OBF Hot Tips

If you're waffling about whether to brave the crowds to go to this year's fest, waffle while you quaff: this is the best OBF I can remember. The beers are uniformly good and there's a fair number that are fantastic. I'll update my earlier report with a few more observations from yesterday.

Four to Try
Green Flash IPA (hopolicious)
Fifty Fifty Donner Party IPA (silky and rich)
Old Market Midsummers White (exceptional Belgian wit)
Elysian Prometheus IPA (I don't remember this beer exactly, save that it impressed me)

A Couple to Skip
The Bison Chocolate Stout was thin and astringent, the Stone Vertical Epic was cloying and unnuanced (it was an imperial wit, which I think is a style we should relegate to the dustbin), and BJ's C'est Bon Blonde which although not bad, was not great, either (bon?--c'est médiocre).

I had hoped to run a series of beerlebrities on phone cam, but somehow the regulars I often see (which in the past has included Charlie Papazian, Fred Bowman, John Harris, Art Larrance, Alan Sprints, David Zuckerman, and so on) were absent or cleverly avoiding my prying eyes. But I did manage one, the estimable Fred Eckhardt:

If you have still not headed down, don't miss it: go!