SAVOR week/weekend aftermath

Because there just aren’t enough threads on the subject...

What were people’s favorite events? What didn’t go well? Any unexpected surprises? Surprised at some bars that didn’t seem to advertise that they had something good? What could they do better next year?

Overall for me, Monday’s 3 Fonteinen Hommage Bottle Pour was my favorite - especially since I got to clean up the mess with the remaining bottles when people went down to the Funkwerks event.

The 3 Stars/Oakshire event at Jack Rose was kinda fun, though so many of those beers were thick, high abv beers that at some point they all started to look exactly the same. Went to the bathroom and a guy smoking cigars and drinking bourbon asked my girlfriend if we had gotten the 4oz pours of the same beer over and over... Got to talk to the owner of Millstone at the event, which is hands down my favorite cidery at the moment.

Then went to Bluejacket Sunday afternoon after my brother left town to do some cleanup on all the beers they released over the last two weeks. My liver needs a bit of a break, especially after drinking a ton of wine and hard liquor at a wedding that didn’t have craft beer.



I thought that this year’s SAVOR event itself was probably the best one I’ve attended (’11,’12,’14). This time most breweries brought brewpub exclusives or almost brand new beers to the event, which was nice instead of seeing a lot of common shelf-beer from breweries that should know better.

Got beers poured by Garrett Oliver among countless other brewers and owners at all the various breweries. Got to chat with Charlie Papazian while walking around the floor. And while I keep telling my friends that he doesn’t "know" me, I’m convinced that Sam Calagione does recognize me from the multitude of times I’ve seen him at DC events over the last 3-4 years. He could just be a good politician. Although, he hadn’t been shaking any other guest’s hands in line before me, so...

Started my SAVOR events on Thursday with Rustico Ballston for DB Huna, worked out for people who got there super early but they probably should have only done tasters for how little they got to go around. Probably didn’t help that they started pouring 15 minutes early. Tasted everything I wanted other than the Key Lime IPA which started working after I left.

Surly event at CK was good and got a few more Cigar City ticks, missed Darkness but at least I had it during CBC week last year.

Did a flight of Paradiso leftovers on Friday and then had a few Kuhnhenn ticks at CK before heading to SAVOR. For my first SAVOR, it was a lot of fun. Hardywood/Cigar City salon with Wayne Wambles and Brian Nelson was enjoyable, got a free Spiegelau tulip plus bottle pours of 110K+OT Batch 6, DB Huna, Hardywood Reservoir BA Imperial Stout, Bourbon Cru, Bourbon GBS. Didn’t get to try some of my most wanted beers but hopefully next year I’ll have a better plan. Should have eaten a little bit more beforehand, I was expecting the food to be small plate sized like Brewer’s Ball but it was more Hor d’oeuvres sized. Was so out of it by the end of the night, I missed the orange line transfer and didn’t realize it until I was towards the end of green line, oops . It was fun carrying around two beer glasses and a bomber bottle without a bag/extra pockets.

Finished up my SAVOR week on Saturday with the Founders event at CK, got there just after 12 to secure a seat and try some of the B&B brunch beers.

My brief taste of the events have convinced me to spend the whole week up there next year.

I’m going to go out on a limb, engage in a little hyperbole, and say this was the best SAVOR week ever. When else have you been able to try Hommage, Double Barrel Hunahpu and Blueberry Eisbock, just to name a few, in the very same week?

My chief complaint would be the Cigar City event at Rustico. If you say you’re going to pour beers starting at 4pm then don’t start at 3:30. I walked in at 3:57 and the bar was already packed and the bartenders were refusing to take orders of the Hunah until all the tickets had been filled. Not real cool. I got a full pour thanks to some non-RB friends at a table. Other places get this right. I was at Jack Rose after Hommage on Monday where I was the only person at the bar (read: me and four bartenders and not another soul) and they told me they couldn’t pour the barrel aged DC Brau/Flying Dog stuff until 6pm. Follow through.

As crazy as Churchkey can be during these weeks, I also thought they got so much right. Limiting Hommage pour to one per person was a great touch, even though it didn’t matter for me being the 2nd person through the doors at opening. Both for Hommage and for Blueberry Eisbock, the bartenders were prepared with pours for those first through the door. Another nice touch.

Big winner for me this week was Jack Rose. I was there three times having never gone there before. Great space, third largest whiskey list in the world, good bartenders, I will definitely go back.

Stand out brewer for the week for me was Oakshire. I enjoyed almost everything they had on tap at Jack Rose.

Pretty much agree, although I did not attend Savor (I was in Charlotte NC that night).
ChurchKey was the winner with Jack Rose second, and an honorable mention for Right Proper doing an unannounced brett beer event.
I was very surprised that the crowds were of manageable size everywhere I went (I skipped Rustico to avoid the crowds).
The only thing I would do differently next year: I’ll take the whole week off work. Savor week is that good.

Savor??? Is that what happened last week? Was I there? I woke up on Monday in jail with no memory, a hell of a hangover and like 5 new top 100 beer ratings... I hope I’m not pregnant.

Originally posted by solidfunk
Savor??? Is that what happened last week? Was I there? I woke up on Monday in jail with no memory, a hell of a hangover and like 5 new top 100 beer ratings... I hope I’m not pregnant.

Originally posted by solidfunk
I hope I’m pregnant.

Originally posted by nimbleprop

Originally posted by solidfunk
I hope I’m pregnant.

I heard a rumor it’s twins.

I’ll name them Mikel and the Evil one.