Gun Hill Tap Takeover at Brewed & Bottled

Beer God’s Event Notes

This is the fourth event (I think) that I’ve been to at Brewed & Bottled in Lewiston, NY and it was by far the most successful that I’ve attended.  Chris had a ton of good beers on tap from Gun Hill, including Western NY’s only keg of Barrel Aged Void of Light (spoiler alert, freaking delicious).

I took a picture and posted it to Twitter saying that it was jamming.  But, five minutes went by and all of a sudden what you see above here was going on.  It was standing room only for numerous times last night.  Brewed & Bottled was able to churn through everyone and I didn’t see a single unhappy customer all night.  Everyone was smiling, laughing, and generally having a great time.

The event itself was a blast, but sometimes you need a Revolutionary War soldier to stir things up a bit.  Walking up the event I saw this guy hanging out and enjoying himself with the other patrons.  For a brewery that has a lot of great beers that seem to center around Revolutionary War themes, this was a really great touch.

I had lots of good beers, and I’ll give you a quick rundown of them all with some quick thoughts:

Gun Hill Gold – A 4.7% Blonde Ale.  This is the lightest Gun Hill beer that I’ve had yet, but it had a lot going on with it. I was getting some earthy and light flavors in this and it reminded me of a slightly heavier saison.  I think this would taste great after mowing the lawn in late spring or early summer.

Echo Location – A 5% SMaSH Pale Ale – the first and most overwhelming thing that I noticed about this beer was how much it smelled like fruit and berries, specifically raspberries.  This would have been the most memorable beer on tap, had BA Void of Light not been on tap.

Kentucky Common – A 6.4% Barrel Aged Sour — the most unique beer of the night goes to this sucker.  Almost every sip that I took had a different taste to it. I finished half of it just trying to pinpoint what I was drinking.  I would get barrel characteristics like oak and some dark sugars in one sip, and then in the next, I would get some of the sour and fruity notes.

Gun Hill IPA – A 6.75% IPA.  I’ve had this before in a can, but on tap, it brought out a little more of the earthy malt characteristics.  My only problem with this beer is that it’s not their DIPA’s.  I know that’s messed up to say, but the Double IPA series they’ve been coming out with have been home runs every time, and it’s hard to go back to just a single IPA after that.  But, for what it is, it’s absolutely tasty as hell.

E. Pluribus Lupulin No. 2: Felix – A 9.3% Double IPA.  This has been my favorite in the Lupulin series so far and I was thrilled to get a taste of this on tap.  Definitely not a “juicy” fruit/citrus forward beer.  It definitely has a lot of pine and grassy notes to it, with a little hint of tropical fruit and citrus.  I would bet that the IBUs on this are pretty up there too since it has a nice mouthfeel that left me wanting more and more.

Void of Light – An 8.1% Foreign Stout.  For some reason, I never picked this up in a can and now I’m kicking myself for that.  It has a lot of malt characteristics with a great mouthfeel without being overly heavy. (Yes, I know it’s 8%, but it doesn’t feel like it at all). I was getting a little dark chocolate/dryness in this.

Bourbon Barrel Aged Void of Light – An 8.1% bourbon barrel aged foreign stout. Barrel aged in not one or two, but three different barrels, this was absolutely fantastic.  Sometimes when you have a really good beer you feel special.  This was one of those beers. I could feel both the passion for brewing that Gun Hill had (along with the Passion that Chris & Jess have at Brewed & Bottled), but the beer just felt so special. This was easily the most popular keg on tap that surprised everyone that had it.  I heard more chatter about BA Void of Light than any other beer on tap.

Overall, the night was a blast.  Brewed & Bottled is a great hangout spot for events like this.  And the best part about it is that you can still pick up your beer for the weekend after you’ve had the beers on tap.