Top 5 Beer Events of 2010

OK, so yesterday I did not clarify, I am going to attempt to make several top 5 lists of things that I either attended/covered/or both within 2010.  This will keep things relative with the blog.

Top 5 Beer Events of 2010

5.  Jupiter Craft Beer Festival

4.  Meetings of the Minds #1 (South Florida Social Media Beer Meetup)

3.  The Funky Buddha Brewery Grand Opening

2.  (tie) Dark Lord Day 2010 / Hunahpu Release

1.  Great American Beer Festival

This past year was filled with all kinds of amazing events in the beer community.  Above are just my top 5, ok 6, of the year.

I began the list with one of the first and last events that Dos and I covered in 2010.  Jupiter Craft Beer Festival is one event that I look froward to every year.  This is without a doubt the best beer festival in the state of Florida.

The "Meeting of the Minds" was something that I honestly didn't know how I, a new beer blogger, got invited to.  Ed Roberts has a knack for talent I guess.  This meeting was the first time that I brushed shoulders with a number of people that I built some amazing friendships with over the past year.  We spoke about the local beer community, and really was one of the places that the idea of something like #FlaBrew was thought up.

The most exciting local event of the year for me was the Grand Opening of The Funky Buddha Brewery.  Why? Well the fact that I can drive a very short distance to a damn good brewery makes me happy.  The fact that this small brewery in Boca Raton is getting some national hype makes me even more happy.

While I was unable to travel to Dark Lord Day, I did some extensive covering this year, and even leaked some information about the event.  The Hunahpu release was one of my favorite events of the year, it was really one of my first events as an active blogger.  I met some great people from all over the country, and had some amazing beer!

What could beat Great American Beer Festival?  Seriously?  This was the Grand-Daddy of beer festivals.  I had the opportunity to try some amazing beer, meet some amazing people in and out of the industry, and travel all over Colorado with great friends.  This is a trip that everyone that loves beer should do at least one time!

Vertical Tastings: Worth the Effort?

Well assuming you listen to United We Drink, follow anyone using #FlaBrew on twitter, or simply keep tabs on the DosBeerigos Facebook Page; you are well aware that a vertical of Dark Lord took place the other night at my birthday gathering.

Yep 2005 - 2010 of this rare beer was sampled amongst some of my closest friends and family members.

This leads me to the week long question.....are vertical tastings worth it?

Assuming you collected all the bottles yourself, a 6 year vertical would take, well 6 years. That's a long time to wait to drink some beer, wine, hell anything. If you did not collect the bottles yourself then you would have to try to piece the vertical together (this was how I obtained my bottles).

Trading for the bottles can lead to almost a wild card of how the beers were aged for such a long time. Were the conditions ideal for cellaring (a dark cool place)?

This week we will take the adventure of the vertical one day at a time. I may have some fellow tasters chime in on their experience tasting the beers.

Let us start with 2010........well honestly my opinion on this one hasn't changed in the few months

Where have you been?

Not much happened this week in the area of Beer News. Although, unless you were living under a rock, you should have known that National Beer Day was this past Tuesday. The reasoning was because it was the start to the end of Prohibition. Yes it was a joyful day for all, or at least most.



Also in other news, a Denmark brewery had its employees strike after they took away the ability to drink on the job.  Over 800 employees of Denmark's Carlsberg Brewery went on strike Wednsday after being told that they can only drink "free" beer during lunch, and not while working. The coolers were removed from around the brewery, pushing 250 of the 800 to walk off the job entirely.

OK, Seriously?  I think that Carlsberg needs to do a lot more than just take beer away.  It sounds to me that their employees have a serious drinking issue.  Isn't being drunk on the job a sign of alcoholism?  Maybe they should put their entire staff on Celebrity Rehab 48.....I lost count after season one, that show sucks.  Get back to work people we need you finish making your beer.

And Finally in other news I got a sneak peak at the Three Floyds 2010 Dark Lord  Bottles last night (thanks @WBCTilly).  Check it out!  This years color is going to be GREEN!  YESS!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="548" caption="GREEN WAX!"][/caption]

Well thats all for today.  Miguel, Cerveza Chica, and Myself are heading to Vine and Barley this evening to see if we can score some Brooklyn Dark Matter and Brew Dog Paradox on tap!  Check this place out sometime! Vine and Barley