Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Your Companion Guide to Untapped Dallas 2014

Image credit: Untapped Festival
There is no game more synonymous with drinking beer than darts. And, honestly, a solitary dart and a printout of the full beer list tacked to the wall are just about all the supplies you'll need to get you through this year's Untapped Festival in Dallas. You know the drill: close your eyes, aim, fire, drink, repeat. Though, I suppose a bottle of water and a ride home might be worth having, too.

In any case, as the banner states you'll be able to choose from over 300 beers supplied by more than 80 breweries while enjoying live music from banks like Cake, Shovels & Rope, Deltron 3030, The Polyphonic Spree, Rogue Wave and others.

As I've done in the past, I've created a beer geek breakdown below outlining some of the best beers that will be available, as well as a few new tastes and limited pours. It should be noted that this event is being put on in association with NTX Beer Week, and as such a number of brewers have crafted special beers for the occasion. These include Lakewood Manimal, A Lost Epic from Peticolas and Wood-Aged Nightwatch from Grapevine. There's also the Lakewood/Rahr collaboration called DFW, and a single hop pale ale from Southern Tier called XNTX Special Ale: Brewed for the Good People of North Texas.

It all goes down Saturday, November 1, at Gilley's in Dallas. General Admission and Beer + Concert tickets are still available by way of the festival website (VIP is sold out).

Of course, nothing could be better than attending the event for free and it just so happens I have a pair of Beer + Concert tickets to give away. To win, simply share which beer you're most eager to try in the comments section below, or by replying to the post on either Facebook or Twitter. I'll choose a random winner at noon on Thursday, October 23.  (Update: The winner of the tickets is Facebook user Addison Denenberg. Thanks to all who entered here and on social media channels!).

Cheers and good luck!


Whale watching: Brews from the Beer Advocate top 250  

#3. Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout
#9. Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout
#17. Bourbon County Brand Stout
#28. Founders Breakfast Stout
#34. Bourbon County Brand Barleywine
#86. Ballast Point Sculpin IPA
#112. Ballast Point Victory at Sea
#192. Jester King Aurelian Lure
#219. Stone Ruination IPA
#233. Boulevard Love Child #4


Perfect pours: Top rated beers (100/100) on Ratebeer

Epic Big Bad Baptist
Firestone Walker: Wookey Jack Black Rye IPA, Velvet Merkin
Founders:  Porter
Great Divide:  Oak Aged Yeti
New Belgium: La Folie
North Coast:  Barrel Aged Rasputin XV
Sierra Nevada: Hoptimum
Southern Tier: Choklat
Unibroue:  Trois Pistoles


Best of the rest: Close enough to perfect (Ratebeer scores out of 100))

Avery: Rumpkin (99), Lillikoi Kepolo (98)
Ballast Point:  Dorado Double IPA (99), Grapefruit Sculpin (99), Grunion Pale Ale (98)
Boulevard:  Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale (99)
Brasserie d'Achouffe: Houblon Chouffe (99)
Brooklyn:  Black Chocolate Stout (99)
Deschutes:  Black Butte XXVI (98), Fresh Squeeze IPA (98), Mirror Mirror (99)
Dogfish Head:  Burton Baton (99), 60 Minute IPA (98), 120 Minute IPA (99)
Epic: Imperial IPA (98)
Firestone Walker:  Velvet Merlin (98)
Founders:  Centennial IPA (99), Dirty Bastard (98)
Goose Island:  Juliet (99), Lolita (99), Madame Rose (99)
Great Divide: Fresh Hop Pale Ale (98), Hibernation (98)
Green Flash:  Double Stout (99), Green Bullet (98), Le Freak (98)
Harpoon:  Leviathan IPA (98)
Jolly Pumpkin: Oro de Calabaza (99), Luciernaga "The Firefly" (99)
Karbach: Bourbon Barrel Hellfighter (99)
Lagunitas:  A Little Sumpin' Sumpin' (99), Imperial Red (98),
Lakewood: The Temptress (98)
Liefmans: Goudenband (98)
New Holland: Dragon's Milk (99)
Odell:  IPA (98), Mountain Standard Double Black IPA (99)
Ommegang:  Gnomegang (98), Three Philosophers (99)
Oskar Blues:  Dale's Pale Ale (98), Deviant Dale's (99)
Real Ale: The Kraken (98)
Santa Fe: Imperial Java Stout (98)
Sierra Nevada:  Narwhal (99), Northern Hemisphere Harvest (99), Torpedo (98)
Ska: Modus Hoperandi (98)
Smuttynose: Robust Porter (99)
Uinta:  Cockeyed Cooper (98)
Unibroue:  La Fin du Monde (98), Maudite (99)
Victory:  HopDevil (99)


Texas Award Winners:

Armadillo Ale Works: Quakertown Stout (2014 GABF Gold)
Community: Public Ale (2013-14 GABF Gold), Witbier (2014 World Beer Cup Gold)
Grapevine: Sir William's English Brown Ale (2014 GABF Gold)
Oasis: London Homesick Ale (2014 GABF Gold)
Pedernales: Lobo Negro (2014 GABF Silver)
Real Ale: Firemans #4 (2012 GABF Silver), Hans Pils (2012 GABF Silver)
Saint Arnold: Endeavour (2012 World Beer Cup Silver)


Rare breeds: Market debuts, seasonals and limited editions

(512): Six (Dubbel)
903: Land of Milk & Honey
Abita: Cask-conditioned Abbey Ale
Community: Ascension Vanilla Coffee Porter
Deep Ellum: Belgian IPA, Hatch Chile Stout
Franconia: Oak Aged Fallin' Bock, Tripel Dunkel
Grapevine: Dry Hopped Lakefire Pale Ale, Wood-Aged Nightwatch Oatmeal Stout
Independence: 10th Anniversary Dry-Hopped Barleywine
Lakewood: Bokkenrijders, Bourbon Barrel Temptress, Holiday Bonus Festive Porter,
                    Manimal Red Farmhouse Ale, DFW: A Collaboration of Two Breweries
Martin House: Turtle Power Blackberry Altbier
Oskar Blues: Barrel-Aged Sour Cherry Old Chub
Peticolas: Dry-Hopped Sit Down or I'll Sit You Down, Dry-Hopped Velvet Hammer
                  Bourbon Oak Alfred Brown, A Lost Epic Tripel
Rabbit Hole: Off With Your Red
Rahr & Sons: Midnight Cab, Visionary Pumpkin
Real Ale: Scots Gone Wild
Revolver: Fracker Barrel One, Sangre y Miel
Saint Arnold: Divine Reserve 14
Southern Tier: XNTX Special Ale (brewed especially for NTX Beer Week)
Texas Ale Project: 50 Foot Jackrabbit, Somethin' Shady


Oldies but goodies: Vintage brews

2004 Alaskan Smoked Porter
2012 Brooklyn Monster
2013 Saint Arnold Pumpkinator
2013 SanTan Sex Panther

8 comments:

  1. Probably most excited about the wood-aged Grapevine beer. They make some good stuff.

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  2. Excited to try Goose Island's Bourban County! Thinking of getting VIP just to make sure it doesn't run out! :)

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  3. Looking forward to trying Jolly Pumpkin: Oro de Calabaza (99)

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  4. I've read great things about the Jester King Aurelian Lure, so I'd probably seek that one out first.

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  5. Community Vanilla Coffee sounds like it would go great with Cake

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