For the last four years my family has gotten together and had our own little beer festival. Each person brings six pack of beer, any beer they wish, and we rate the beers. The winner is determined by rating the beer on appearance, aroma, taste, and drinkability. The winner is awarded a nice little medal and bragging rights about winning the greatest beer competition ever. Anyway, here are this years results, going from worst to first with my comments about each beer added.
10. Indiana Pale Ale- usually you can’t go wrong with a Pale Ale. Citrus and hops dominate the flavor. However, for this beer something went really wrong. Aroma of bleu cheese, no hop character at all. Surprised it was even bottled. Terrible beer.
9. Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout- I think I might be the only one in my family who really liked this beer. Great chocolate flavor at the end, I think the high alcohol threw everyone off of this one. I would be more than happy to enjoy it again.
8. Steven’s Point Brewery Whole Hog Barley Wine Style Ale- Not a bad beer at all. The hard alcohol flavor was a nice warming feeling and the beer was smooth. I gave this beer a decent rating, just didn’t stack up with some of the other entries.
7. Potosi Brewing Company: Good Ole Potosi- I would put the Chocolate Stout and the Whole Hog way ahead of this one. I think it was decent, but the other two were much better to me. With Potosi expanding its distribution I wouldn’t be surprised to see one of their other beers at the family beerfest next year.
6. Millstream Brewing: Heferweizen- a good Hefeweizen beer with the banana, bubble gum, and clove flavor sticking out. Very smooth with a nice frothy head. This was Millstream’s third showing in iabeerbaron family beerfest; their John’s Generation finished second, and Iowa Pale Ale finished 4th.
5. Ale Asylum Hopalicious- my entry into the beerfest this year finishing with a respectable 5th place, (although I will go to my grave believing this should have been the damn winner). Nice hoppy flavor, citrusy and smooth. The beerbaron has yet to win but I stand by my choice. Might not be the last showing for Ale Asylum as the iabeerbaron sure loves their Bedlam! beer.
4. Goose Island Sophie- very tasty beer finishing in the top 4. Smooth and malty flavor. The beerbaron’s family is a big fan of Goose Island products so you can expect more to show up in a future festival.
3. Well’s Banana Bread- a very strong showing and a beer that really had a chance to win it. I think it scored high in every category except for drinkability. A love having one glass of banana bread beer but more than that would be pushing it.
2. Samuel Adams Winter Lager- The second Sam Adams entry as their Chocolate Bock finished second two years ago. A very nice winter ale with the perfect amount of spices and hops added to it. Finished in my top 4 and second overall. Nice showing!
1. Grays Oatmeal Stout- the iabeerbaron’s Family beerfest winner for 2010 is Grays Oatmeal Stout. The first stout to take home the prize. This beer was brought by the iabeerbaron’s lovely wife who has outshown the baron the last two years, although, the baron has taught her everything she knows about picking out a good beer:) A very nice oatmeal stout and very smooth. Was the hands down winner!
A great evening with some great beers and one really shitty one (thanks Tyler). Can’t wait for next year, what beer shall I bring?
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My wife and I have a friend who live in San Francisco. I had just started reading my All About Beer magazine and they were talking about a brewery that made a wheat beer with watermelon. My mouth started watering so I did a little research on this brewery and found that it was called 21st Amendment Brewery and was located in San Francisco. I immediately shot an email to my friend begging her to find a way to get me some of this Hell or High Watermelon Wheat beer shipped to me. She found a liquor store that would ship it and my six pack of cans came a week later. 
