That certain Sierra smile
Michael Jackson on the extraordinary power of some great American beers
I am constantly asked, “How many beers do you taste each day?” You would think I was engaging surreptitiously in some pleasurable vice, rather than working.
This aspect of my work reaches a peak in late September or early October each year. When I say that I taste about 150 beers in a three-day session, you will realise that I am not talking about the Munich Oktoberfest, which features the products of a mere half-dozen breweries. The Munich gig is a huge ritual but not really a beer festival.
My September-October peak is in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado: the Great American Beer Festival. As it was born from an encounter between myself and an American friend, I must declare an interest (though not of a financial nature) in saying that this festival is well named. The festival’s greatness lies in the number and stylistic variety of beers that can be tasted. In that respect, it is the world’s greatest.
It should be the first event that comes to mind when beer festivals are discussed, but its location can seem distant, not only to Europeans, but also to New Yorkers, Washingtonians, and even Chicagoans. Nonetheless, true beerlovers from all of those cities flock to Denver for the festival. Attendance this year was almost 30,000.
Three days of professional judging behind closed doors precede the public festival, which has a similar duration.
The judges – 106 this year – are mainly brewers. Most of them are American, though Britain’s Meantime and Belgium’s Duvel had panellist.....
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By Michael Jackson
Section : The Beer Hunter
Page number : 7
