AHA Pro Brewers Night

Last week I had the opportunity to go to the Pro Brewer's night at the American Homebrewer's Conference in nearby Bloomington. A pretty cool opportunity given that this conference is in a different city every year. I applied and was accepted for a media pass, another huge opportunity. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it to much of the conference, but was able to get to the Pro-Brewer's night on Thursday. Over 45 breweries on hand, including all the local ones, it was a great opportunity to drink some good beer.
I have to admit I was a bit disappointed that much of what was on hand was stuff that you can find in the stores. I was hoping for some rareities, but a few breweries did deliver on that end. I went to the conference with my good friend Jesse. We met up with a couple local bloggers that I've met before, Derek from Beer This! and Jon from Legal Beer.
The list was a bit overwhelming, and as the night went on it became incredibly harder to make mental (written was thrown out early) notes of what I drank. But here are the highlights:
Started off the night with Surly 4. I had never had this beer before, but heard a lot about it. A great espresso, milk stout. Surly also had their AHA Rally Wort- they aged this in oak barrels with the Cynic yeast, also quite good. Jesse had the Braggot and said it was very interesting.
Some other Minnesota breweries that impressed me were St. Paul's, Vine Park Brewery, a former brew pub, turned brew-your-own location, that now apparently brews their own batches available for growlers. The beer they had on hand was inspired by their group trips (yes, they offer that as well) to Beligum. It was called Cuvee de Belgium and one of the more surprising beers of the night. Jesse and I both walked away impressed by this one.
From far, far up north in Minnesota is Boathouse Brewpub in Ely. Jesse was impressed with their Hasselhop Rye IPA, and I had their Deepwater Horizon Brown Ale. Very good brown full of brown sugary goodness.
Town Hall and Fulton sampling came towards the end of the night. Town Hall's Imperial IPA was awesome, Jesse ( a huge DIPA fan) was excited to finally find one and Southwest Minneapolis' Fulton's Sweet Child o' Vine (second time I've had it) was very good as well. Excited for their continued growth. Also had to try Summit's Oatmeal Stout, cask conditioned and dry hopped with Fuggles...very tasty.
Among the surprises of the night was a small brewery located in Zanesville, Ohio called Weasel Boy. Weasel Boy seems like a pretty small operation, and the beers they had on hand were fantastic, a great Russian Imperial Stout called Anastasia RIS and Bitter Sable Imperial Black IPA.
Overall the night was a lot of fun. It was great to be able to sample so many beers from all over. Good to hang out with good people, my only regret was not being able to make more of the conference (especially club night).

The pics in order from the top (Derek and I, Jesse and I, John and I).


Coming up this week will be some info on my None More Black Imperial Stout I brewed, and some other thoughts on some beers I've been drinking lately.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer