Russian River Brewing Company<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nDid I make some safe picks? Yep, absolutely. But were they also smart picks? Time will tell. I wanted a diverse portfolio of breweries, both by geography and the beer style that I think highlights the brewery, and I think I was able to accomplish that.<\/p>\n
So right off the bat I went with Miller. I figure one of the big macro-brewers has to win a couple of awards, so I pulled the trigger on them. I followed that up with the likes of Jolly Pumpkin (sours anyone?), Russian River (hello hop heads) and Three Floyds (some local love and respect to Dark Lord). Then, because I wanted to feel warm and cozy with some safe bets, I came home to Dogfish Head, Stone and Surly.<\/p>\n
Diversified portfolio for sure…but will that be enough to win?<\/p>\n
KARL:<\/strong><\/p>\n\nChurch Street Brewing Company<\/li>\n DESTIHL<\/li>\n Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery<\/li>\n Goose Island Brewpubs<\/li>\n Scratch Brewing Company<\/li>\n Solemn Oath Brewery<\/li>\n Short’s Brewing Company<\/li>\n Dogfish Head Craft Brewery<\/li>\n Half Acre Beer Company<\/li>\n Revolution Brewing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nI picked with my heart, not my head for this one — as you can see, aside from taking a safe selection in Dogfish Head<\/strong> and throwing a bone to the Michiganders at Short’s<\/strong>, all the rest are Illinois breweries. I’m sure the home team won’t entirely the table, but my gut tells me that the folks at Church Street<\/strong> and Solemn Oath<\/strong> are going to make some noise.<\/p>\nDESTIHL<\/strong> has already reaped the benefit from being the belle of the ball with their sours in recent GABF memory, and I think that may echo itself this year. The bigger guys — Goose, Half Acre, Flossmoor and Revolution<\/strong> — all have enough gravity to pull some medals into their wake and I think the constant storytelling about Chicago’s beer scene may bring some added attention.<\/p>\nBeyond all that, though, I truly think the folks at Scratch<\/strong> are going to really impress some people in the same manner they impressed us. With their outdoor brewing techniques, ingredient foraging and unique products, this could be a breakout year for one of our favorite downstate operations. If you’re going to Denver this year (we’re not), please stop by and tell them we say hi, and then tell someone else to go over and try their beer.<\/p>\nRYAN:<\/strong><\/p>\n\nDESTIHL<\/li>\n New Glarus Brewing Company<\/li>\n Short’s Brewing Company<\/li>\n Barley Brown’s Brew Pub<\/li>\n Devils Backbone Brewing Company – Basecamp<\/li>\n Church Brew Works<\/li>\n Boulevard Brewing Company<\/li>\n Firestone Walker Brewing Company<\/li>\n Pizza Port Carlsbad<\/li>\n Solemn Oath Brewery<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nHaving not quite come down from the high of finishing third in my fairly competitive fantasy baseball league — after being shut out of the playoffs for four years in a row — I tried to employ some of the same strategies on draft day as I did picking my breweries. Yup, that’s right, I did research and stuff.<\/p>\n
I tried to pick with my head, using some hard numbers as a guide, and not with my heart. Which, to be honest, is rather hard to do as it’s just as difficult not to pick a favorite brewery as it is a favorite player. However, I did choose a few breweries close to home that I thought might fare well while I couldn\u2019t even tell you where some of the other breweries are located.<\/p>\n
DESTIHL<\/b>,\u00a0New Glarus<\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0Short’s<\/b>\u00a0fit into the former. All three churn out creative and innovative beers:\u00a0DESTIHL<\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0New Glarus<\/b>\u00a0have produced award-winning sours in the past and Short\u2019s<\/b>\u00a0tends to excel brewing beers that contain lactose.<\/p>\n
Firestone Walker<\/b>\u00a0(37 medals since 2002) and\u00a0Boulevard<\/b>\u00a0(nine medals since 2008) aren\u2019t the sexiest picks but they have placed in the past and they are pretty consistent and reliable in the beers they produce.<\/p>\n
Now the research comes into play. Where\u2019s\u00a0Barley Brown\u2019s Brew Pub<\/b>? Couldn\u2019t tell you, but they have won 12 medals since 2006. How about\u00a0Devil\u2019s Backbone Brewing Company \u2013 Basecamp<\/b>? No clue, however they took home five medals last year and were named Small Brewpub\/Brewer of the Year.\u00a0The Church Brew Works<\/b>\u00a0was shut out at GABF for nearly a decade \u2013 save for a medal in 2005 \u2013 before landing four medals last year and the Large Brewpub\/Brewer of the Year award. Here\u2019s hoping their success continues in 2013.\u00a0Pizza Port Carlsbad<\/b>\u00a0has had similar success over the last few years, netting eight medals in 2011 and 2012 combined.<\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s\u00a0Solemn Oath<\/b>, my one \u201cheart\u201d pick. They\u2019re my sleeper.<\/p>\n
– – – – – – – – – –\u00a0– – – – – – – – – –\u00a0– – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n
So, who’d you pick?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Who do we think might take home some hardware from this year’s GABF? Between the three of us, our selections are…pretty varied.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12360,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[550],"yoast_head":"\n
The GABF Winners "Fantasy Draft" - Who'd We Pick? - Guys Drinking Beer<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n