Seattle International Beer Festival

Last weekend, Country Girl and I went to Seattle International Beer Festival at Seattle Center.  They advertised having more than 250 beers from 15 countries.  Summer has finally arrived and the weather was very nice (though a bit hot and sunny for City Boy's tastes) so the event was predictably very crowded.  It was in a different area in Seattle Center this year and I'm pretty sure it was more spacious which helped deal with the crowd.

Country Girl and I tried 16-18 samples with our 20 tickets.  There were definitely some highlights and our "official scores" are listed below.  One beer that really stood out was the Wingman P-51 Coconut Porter.  Both Country Girl and I really enjoy dark beers.  I'm less of a fan of porters generally because they often contain lots of coffee tones.  This one was deliciously light on coffee and though I'm not a huge coconut flavor fan, Wingman got the taste totally spot on.  Very flavorful and crisp without being too sweet or overbearing with the coconut flavor.  Other beers we tried (top possible score being 5), 

• Stone IRS Belgo Anise 2011 (Imperial Stout) - 2
• Mad Viking Vintage Cognac IRS (Imperial Stout) - 2.5
• Stiegl Austrian Pils - 2.5
• Lost Abbey Serpent Stout - 4
• Two Beers Crooked Belgian Wit - 4
• Ayinger Brau Weisse - 2
• Sam Adams Imperial White - 1 
• Lazy Boy Belgian Dubbel - 3
• Bavik Pils - 3
• Big  Eddy's Wee Heavy (Scotch Ale) - 3
• Mad Belgian (Belgian Pale) - 3
• Steelhead Scotch Porter - 4
• Primator Dark Lager - 4
• Saku Rock Porter - 3
• Zhiguli Grande 12% (Dopplebock) - 3.5

There were a couple of things at this year's festival that detracted from the good times, however.  One thing was that there was at least one cigar vendor which I don't recall from prior festivals.  Unfortunately, cigar smoking wasn't confined to the area where the cigars were available.  As a result, there was noxious, choking cigar smoke violating our noses several times while we at the festival.  

The other downer was the abundance of dogs at the event.  Compounding problems was that many of them were off leash.  Given the size of the crowd, it's not a practical place for dogs.  It's a lot of work just navigating the people, the addition of stumbling over dogs as well left a lot to be desired. 

These grumbles aside, it was a really fun event.  The weather was much better than expected and we got to sample some great beers.  I think we both look forward to attending next year.