GABF

Bryce and I went on our first vacation in 16 months.  Two weekends ago we went to Denver for the Great American Beer Festival.  It's something we planned a looooong time ago and when it was finally time to go, it felt like it snuck up on us.  Lilly was just over 6 months old and I was able to finish nursing in time for this trip.  We are also very grateful for my mom who was able to watch Lilly and my in-laws who were able to watch Abby while we were gone for 4 days.  It couldn't have happened without them so THANK YOU!

We went with two other couples who also have kids so we were lucky we were all able to find time in our busy lives to make this trip happen.  We attended GABF on both Thursday and Saturday and we were also able to visit 4 breweries in between.  First, we visited Great Divide Brewing Co. in Denver where I had Fresh Hop and Bryce had the Hibernation Ale.  Both delicious beers which explains why Great Divide has won many, many different awards at GABF already.  Then on Friday we drove to Boulder to visit Avery Brewing and this place was quite impressive.  These guys have been around for 19 years and really know what they are doing.  Some Avery folks recommended we visit Sun King Brewing Co. down the road so we did and they also had some pretty impressive beers as well.  And lastly, we visited Upslope Brewing Co. because we tasted their beer at GABF and they were close by.  It was rather disappointing as their beer really wasn't that great.  And of course we had to squeeze in a fancy meal on the trip too.  I had poutine for the first time at Euclid Hall too - fries with gravy - you really can't go wrong!  We also had a super delicious BIG breakfast at Sam's No. 3 Diner which was featured on Food Network at some point.  We planned on going back the next morning but we woke up late (no surprise) and the wait would have been too long so we went to Rialto Cafe instead.  Breakfast is my favorite meal so those 2 places were definitely a highlight of the trip for me.  :)  Now on to the pictures!

My Fresh Hop - yummy!

Something to brag about - GABF awards.

It is common practice to wear a pretzel necklace while walking around and tasting beer for 4 hours at GABF so of course, Bryce had to step it up a notch and add Funyuns to his necklace.  He got several comments on the awesomeness of adding Funyuns.  Who knew?  

 Bryce and me at GABF.

Our cohorts for the trip!  :)

Check it out - for ONCE, the line for the men's bathroom was longer than the women's.  In fact, we never even had a line.  It was glorious.

This hit the spot.  And then some.

My Country Benedict at Sam's No. 3 Diner.  Sausage, eggs and biscuit covered in gravy with a side of home fries.  Awesome on top of awesome piled on with some more awesome.

This is the 'before.'

And the 'after.'

I had no room left for the home fries.

This is an 18% dark rum barrel aged pumpkin ale appropriately called Rumpkin.  If I weren't DD, I would have had more.  I'm not a pumpkin beer kind of person but this was surprisingly enjoyable even with such a high ABV.  

This is just an overview of all the booths.  They were really good about having water stations everywhere.  Smart.  With over 500 breweries, it was quite impressive how organized everything was.

Dinner at Euclid Hall.  I liked their sign on the wall.  :)

A 2 time GABF gold medal winner for an Imperial IPA.  No big deal.

Delhi Corn Dog - all chicken curry dog with Thai red curry catch-up.

Sooooo good.

A definite highlight for me: Steamed PEI Mussels.  I'm glad no one wanted to share with me.  I could have bathed in the broth.  I would go back to Denver for this.

Braised Pork Cheek Poutine - tomatillo green chile, chedar curds and goat cheese, cilantro, chile lime fries.  The Canadians got this right.  Then again, I will always order anything with pork cheek.  YUM!

In summary, eat, drink and be merry!