Not a normal beer festival

I awoke to the sounds of jackhammers in my brain and the chatter of squirrels in my ears; far closer for both sounds to be ever considered pleasant.

I dragged myself into the living room, feeling the cold
air as I neared the screen door of my balcony, which was wide open. Chattering on the balcony, looking like he was about to come in for a visit, was a squirrel, who looked at me and said, "got any food dude?"

I shooed the rodent off my deck, shut the door and went back to bed.

Not a normal post beer festival morning.

But then, it wasn't a normal beer festival the night before. For starters, the theme for the second Durham Craft Beer Festival, held at Buster Rhino's in downtown Oshawa, was Ciders and Seasonals. Ciders are not my thing and while I'm all for seasonal specials, fall means pumpkin, and pumpkin-flavoured beers are usually vile tasting concoctions.

Not that it would be a reason to stop me from going, as the farther I go up this craft beer path the more I realize there's more to life than IPAs.

True story.

I was also anxious for a diversion, as I had been thinking a lot about my good friend Colin, who was suffering from the late stages of cancer at that time and, well, could go any time.

So I went, or to be more accurate, pal Brian and I went, with a plan to meet fellow Musketeer Cat and her friend Blair later.

Brian and his lovely girlfriend Willa (our ride downtown) stopped in just before two and we got the festival started with a few beers from my fridge, with me doing my best to pawn off the less tasty beers I keep for company.

(Don't judge me. Brian will drink anything and it wouldn't be fair to Willa, who prefers lighter fare, to give her a hop bomb, now would it?)

Once at the fest - with Brian under strict instructions to "get a little drunk but not hammered" - we did the walk-around, spending our first five tokens as quickly as possible. We stopped at 5 Paddles, the Whitby brewer who won the People's Choice at the first Durham Craft Beer Festival, where I had the Italian Backyard Basil Pale Ale, a beer that certainly delivered what was advertised - in this case, basil and lots of it - while Brian had the latest in the Paddler's Narcissism of Minor Differences IPA series. This is a brew that has disappointed me in the past for not delivering on its promises - hops and more hops - but I got something - just a little something - when I had a small sip from Brian's glass.

I said I'd go back to give it an honest assessment but I never did.

I also didn't have the Ten Bitter Years IIPA from Black Oak, which is an outstanding beer. I figured I'd get to it later, having enjoyed it numerous times, but never did.

Definitely not normal beer festival behaviour.

If ever I needed an IPA fix, I needed only to go to the Great Lakes Brewery booth, which was pouring Thrust! IPA and Canuck Pale Ale, which were both awesome as always. Brian and I visited Canada's two-time Brewery of the Year several times until they cacked the Thrust! keg. With all that grapefruit, mango and pine bitterness in this multiple award-winning IPA, it tends to go fast at these sort of affairs.

The lovely Sarah (middle) and Jessica (right)
served all of us with smiles. Courtney (who
was equally lovely) was just there for the beer

Which makes the tapped-out keg something that IS normal at beer festivals.

I did find a new IPA to try; the 10 Point IPA from Lake of Bays. Trashed on Rate Beer with a 58 score (with a lowly 30 for style), this wasn't as bad as all that. More of a British-style IPA though.

We tried a few ciders, with the Forbidden Dry Cider from Coffin Ridge standing out for its dry, white wine-like finish. Which shouldn't surprise me (or pal Don), as cider is fermented apples, so it's not beer. It's wine.

Still, me drinking cider is not normal beer festival behaviour.

I also forgot my note pad and pen and so took no notes and very few pictures. I had to talk to my partners in crime the next day, in fact, just to  see what they liked.

Again, not a normal beer fest for me.

I dud know I had a wonderful time.. I saw some friends there and I chatted up the Buster Rhino's bar staff, some of whom seemed to know me better than a once-a-week patron should be known. I even formally introduced myself to my IPA Girl, who I shall now call Sarah, as that is her name.

Festival Host Darryl Koster

 And then shortly after enjoying Square Nail Pale Ale from The Publican House in Peterborough (a winner) and Division By Zero, the very interesting and very potent (eleven per cent!) Imperial Nut Brown Ale from Flying Monkeys, Brian was gone, with his promise kept.

And I was left to wander the festival for 30 minutes or so until Beth Koster, our hostess for the day from Buster Rhino's, approached me and said there were people at the gate waiting for me and my pre-paid ticket and why wasn't I answering my texts?

Beth, who I was supposed to 'meet' at the gate after getting to know each other on Facebook (one particular thread in which I joined her in poking fun at her husband Darryl for daring to trash talk her beloved Buffalo Bills stood out), took me back to Cat and her friend Blair.

Cat, by the way, had that look that said leaving pals to stew at the gate because of phone issues is normal at beer fests. For me, anyway.

So back I go into the breach, with new friends in tow. We visited the Sawdust City booth and I remembered being so disappointed they didn't bring their cellar-aged Princess Wears Girl Pants - it is a seasonal offering after all - that I left and forgot to go back to try their Red Rocket Spiced Stout.

It was on my damn to-do list too

Speaking of no-shows, I was surprised Oshawa upstarts Underdogs Brewhouse - who Cat and fellow Musketeer Don had fallen in love with at previous beer festivals this summer - was not at the fest. We ran into Darryl Koster at the Flying Monkeys booth and I asked him that very question. It seems, he said, that he was waiting until the Underdogs boys were further along in their quest to find their own brewing facility before inviting them to the party.

Next year, then.

(I should mention that Darryl, on behalf of Buster Rhino's and the Durham Craft Beer Festival, picked up an Editor's Circle award at the Golden Taps recently for "significant achievement" in the craft beer sector. This same organization, however, did not choose my pal Don of Brew Ha Ha fame as Beer Writer of the Year, despite me casting three ballots for him. They will eventually know better,)

That Division by Zero from Flying Monkeys? Turned out to be one of the hits of the festival for all four of us and it was certainly the first nut brown I've enjoyed at any beer festival. I could taste pine and citrus on the nose and some tropical fruit, before the nuttiness came out at the finish. The alcohol was slow to warm and it was a deceptively smooth beer. I liked it a lot.

Cat's analysis was far simpler: "It's an 11 per cent Nut Brown. What's not to like?"

Another winner (and another complex mash-up recipe) came from newcomers Manantler Brewing, who, to go with their catchy name, had the coolest tap handles: real antlers. These guys, who take over Church-Key Brewery in Cambellford on brew days while their own brewhouse in downtown Bowmanville is being constructed, brought Pursuit of Abbeyness to the festival, which I loved.

I'll be damned if I could figure the beer out, however - I just knew it was damn good - and had to contact the Manantler guys a few days later for the details.

Three kinds of malts, including Belgian Abbey, to give it that Belgian spice taste, with Columbus (west coast) and Orbit (New Zealand) hops for bitterness. Very adventurous beer. I couldn't pick up the Belgian influence but I liked it a lot anyway.

Cat agreed.

She also liked the beers from Port Perry's Old Flame Brewery, this year's People Choice winners, citing the Dirty Blonde and Rusty, their unfiltered red ale, as top notch.

"Both were really good, so I was glad that a pretty unknown brewery scored a gold," she said. "And the people at Old Flame were very knowledgeable about their beer."

(I asked Cat later what Blair liked at the festival, besides the Division by Zero. "All of them," she said. "They're beer." I'm thinking he and Brian would make a great beer-drinking team.)

And then we closed the festival down - well, almost - with a beer, with Cat and Blair trying some of Buster Rhino's famous pulled pork as well.

It was a wonderful festival, and I have to give props to Darryl, Beth, Sarah and the rest of the staff for another great job at pulling it all together. Unfortunately for me, I didn't remember much after that.

The next morning, after shooing the squirrel off my balcony and popping several Tylenol (extra-strength), I phoned Cat to fill in some blanks.

"How did I get home?"
Blair drove us.
"Where was the car?"
In visitors.
"I mean, where was it downtown?"
Right across the street from the festival.
"Did we drink one of my bottles I got in New York? 'Cause I see the empty here, but I don't remember drinking it.
Yup. We had the Cali-Belgique from Stone. You liked, but you couldn't taste the Belgian yeast.
"Yeah. Lot of that happening last night. Was  I really drunk?"
No, you were fine

R.I.P to this Edinburgh lad

That's when I told her I had forgotten to give her the U.S. beer loot bag I had saved for her and she had left some smokes behind as well. We agreed that we would meet up in the next week or so to sort that out.

And then I told her why I was awake at 7:30 on a post-beer festival morning.

"I got some bad news this morning."

"I'm so sorry. It's Colin, isn't it?""

"He died just after one this morning."

Not a normal post-beer festival morning at all.

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