The recently concluded SAVOR:  A Craft Beer and Food Experience at the National Building Museum left me with several new impressions. One impression was that craft brewers keep innovating and putting out new and interesting beers that I want to taste. Now when I go to a beer event I see an increasing number of tantalizing beers untried by my palate. At the first SAVOR event in 2008 at Mellon Auditorium, I had tried nearly all of the beers on the SAVOR floor at some point in the past–at GABF, at other beer festivals, during beer weeks, at hospitalities, in taverns, from my magic beer fridge.

This year it was vastly different for me. A full 67 beers on the SAVOR floor were on my list of beers I had never tried. Many of these beers I had never seen on the shelves of my Liquor Mart. Unfortunately I didn’t get too taste more than a handful of the beer-and-food pairings at SAVOR, but I was fortunate enough to host the private tasting salon with Doug Odell and Patrick Rue, where I got my first chance to sample The Bruery’s Black Tuesday–a rich imperial stout. It was knock-my-socks-off delicious. Since returning to Colorado, my first thoughts of what beer to drink continue to drift to imperial stout, a fine beer style for any season.

Paul Gatza