Brewzilla

As loyal readers know, we were given a couple free tickets to Brewzilla. Sarah had no interest in going, so I went with my friend Chuck.

Chuck’s first comment was that the Galleria was really active for this time of night. There were large crowds of people there already even though we arrived at 7pm, the start of general admission. We were given a set of 25 tear off tickets, a 5 oz. beer glass and a huge soft pretzel, apparently for the purpose of absorbing some of the alcohol.

The number of participating breweries–eighty–was incredible. Each of these was serving between 2–5 different beers, so there were literally a few hundred available samples. I tried to stick to beers I hadn’t previously tried, and most of them were really good. There was also excellent local representation: 13 breweries from Northeast Ohio. The Brew Kettle’s Quick Kriek was an excellent, slightly dry cherry beer, and Fat Head’s Phantom was better than most nationally known pumpkin beers. Chuck tried a Bumbleberry from Fat Head’s on my recommendation and was not disappointed.

Other favorites included Goose Island’s Matilda, a Belgian-style beer with a well-deserved popularity in Chicago restaurants, as well as their Fleur, a beer brewed with Hibiscus and Kombucha. Unibroue’s Maudite was also excellent and extremely complex. One patron drank down a glass of their 10% ABV Terrible in one shot, to which the Unibroue rep politely expressed disappointment, stating that their beers were meant to be savored like wine.

Towards the end of our stay I couldn’t stop myself from trying some old favorites, Chimay and Victory Prima Pils, arguably the best pilsner in existence (Chuck really enjoyed it as well). There were very few “duds,” the most memorable of which was Rogue’s “Creek” beer, supposedly an American Kriek but so earthy and bitter that it tasted more like “creek” mud. We were only given a ¼ sample in case we didn’t like it (most people didn’t), and their mocha porter was a great palate cleanser.

Both Chuck and I had far more tickets than we could use, especially Chuck as he was kind enough to drive. Part of the issue is that many of these beers were double strength.

The only overall disappointment was the food. Heinen’s basically just had a bunch of cheeses and chili dogs. The cheeses were plentiful and good, but still, not that interesting a counterpoint to the beer. The pretzel at the door soon became stale and cumbersome with most of it ending up in the trash. And we somehow never found the Winking Lizard area, but I was told the next day that their corned beef sandwiches were really good. By far the best bite of the night was a Lilly’s truffle made with Great Lakes Christmas Ale. McKenzie creamery would have certainly also been good, but the line was really long.

We could also have lived without live music. The band was proficient, but as Chuck pointed out they were basically playing a live version of a pop radio station. Moreover, research has recently shown that loud noise dulls people’s palates. The background hum of hundreds of people was plenty loud enough.

Perhaps the most striking element of the night was utilization of the Galleria, a great, beautiful open space that unfortunately is generally deserted after business hours. Hopefully there will be some other fun events held there before the next Brewzilla.