Well, we survived the packing party (barely). Yesterday Team New England drove in from all parts of the Northeast to drink, pack, eat, and drink some more. George, long-time BA, owner of The Bier Abbey and Team New England member graciously hosted us in the private room and kept the goods coming all night. We were missing team members from NH, VT and NY but still got the job done.



Some of you may be asking yourself what the fuck a “Gang Bang BIF” is, with good reason. Let me fill you in with a little background. First off, a BIF or “Beer It Forward” is basically a beer-oriented year-round Secret Santa. Each person is assigned another person involved with the BIF and sends them delicious beer from their area or from that person’s wants or whatever the theme of that BIF happens to be. Beer tends to be limited to a handful of bottles plus extras, swag, whatever. With the Gang Bang BIF, instead of one person sending to people around the country, it’s teams of up to 10 people from BeerAdvocate sending beer to each other, plus swag, glasses, local goods, etc. It’s a great way to try a lot of beer you wouldn’t normally get your hands on.

I was part of Team Buffalo for the Gang Bang BIF Round 2. It was a fucking fantastic, but this time around I decided to see if there were enough BAs in the Northeast to get our own team going over here. We have BeerAdvocates from the Capital District, Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire all representing for Team New England. With what we have available in our collective area we should have no problem killing our target team with some seriously great beer.

Of course, no packing party would be complete without sharing a few beers while we’re getting our work done. Definitely an interesting lineup:

• Durty (Small Batch #18) by Smuttynose Brewing Co. – I haven’t had a bad beer from the Smuttynose Small Batch series. This is no different. Good stuff.
  
• Life Without Principle #2 by Hill Farmstead Brewery – Just picked this up a couple of days ago. Super easy drinking, refreshing beer. Perfect for all day summertime drinking, and I’m hoping Shawn makes some more of this during nicer weather.
• Collabrrrewator Coffee Doppelbock by Beau’s All Natural Brewing Company
• Double Galaxy by Hill Farmstead Brewery – I know I have talked a lot of shit about NZ and AU hops lately, but Double Galaxy fucking kills it. Galaxy hops are up there with Citra for me, and after revisiting this beer I have to say I like it just as much as Abner, if not more.
• Red Thunder by Victory Brewing Company – I was really surprised by how much the red wine barrels come through in this beer, definitely give it a shot if you can find a bottle.
•  Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout by New England Brewing Co. – I missed out on grabbing this at the most recent release, very happy I got to try it.
• Rosso e Marrone by Captain Lawrence Brewing Company – Wish I could get more Captain Lawrence sours around here. Fucking delicious.
• Indra Kunindra by Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits – You guys know how much I like food spices in my beer (/sarcasm *cough cough Saison du Buff*). Interesting beer, glad to try it, wouldn’t mind never having it again.
• Gingerbread Stout by Hardywood Park Craft Brewery
• Earl by Hill Farmstead Brewery
• Pumking by Southern Tier Brewing Company – 2010 Vintage
• Drie Fonteinen Schaerbeekse Kriek – Oh god this was good. Perfect fruit, tartness, carbonation, touch of funk. An expensive bottle but definitely worth splitting the cost with some friends and trying it out.
  
• Nelson by Alpine Beer Company (CA) – this bottle was apparently bottomless.
• Samurai Krunkles (Side Project Volume 17) by Terrapin Beer Company
• Confluence (2012) by Allagash Brewing Company
• Smoking Wood Rye Whiskey Barrel Aged by The Bruery – Yup, still hate all smoked beers. All of them.
• Cafe Royale by Williamsburg AleWerks

I’m very much looking forward to our unpacking party. I’ve had the beers that Team Richmond dropped off at my door for a few weeks, and they’re just taunting me in my basement. It’s tough to schedule 8 people who live in four different states to all get together for a nice long weekend of drinking. Hopefully we’ll be doing our Bang sooner than later.

















The Dead Soldiers: