October 9, 1999 -- Day Two began with lunch at the Denver Heavenly Daze Brewery, where I quite enjoyed their malty, chocolaty Dog's Breath Brown Ale and clove and banana hefeweizen. The Reuben Sub sandwich that I had with my beer was pretty good, too.

From that humble start, things rapidly got serious as I headed to an invitation-only vertical tasting of barley wines, hosted by the Real Beer Page. We sampled the 1998 and 1999 Old Crustacean from Rogue of Newport, Oregon (both loaded with hops and, in my opinion, too young to drink), the 1995 and 1999 Old Foghorn from Anchor Brewing of San Francisco, California (which confirmed my earlier suspicion that Foghorn is more of a "drink it now" barley wine), and three vintages of Old Knucklehead from Bridgeport Brewing of Portland, Oregon, including the last stocks of the 1990 (which, unfortunately, had been held for a couple of years too long; the 1995 was great, though).

Back at the GABF, the highlights of Day 2:

I tried two nice ales from Ruby Mountain Brewing of Clover Valley, Nevada: their Bristlecone Brown Porter and Angel Creek Amber. The former is a good, faintly cherry-ish, light tasting porter and the latter is a pleasingly fruity (apricot, peach) amber that has been dry-hopped to a dry, nutty finish. A great way to start.

From Beermann's Beer Works of Lincoln, California, I enjoyed the Beermann's Red Ale, a perfumey, walnutty ale with great character and a slightly resiny finish. I followed that up with the same brewery's IPA, which had a similarly perfumey hop aroma and a nicely balanced citrus hop body. Both beers impressed.

Jupiter Walnut Creek of Walnut Creek, California, changed the tone of my pale ale tasting with the British-style Old Globe Pale Ale. Its nicely nutty, fruity body and dry finish sets this one up as an excellent session beer.

The Craftsman Brewing Company of Pasedena, California, which caught my attention last year with their Orange Grove Ale, shook things up a bit with a new Chicha Ale, made with 75% corn, no hops and a Belgian white beer yeast. The nose reminded me of spicy Green Giant Niblets corn, while the taste continued the corny assault with creamed corn and corn on the cob notes. Interesting, but I don't think that this is something I would want to drink over the course of an evening.

I chatted with Pierre Celis of Celis Brewing from Austin, Texas, and sampled his Celis Grand Cru, which some tasters have suggested has lost a bit of its character over the years. If that is true, it wasn't evident to me.

Finally, I finished the night with a Bell's Expedition Stout from Kalamazoo Brewing of Kalamazoo, Michigan, a spectacular stout with a massive, chocolaty, coffee-ish, roasty nose and a big, rich complex body. There is no question that this remarkable stout must number among the best brewed in the United States.

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