After a long week in Denver Colorado at the Great American Beer Festival, we were very proud and honored to come away with a silver medal in the coffee beer category for our Overcast Espresso Stout!! We're even more happy that you can find this year round beer in both draft and bottles around the entire state of Oregon! Starting Wednesday, I began judging beers for the GABF. This is my third year judging. It's a very rewarding and educational experience, but it certainly gives a "back hand slap" to your liver. After all the judging, the get togethers, the media events, and the general beer industry comraderie, it was time for theawards ceremony on Saturday afternoon. We tried to enter the hall calmly with no expectations. Since Oakshire is but three years old and still competing for that first and elusive GABF medal, we couldn't go in too confident (Plus we're humble brewers of delicious beer, right?) And, Although I have been fortunate enough to have earned 9 GABF medals in the last 4 years, it's a new ballgame at this new brewery. That being said, I could still sense a silent contemplation and yearning on the guys' faces. It's almost like, "just let this be the year we win one bronze medal. We did work very hard to get quality beers into the judge's cup, for pete's sake". And let us not fret until the 67th category to find out our fate! Well, the last request was answered because category 6 sprung forth and Joe and I we're skipping to the stage to pick up our second place medal and have that "ever so cherised" photo with the godfather of brewing, Charlie Papazian. So, celebrate we did. Denver was painted red and so ended the 2009 chapter of GABF. But the party only lasted until Monday morning because it was back to work realizing we have a lot of great beer to make for a lot of thirsty customers. But don't think I haven't already started to think about next year's GABF (or next spring's World Beer Cup in my old stomping grounds Chicago), but for now we will focus on making a fantastic espresso stout here in the Emerald City. Prost! Matt
