Event) Omaha Beer Fest 2015 (Saturday)

Saturday, the main day of the Omaha Beer Fest, arrived. A small line of the few hundred VIPers lined up outside the gate. When noon hit, they entered the park an hour earlier than the general admission crowd.

So, you might ask, what are the advantages to paying more for that status?

1) In short, you get time. You get in an hour early which means you get to dodge the crowds for a bit, have only yourself to blame for not sampling some of the rarer stuff, and get some one-on-one time with the reps.

2) There's a VIP tent. You get some special beers, food, and cover. Considering the sun during Saturday afternoon, I appreciated the hideaway.

3) You get a chance to sign up for the hourly events before anyone else does. This is huge because of how fast the sheets filled up. I'm pretty sure the cupcake pairing event was half-filled with VIPs.

4) You get a special glass, and this year, apparently a lanyard. Okay, the lanyard is mostly an "eh," but it allows the volunteers to quickly and easily identify that you are a VIP. The glass, on the other hand, is very cool, and for the geekier of us beer drinkers, considered an essential. You can swirl your beer easier, and the rounded shape traps the aroma so you get an added sensory dimension.

Left to Right: Tasting glass, VIP tasting glass, VIP lanyard

Aside from places to get more samples of beer, there were food trucks from local restaurants, a place selling spent grain doggy treats, and even some games, like Hammerschlagen.

Spirit World showed up to mix it up a little for us. If you brought over a beer, they'd add a bitters to it so you could try the same beer a slightly different way.

Here's one that I did:

Oskar Blues Brewery - Old Chub + Creole Bitters) The aroma changed dramatically and the flavors got a little overwhelmed. I imagine the result would go great with curry and rice though. ☆☆☆

Each hour starting at 1:00, special beers were available in the VIP tent. I made sure to stop in for each.:

Grimm Brothers Brewhouse​ - Maiden’s Kiss) I could sip this one all day. It's a light, refreshing easy drinking beer that I can best describe as somewhere in between a pilsner and a lager. The finish is clean and easy without a hop bite. ☆☆☆☆

Ploughshare Brewing Co - Bouton d’Or) or "Golden Flower" is usually used to refer to "buttercup" in English, but this beer was made with dandelions. To me it tasted like fresh roots and had a lot of very earthy plant-like tastes. ☆☆

Brickway Brewery & Distillery​ - Oak-Aged Imperial IPA) This IPA was oak aged and then dry-hopped post aging to assure it has that proper hoppy punch. If you like hops, you'll love this. ☆☆☆

Deschutes Brewery​ - Pinedrops IPA) The name is lovely match for the beer. Pine resin is the main attribute of this bitter bomb. I even enjoyed it. ☆☆☆☆

Kinkaider Brewing Company​ - Smoked Alt) I do love my smoked beers. I thought this one was lighter and more balanced than many I've had. It didn't just try and smoke me out. ☆☆☆☆

Sprecher Brewery - Beyond Braggot) I'm still not sure how to describe this one. It's like it's a mead, but not. Yet it's not quite a beer either. Regardless of what it is, the result is very sweet, but not thick like syrup. ☆☆☆☆
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Rogue Ales​ - XS I^2 PA) This one was fun. Instead of a severe blast of IBUs, this beer is full of malty flavors with a variety of aromatic hops working in the background. ☆☆☆☆

Zipline Brewing Co - Rum Barrel Aged Black IPA) Take Zipline's Black IPA and add a dash of spiced rum. On second thought, don't actually do that. The result wouldn't be as smooth. ☆☆☆☆

First pairing at 12 o'clock, second at three, etc.

At three, I attended the Beef Jerky and Brickway pairing. First we had their Hefe with some normal jerky which was good to so-so. The second pairing though was eye opening. Spicy beef jerky goes surprisingly well with their Oatmeal Cream Stout even though the combination contrasted like fire and ice. The third pairing set cayenne jerky alongside an IPL. Pale ales go well with spicy food so it didn't surprise me that a pale lager set up a together well.

The last pairing had a Jim Bean bourbon smokey jerky that was amazing! And they paired it with a dash of Borgata's own whiskey. The bite of the whiskey and the tender smokiness of the jerky made me want more.

And, here are my favorites beers I sampled:

Firetrucker Brewery - Cat in a Tree) This one was likely my most memorable drink from the event. This ginger beer is startlingly clear, and the perfect remedy for a hot summer day. ☆☆☆☆☆

Confluence Brewing Co - Barrel aged Oatmeal Stout) Confluence showed up with only two growlers of this one and the next beer as well. The oakey backdrop the aging added and the creaminess of the oatmeal stout merged quite well in this beauty. ☆☆☆☆

Confluence Brewing Co - Dubbel) In my experience thus far, a brewery rarely gets the right mouth feel on a Belgian style beer. They nailed it on this one making for a very good experience. ☆☆☆☆

Here's the rest of the list:

Farnamhouse Brewing Co - Grisette) The aroma reminds me a bit of cornflakes, and this light saison has just the right touch of citrus to be very sessionable. ☆☆☆☆

Storz Brewing Co - Triumph) I tend to prefer my beers rich and malty, but even though this is the opposite, it's rather enjoyable. ☆☆☆

Blind Tiger Brewing Co - By the Tail) This IPA is strong as the name implies. And although it got me by the tongue nerfing my tastebuds for a bit, I thought it was quite smooth and appropriately hopped up. ☆☆☆☆

Firetrucker Brewery - Under Lager IPL) IPLs are so hard to do right. They did. ☆☆☆☆

Firetrucker Brewery - Pumper Truck Porter) I only remember this one being a bit watery. Although that could be a subliminal thought planted by the name of the beer. ☆☆☆

Exile Brewing Co - Beatnik Sour) I jumped into this one thinking it was a sour beer like an oud bruin or the like, but it was a berliner weisse. Pretty representative of the style with a slightly stronger than usual tartness. ☆☆☆

Exile Brewing Co - Hannah) A wheat beer that made my day. The main thing I would say about it is that it was rich, and the wheat was well presented without being over fresh. ☆☆☆☆

Zipline Brewing Co - Golden Strong) Good initially, but it didn't quite grow on me. The mouth feel also wasn't quite there though it was closer than some. ☆☆☆

Upstream Brewing Co - In Bloom) Figs? Yes indeed. The flavors just rebound on you with this one. The linger and the finish were both highlights on this one. ☆☆☆☆


I'll leave you'll with one more thing. Pretzel necklaces are meant to be eaten, not left behind. I hope the wildlife found these and didn't let them go to waste. However, abandoned hanging pretzels certainly make for a cool picture though. Cheers!

The last vestige...