. I think there's a flaw in the rating system based on availability, but that's ok ;)

Lost Abbey Carnevale: We got to have Carnevale again! It smells of wet dog and tasted of citrus. Ben rated it a 5 and I rated it a 4.

Avery The Maharaja: smells of hops and pine. It tastes dry, and also of pine and strawberries. It has 10.3% abv. This is a great IPA, and we both rated it a 4.

Allagash Hugh Malone: (not Huge Melons unfortunately). Smells like a tripel. Tastes of Belgian sugar and tropical fruits. We both rated this a 4.

Vintage 50 Headknocker: I couldn't quite place the aroma of this one- it was not very pungent. This beer was served on cask, and it was sweet. I don't have any other notes about it other than we both rated it a 3. It was good, but didn't really stand out.

Port Brewing 3rd Anniversary Pale Strong Ale: smells of rye bread and tasted sweet and of rye. We both rated this a 4.

Russian River Consecration: smells sour. Tasted sour to the point of puckering, and of dark fruit. This beer is amazing. We both rated it a 6.

Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron: doesn't really have an aroma. Tastes woody, smokey and chocolatey. Ben rated this a 5 and I rated it a 4. It is a good beer, and one of the go-to beers at the Dogfish brewpub.

Avery Mephistopheles Stout: smells of coffee and alcohol. Tastes like coffee, chocolate and candy. Ben rated this a 5 and I rated it a 4.

Vintage 50 Wee Heavy 2002: smells of dark fruit and sourness. Tasted of prunes, raisins and cherries. We both rated this a 4.

After all of those beers, we were sipping the last few and talking over the event with our new Beer Advocate friend. None other than the grandfather of craft brewing, Ken Grossman (of Sierra Nevada) sat down at our table just to chat about the event. How freaking cool is that? I don't know of any other industry where someone of that level would just randomly sit down at a table with three nerds and entertain their questions for a few minutes.

We introduced ourselves to Candice Alstrom who was absolutely hilarious and one of the highlights of the evening. Seriously, I haven't laughed so hard in a long time!

I love this event, and wish it was more than once a year!