Last Sunday, Bear Republic Brewing hosted a very fun event at their brewpub in Healdsburg. Between the brewpub and their production brewery in Colverdale (where they brew their package beer) they entered 22 beers in the Great American Beer Festival. At the event, dubbed the 2009 Bear Republic Cellar Party, they served all 22. They gave everyone attending a booklet with each beer along with it’s description, style parameters for GABF and a judging sheet like the one we use for the festival. As brewmaster Rich Norgrove explained to the people there, he wanted to afford an opportunity for those who weren’t able to attend GABF to sample all the beers they sent out to be judged. It was fun idea and hopefully more breweries will begin to give their locals a peek into the way GABF works.

Below is a short slideshow of the Bear Republic Cellar Party. If you click on the button on the bottom right with the four arrows pointing outward on it, you can see the photos in glorious full screen.