We want to thank everyone for a great time this year! The Minnesota
Craft Brewer's Guild <http://www.mncraftbrew.org>
did it again with a lot of help from their friends and peers! Thanks
Dave Berg and Company!
We really loved the new site at the Grain Belt Brewery and all the beers
were just awesome!
Thanks go out to my Minnesota Home Brewers Association Club for all your
efforts and the
wonderful people in the club! The ABR was a blast this year as usual and
the little bit of rain
was "Piddly" as how my friend Tim, "The Admiral" says it...for us
seasoned beer veterans and
Mountain Men... heh heh
Thanks Jim Ellingson and Chris Smith for getting tickets for my friend
Brian at work here.
I know he greatly appreciated it! We met many new friends there this
year. Lynne Erte',
Santiago, Bruce, Lake, and Beth were a blast and fun to meet. Sorry we
missed meeting
up with you guys at that restaurant after the ABR was over...Helen is
such a social butterfly...
She saw Lynne's cool boots and soon they were talking and carrying on
like old friends...
And thanks go out to our new friends, Virginia Kampmeier, her Sister
Selena, and their friends
Cory and Tyler. During the festival, Helen saw Virginia using a
beautiful Kitty umbrella and later
on Virginia just gave it to Helen because Helen loves kitties so much!
What a gal that Virginia
is! We ended up partying with those 4 into the wee hours at the Gasthof
Zur Gemutlichkeit in
Mpls dancing and drinking from "Das Boot"!!
Here's my recap on the day.
Helen & I got a great room thru the ABR site for just $79! Man, I could
have made a batch
of beer on that stove Sunday morning!! "Dang it"... Had a full sized
fridge too!
Started out at Dusty's bar across from the ABR site where Helen found an
old phone booth she liked.
After a little mix up with what line to get in for wristbands and
glassware... we were in line and on our way in.
Ran into our good buddy Wayne Theuer who is always fun and interesting
to talk to.
These "Hop Heads" were pretty cute...
Here's Chris Smith who seem to be always helping out at beer events and
had a spare ticket
for my friend Brian R at work. Thanks Chris!
Dave Berg from Schells and the Craft Brewers Guild passing out some of
his goodies.
We loved the Snowstorm and the unfiltered Ungespundet-hefetrub Pils
Dave!! Thank you sir!
Myself, Mike Swalinkavich and Helen enjoying Fitger's Cherry Batch 2200
that had over
800 lbs of cherries in it!! It was one of my favorites along with
Fitger's Breakwater Blue that
had over 400 lbs of blueberries in it and Fitger's Appricot Wheat that
was way nummy!
Surly's Coffee Bender was just a dynamite beer also, with a smooth
flavor that was hard to
beat! Town Halls beers were awesome too with their Mango Mamma,
Raspberry Scotch Ale
and Cabernet Cask Conditioned Oatmeal Stout being right up there with
the best. The Brau
Brothers had a very interesting smokey peat Scotch Ale that I really
liked! Bell's had a nice
Java Stout that was very smooth and tasty. Unfortunately, we missed a
few good ones I know...
I wanted to try Summit's 3:00 release of the cask conditioned Oatmeal
Stout... :-( and I am
sure many more too numerous to name... :-( Oh well... Next year
baby!!
Some of the pretty fair maidens passing out their tasty beers at the
ABR.
Buddy Jim Ellingson, in the middle who got me a spare ticket for a
friend and always is a key
figure at these great events! Thanks a lot Jim for the ticket and the
peanuts at closing!
The rains came and brought out a few umbrella's and Helen saw this kitty
one and had
to go over and see it and meet the folks who had it. Virginia, bless her
soul, ended up
giving it to Helen later!! Thank you soooo much Virginia!
Omar from Surly handing out one of my favorites of the day... The Coffee
Bender!
It was a great day after all and the sun came out later on.
Helen spying some cool boots belonging to Lynne... Please Helen...no
more boots in the house...
(She has already got boatloads of em... heh heh heh)
Helen with new friends Lynne and Santiago who we need to go see some
day. Cool folks!
Chris on the left and Jeff with his awesome Lambic that was matured 3
years in an oak barrel!!!
The Cantillon Grand Cru Bruocsella that was so very good, one of the
best that day!! A sour
beer that was so balanced and very drinkable! The best sour beer I have
ever had without fruit
in it!! (Though Adam Stern and Steve Piatz make some very good ones
also, from my homebrew club)
Wayne, Helen & Mike waiting for Jeff's Grand Cru! Man that was good!
Cool glassware thanks to Northern Brewer. Way better than the plastic
ones we had
at the Clearwater Beer Festival the weekend of Sept 8 in Eau Claire
Wisconsin... Sorry Tami... had too...
Wayne sharing his vast knowledge on that Brianmyasis (heh heh) stuff
that makes beer sour...
I look like I know what he's talking about huh... ya right...
Virginia, who gave Helen the nice Kitty umbrella and her boyfriend Cory.
Thanks sooo much!!
What fun & nice folks they are!
Tyler and Selena are engaged and partied with us into the night at
Gasthof Zur
Gemutlichkeit after the ABR.
Good friend Al Boyce had his Peddle Pub parked outside Dusty's bar after
the ABR was over.
Nice ride Al!! We all have to do that some day! Looks like a lot of
fun!!
Of course Helen had to check it out. Scotty is sitting opposite Helen
and we met up with
him at the Gasthof later too! What a fun day and night it was for
all!!
"Das Boot" getting filled up with some yummy German beer
Myself having a little of "Das Boot"
Everybody took turns taking a pull off "Das Boot" Here's Selena.
I even met an old friend there who I used to work with at Lucht
Engineering, Larry Hesse.
He was dancing when I recognized him and bear hugged me as I walked up
to see him.
We were happy to see each other after all these years...Lucht
Engineering was the best
place with the nicest and finest people I have ever worked with in my
whole life! I sure
miss those folks, but we all still keep in touch by email even after I
got laid off in 1997...
Cheers everyone and thanks for a great day and night!!
These are going in my collection from the 7 years of doing this!!
---
Brian Hatcher
Sr. Master Scheduler
C.P.I.M.
Email: brian_hatcher(a)Xiotech.com
Office: 952 983 2466
Fax: 952 983 2488
Xiotech Corporation
6455 Flying Cloud Drive
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
www.xiotech.com :
www.xiotech.com/demo : Toll-Free 866 472 6764