GABF 2015 week, day 1

It's GABF week again and this is going to be another great week of beer events going on before the festival. Let's start with Sour Sunday at Backcountry Pizza and Tap House in Boulder, CO.  Owner, John Fayman has done it again with over 50 sour ales from all over the world. This is the third year he has kicked off GABF week with Sour Sunday.

Backcountry Pizza opened at 10 am that day but there was a line that started much earlier with enthusiastic beer drinkers. We got there at 10:05 at the place was packed, it was a good thing our friends got there earlier and saved us two seats.

This was taken around 10:30 am, place was packed!

For Sour Sunday, beers were either a full pour or half, where full pours were 10 ounces. I decided that to be able to taste more beers I would order half pours. I ordered two sour ales, The Cut, a 5.0% ABV cherry sour from Casey Brewing and Blending and Peach Oscar, a 8.5% sour from New Belgium. I didn't like the Cut at all, it had some really funky tastes going on but the Peach Oscar was really good.

Cherry Busey and The Cut.

My next sour was from the Sun King Brewing, Cherry Busey. It is a barrel aged Flanders-style Oud Bruin with Montmorency cherries that is 6.5% ABV. It was another tasty sour ale with a cherry aroma and just the right tartness.

The last beer for me was one of the reason I love Sour Sunday, a cask of Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus. It's a lushous fambroise that's only 5.0% ABV. The nose of this beer is full of raspberries with a rosey colored body. I waited 2 hours for a pour of this beer and it was worth it.

Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus and a slice of cheese pizza.

There was also a special menu for this event. Breakfast was served,  eegs, biscuit and gravy, raspberry scone, mushroom and goat cheese quiche, and a fruit parfait. There was also a special lunch menu that had some tasty looking entrees too. I had the mushroom and goat cheese quiche, it had a little too much goat cheese for my taste. Larry, my husband, had the eggs, biscuit and gravy. He said it was good but there were ham pieces in it which he thought was kind of weird.

Mushroom and goat cheese quiche.

Sour Sunday was a success with good friends, great beer, and good eats!

The servers were hopping that day.

Taste Travel Vacations is offering a Belgium Beer Tour this summer. It will be July 26 - Aug 1 2015, starting in Brussels, the highlight of that day will be going to Cantillon Brewery for a tour and tasting of their wonderful beers. Then a conversation with Jean Hummler of Moeder Lambic. It will be a world wind vacation, 7 days in 7 cities in Belgium but it will be worth it. Belgium is a small country that travel within doesn't take too much time on the road, for instance it's only two hours travel from Brussels to Bouillon. 

The cities that are in the itinerary are; Bouillon, Dinant, Ghent, Mechelan, Watou, and Brugges. Each of these cities has famous breweries and tap houses that will astound your beer taste buds. The tour includes 10 breweries and two museums with enough time for you to go off and explore.

The Belgium Beer Tour is $3,300 which includes accommodations, transportation within Belguim, and breakfast and dinner. You will get to experience the cuisines of these cities along with locally made cheeses and chocolates at Laurent Gerbaud. 

There is also different options in addition, such as public or private tours that are either classic or deluxe. For private tours, you can book it with friends, colleagues, and the like on any day with availability of accommodations. Public tours are all classic. 

All you need is to book the flight, bring extra for personal expenses, gratuity of tour guides, and unfortunately transportation to and from destination.

Brasserie Cantillon Zwanze Day at Crooked Stave Barrel-aging Taproom

September 20 was Zwanze Day! This year it was held at Crooked Stave Cellar taproom. The festivities started early in the morning with the line going around the building. We were lucky that a friend held a space for us. While waiting for the brewery to open, the beers were flowing outside with everyone bring something to share.  We were in the presence of one of the largest bottle shares of beers from all over the world. 

Cantillon Brewing makes Lambics which can be categorized as sour ales with some being more than others. I have noticed that over the years sour ales have become too popular for my own liking which if you ever tried to get tickets to the Avery Brewing Sour fest will know why. But today was a good day to be apart of this crowd of sour ale enthusiasts.

Zwanze Day is when Cantillon Brewery in Brussels sends kegs of their delicious beers all over the world and is to be poured on the same day at same time. Zwanze translates to "Foolish" in Flemish and is a one-off beer that can only be tasted on this day.

At 11:00 am, the line started to move towards the entrance of the brewery. As we walked along the side of the building there were reminisce of employ bottles lined up against the wall.  The staff of Crooked Stave came around asking for Id's then banking us as legal to precede to on our way to the next step. The end of the line under a tent was where we exchanged tender $20 for our "golden ticket" of a commemorative glass, one pour of Zwanze beer, and one pour of any other Cantillon beer on tap. If you weren't on time to be one of the 150, your ticket was for a glass and a pour of the non-Zwanze Cantillon on tap.

Crooked Stave beers were available at the taproom but the Cantillon beers were being poured in a portable tap system in the barrel room. There were two lines, one for Saint Lamvinus because it was pouring foamy  and the other for the rest of the Cantillon line-up. 

Inside the Crooked Stave taproom.

Line for the Cantillon beers on tap in barrel room.

The beers on tap:

Cantillon Gueuze- is a blend of Lambics of different ages and with different taste.

Cantillon Iris-Grand Cru, an unblended Lambic that was hopped with dried and fresh hops. 

Cantillon St. Gilloise- a gueuze made with 2-year old Lambics.

Cantillon St. Lamvinus- is a rare beer, this one was made with grapes(Merlot and Cabernet-franc varieties) soaked in Bordeaux barrels containing two to three years old Lambics. 

Tilquin Gueuze- a gueuze from Tilquin Brewery in Belgium.

Cantillon Iris!

Cantillon St. Lamvinus!

The Zwanze beer was Cuvee Florian, is a blend of Iris and Kriek where 40% of the fruit Lambic is blended with the Grand Cru. It was cold hopped with the delicate Bramling Cross hops which produced  a touch of bitterness that balanced the beers flavors and bouquet. 

The Zwanze Day beer being tapped with
Chad Yakobson punching our cards.

Cantillon Zwanze Day beer!

At one o’clock, Chad Yakobson, owner/brewer of Crooked Stave, climbed onto one of his barrels and we raised our glasses of beer to the Cantillon Zwanze Day! What a glorious day for drinking Cantillon beer!