Sunday, December 4, 2011

Captain Lawrence Cuvee de Castleton Release (In Pictures)

I was lucky enough to attend the Cuvee de Castleton release at Captain Lawrence on Saturday (well, really, Friday night and Saturday), and it was one of the best beer experiences of my life. I then spent probably close to a half an hour working on a recap post for this blog earlier tonight, but to accurately sum up the experience would probably take more text than you're willing to read (and definitely more than I'm willing to type). Thankfully, I did bring my camera with me, and so I'll let some of the photos guide us back through the festivities...


Here are the other intrepid souls already at the brewery when my cousin and I arrived at 10:30 Friday night to wait for the tickets that would allow the purchase of bottles on Saturday morning. A good bottle share was already underway, and my Blushing Monk and 2010 Nemesis joined a lineup that included Framboise for a Cure, Sixpoint Diesel, and a few other brews. Thankfully the tickets went out early (about midnight) and we were unable to return home for a few hours of sleep. Many had more than our 45 minute drive home though and chose to camp out in the parking lot overnight.


After about 4 hours of sleep, a breakfast sandwich, and another 45 minute ride (Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime made a great soundtrack), this was the scene that greeted my upon my return to the brewery at about 8:30 Saturday morning. What had been maybe 20 people when I got there Friday night, and maybe 50 when the tickets went out, was now definitely over 100 strong and full of generous people opening bottles of cool beer. The two tables served primarily as a staging area for beers that were open or waiting yet to be consumed (as well as my Breakfast Stout Brownies), while the windowsill in the background served as the Wall of Fame.


By the time 10:30 rolled around and bottles started getting exchanged for money, there was a pretty good crowd around the steps up to the front door. One would think that someone from the brewery would have been organizing the line and making sure people went inside in order, but this ended up being a volunteer job done by people who had a few numbers to go before it was their turn. While there was some grumbling online  later on about line cutters and people changing clothes and going through multiple times, my own experience was that everything ran pretty smoothly.


Really guys? Like we weren't going to buy the beers anyway? Nothing placates beer nerds who have been waiting in the cold for hours better than free samples of tasty beer. For all the fuss about being one of the ~120 people who got to buy the Barrel Select releases (two bottlings of a sour brown ale, aged on cherries and raspberries respectively, and admittedly the reason I was there so early), I definitely enjoyed my splash of Cuvee de Castleton (belgian pale ale aged in wine barrels with muscat grapes) the best out of the three.


People got their bottles, and the party was still going strong (and yes, someone rented an RV for the occasion.. just awesome)!


Wall of Fame part 1, featuring Bourbon County Stout, Cuir (I think), Mikkeller Chipotle Porter, Event Horizon, unknown Fantome, Speedway Stout, and Dark Intrigue, among others.


Part the second: Marron Acidifie, 2007 East End Gratitude (wish I got me some of that), Cantillon St. Lamvinus, Old Rasputin XII, unknown Hill Farmstead (I think), The Abyss, Unibroue 17, unknown 3 Fonteinen.


We've reached the midway point! Some of the pictured bottles are Firestone Walker Parabola, Ithaca White Gold, Surly Smoke, Alesmith Decadence and Horny Devil, Cigar City Sugar Plum, Black Butte XX and XXIII.


We're almost done, I swear... The Bruery Grand Funk Aleroad, Hill Farmstead Earl, Brute, more Decadence, unknown Kuhnhenn bottle, Kentucky Breakfast Stout, 3 Floyds Zombie Dust (one of the highlights for me), an experimental sour from 3 Floyds (and a couple other bottles I'm not sure of).


The end of the Wall... The Brury's Oude Tart, unknown Alaskan Beer, Cigar City Hunahpu's Imperial Stout, The Bruery Coton (I think), Barre Aged Yeti, others.

There were plenty of other beers being passed around there, including Heady Topper, 2009 Darkness, Black Tuesday, multiple bottles of Canadian Breakfast Stout, Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout, Cigar City Marshall Zhukov, Alpine Barrel Aged Token, Sexual Chocolate, Weyerbacher Idiot's Drool, a 3 liter bottle of 2006 Mad Elf, and Barrel Aged Sexual Chocolate.

All in all, the release was packed with (mostly) generous people who were happy to share some good brews with friends and fellow enthusiasts, and really showed this craft beer community at its best. This was my first trip to Captain Lawrence, but it won't be my last.

1 comment:

  1. Wall of Fame part one: Cuir is 100% bourbon barrel and the Fantome is Ghost. Part two: the Hill Farmstead is Civil Disobedience Release 1.

    I also had a great time at the release and thought that things went pretty smoothly. I'm guessing there are some people out there that wish they would've sold all the bottles of the Barrel Selects instead of popping so many open for tasting.

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