Birthday Beer Bash 2.0

Yet another year has come and gone for old Johnny McG. So what did we do to celebrate? Drank beer, of course. Being that John is beyond annoyingly obsessed with beer he loves and I mean LOVES an excuse to crack open his "cellar" and do an annual (which we have decided will likely be bi-annual...get ready to mark your calendars for this summer) beer tasting. His hope is that you are exposed to something you haven't tried before, hopefully you learn something new, but bottom line it's all about having a good time drinkin' beer.

This year's line up had 54 beers to taste.  Naturally, John has a spreadsheet that categorized the evenings' sampling into groupings which he rolled out throughout the night. I wish I could say that after blowing through 54+ bomber bottles that we really freed up some space in the old cellar, but I cannot. Did I also mention that John has a hoarding beer obsession? He is constantly picking bottles up and stashing them for that "right moment" ... that right moment usually includes sharing with friends he knows will also appreciate them.  Point being, feel free to stop by our house at any time for an impromptu tasting. 

Once again, the menu for the evening included all beer infused food...

• Stout-Braised Shredded Beef Sliders with Horseradish Cream & Pickled Onions: Pretty tasty. I'd ease up some of the spices next go-around and go with a fattier cut of meat (just to richen the flavor), but all-in-all it was solid. I offered pretzel slider buns as an option too, and you just can't go wrong with a pretzel bun.

• Beer Mac-N-Cheese with Bacon : This went like hotcakes... next year I'll make a vat. The Italian in me still wants to die at the fact that this ran out, but guess that's also a sign that it was good. And I'll have you know that I tripled the recipe. 

• Beer Cheese Dip : My brother-in-law, Todd, was basically spooning this in his mouth....it's an EASY winner. And in all honesty you can throw in beer in there. Super simple and tasty.

• Chili Beer Chicken Wings: Going to be honest...didn't love these wings. WAY too salty (I think it was the soy) and something was just off (maybe it was the fact that the wings I got from the grocery were freaking huge). Wouldn't do it them again.

• Stout Cupcakes : I used this recipe, but used Fort Collins Brewery Double Chocolate Stout instead of Guiness, and obviously I converted it to cupcakes. Personally, I think these were amazing.

• Sober up mix: Ok, that's just what I called it... this would be a good thing for any party though. Ya know, step it up from your standard store-bought mix. 

OH! OH! AND I almost forgot the "slow turtle" made it out for the party.... Have you forgotten about him? Here's a refresher.

Pretty sure this is the only appropriate use of the turtle in a non-douche bag way...
Alerting you to SLOW for adult beverages.
Honestly, I'm surprised the Stapleton police weren't called for misuse of the turtle.  

Some of the line up.

Everyone was able to pick up their own tasting glass. Hint, hint I got these puppies from IKEA and then slapped some chalkboard labels on the so everyone could mark their name on them. I still lost my own taster no less than 3 times. 

We also did some voting for people's favorite beer of the night.

Just got stamps to fancy up my disposable sporks... I'm not kidding I really think stamps are great.

I sort of love my discovery of re-usuing beer cans as "holders. " It's as easy as using a can-opener to pop off the top and
TA-DA!!  You now have the perfect vessel to hold utensils OR act as a vase for flowers. 

These plates were a big hit. You can find them at your local Crate and Barrel for like 20 bones.

The crack dip...  (if only I could get this stupid pic to rotate)

Gretchen is having fun with cheese, but please note Todd in the background...what's in his hand? Oh that would be the beer cheese dip.  Woof.

Beer can floral arrangement

Gotta have munchies when everyone is downing big beers

This was likely gone .2 seconds after this photo was taken 

Stout Braised Sliders with Cheddar, Pickled Onions, and Horseradish Cream

Bacon enjoying a chili beer wing

I made up little score cards for everyone to be able to rate the beers they tasted and keep track of what they liked/didn't

In. His. Element.

Cheers folks!! That's a wrap for 2013... join us again later this summer...date TBD.  Thanks to all who came.  And a special thanks to all those who came, threw down, and took cabs (you are our favorite people).

The People's Choice Winner was: Tart of Darkness. I personally thought it was ah-maze-ing. It's from The Brewery out of California, and if you haven't gotten a taste of this I recommend you do so. Like it's name it's tart, but for those into sours this doesn't disappoint.