Beer Potlucks (& why I will now be providing the Vietnamese sammys)

Apparently the day has come when people are just tooooooo busy to come have fun and drink some beer.  We were a force of 3 (Morgan Alexander, TPG3 & myself) during the most latest & greatest beer share, with a few other peeps stopping in here and there to share a laugh and a beer.

The night began in an off way right out of the gate as our usual Vietnamese sandwich provider wasn’t in attendance. He got us all addicted to those Pho King sammies, making them a potluck staple, only to leave us high and dry by being too busy to attend. Effing LaCroix and his Effing Life. So I took matters into my own hands and hooked up our Sammy needs. Little did I know the reasoning behind him always taking on this task…

When waiting for your food they give you a little glass of water and baby cream puff to snack on. Pfffffft, I’m sooooo taking over the sandwich job for our potlucks. Delicious as always! Love those little guys. Sorry LaCroix, you lose.

Anyways... the beer! After realizing our numbers were going to be on the small side we busted open some bottles, started mixing & concocting creations. Here were some of our preferred blends:

• Wandering Angus ‘Bloom’ Cider & 2 Beers Panorama Wheat Ale (canned)
• Old Viscosity & Tieton Apricot Cider
•  Left Hand Milk Stout & Iron Horse Mocha Death (hoooooly yum, tasted like creamy iced coffee!)
• Ninkasi ‘Oatis’ Oatmeal Stout & Spire Pear Cider

After we did some of the bolder blends with the new ciders that came into Amocat, we started throwing all kinds of crazy stuff together. Think soda fountain Graveyard blending. Too much to keep track of but the 3 of us had a great time playing master mixologists.

We also tried some of Morgan’s Pliny the Angry project ale, #4 I believe. Or it could have been #5. Regardless, I really liked the new version. It’s bitter and hoppy in the middle with a mellow finish. No IPA face causing back end. Pliny 2x as Angry, keep on it with the good beers dude!

We all had a muy bueno and chillaxin’ evening. I never busted open the Total Eclipse of the Hop or Sierra Nevada 30^th Anniversary bottles that I brought and went home with 2 mini growlers of Schooner Exact’s Seamstress Union. Bring 2 bottles in, go home with 4, guess that works! We were also so on the ball that we already sorted out the date of the next Beer Potluck.

Bring it on September 2^nd! I expect a decent turn out for MGD's return.

Mix, drink, share, repeat

The pissed liBEERian

Dedicated to the LaCroix

What do a Sounders game, a beer potluck & Uber Tavern all have in common?

My weekend. That's what.

Sometimes I arrive at the end of my weekend with the thought: "What the hell was I thinking?" Now that thought can be based on many an incident but in this case it was centered around too much partying while fighting off a cold. Which. Will. Not. Die.

So here I find myself on a Monday at zee Berry thinking that I could use a nap/cuddle/stronger medication, and simultaneously wondering if I'm going to make it through the upcoming week/weekend of beer events. More on those later, here's what I've been up to over the last few days.

Hump Day

Started to get sore throat about halfway through my work day. Chose to ignore and proceed as normal, decided to skip Ice Cream Social at The Red Hot in favor of extra sleep. No delicious dairy confections paired with Schooner Exact's Seamstress Union. Sigh.

 Thursday

Woke up feeling additionally crappy, was advised by friend to drink tea and ignore existence of cold. Decided that if I wanted to go to the Sounders game that night, I'd have to make it through 5 hrs of work first. Survived 5 hours of paid slavery, picked up MGD, then stopped by the Schooner Exact tasting room for pints of Seamstress Union (!!!) that I missed out on at said Ice Cream Social. Rolled up into Sounders game and had a blast. High scoring, great energy & Big Al's Brougham Bitter on tap. WinWinWin all around.

Met up with Big Al, Micah and a multitude of other fwends for a post game drinkup at Sluggers, a sports bar across the street from Qwest Field. Them peoples is crazy. The good kind of crazy. Okay, MY kind of crazy. An after party is never complete without an after-after party so we all headed to DC's in Renton after Sluggers. I certainly know that I had fun because I remember taking part in some Kung-Fu at one point. Yeah... Plus, I can't read my beer notes very well. Something about "but I play one on T.V." (definitely don't know about that either, but HA!). Things get fuzzy after that.

 

Friday

My day off and thank the sweet flying spaghetti monster for it. MGD & myself spent all day in bed. And when I say all day, I mean ALL day. I think there was a random food run around 2p (in between Firefly episodes, best sci-fi series EVA!) amongst bouts of sleeping/coughing/whinging/sneezing but we really didn't get up & civilized (showered & wearing pants) until abouts 6p. And only then because we had a Beer Potluck to attend at Amocat Cafe in Tacoma. Here's a run down of the awesome beers and randomness that ensued (as per usual at a beer share) during the course of the evening.

Homebrews totally dominated the evening, check out who brought what below.

Matt LaCroix (one of our fave home brewers and not only because he brings me Pho-King tofu sandwiches & delicious cranberry ale, he's a rad guy to boot) delighted us with a beer made from grain of the barleywine he entered (& we judged) at the Parkway Pro-Am Homebrew competition and his Cranberry Winter Ale made with effing Craisins. I know, right?! Went home with a few extra bottles cause I super heart it and cause he's super generous.

Kenny Thoburn (of Wingman Brewers in Tacoma) provided some interesting bottled beers that he (Wingman) didn't make and I didn't try, but after a long conversation about how much I hate smoked beers he felt it necessary to run back to the brewery and grab us something called Ham Beer. Not an official Wingman beer but something Kenny dreamed up, brewed & bottled quite some time ago ago. It's been sitting there getting all aged 'n shit, just waiting for it's destiny to come to fruition. Fate would have it that Ham Beer's destiny would be too offend my mouth. Well done Kenny. :) At least he gave me some bourbon barrel aged Wingman Porter right out of the fermenter to chase it with. Mouth hole happy, once again.

Walked away with a M&M pint glass!

Charles W. Smith (of Monocle & Mustache Brewery) brought us some of his Sour Mash to try as well as his Robust Porter/CDA. The Robust Porter was a winner in Parkway Tavern's recent Pro-Am competition. Over the last 2 potlucks, I haven't had a beer of his that I didn't immensely enjoy and I am excited to try more in the future. This time he had the whole family in tow, which made for a group of eclectic & diverse tasters. And by family I mean his wife, sister, etc. Not his kids, so settle people.

Morgan Alexander (Amocat Cafe owner and the host with the most for Beer Potlucks) is starting to remind me of Bill Nye zee Science Guy. Or at the very least, I feel that we are turning into his beer guinea pigs at these little get togethers, what with all the random stuff he makes us taste and supply feedback on. We had 3 awesomely interesting porters:  Root Beer, Cola & Pomegranate. The first 2 were very complex and tasty but next time I'd appreciate some ice cream to throw in there buddy... A pomegranate porter was very nice as well. Morgan has ambitions to recreate his own version of Pliny the Elder so his experiments have been dubbed as the Pliny Killer Project. We tasted versions #3 & a modified #4 this evening.

Goes good with smeat too!

BrauHaus dudes brought a 4 yr old Cherry Barleywine (uh... holy mouth happy), Hessian Weizen, Goes Good with Meat (yes that IS the name and I was informed that it also goes well with Sea Meat, like fish 'n clams 'n stuff. Smeat, hahahaha!).

Bootlegger Beers leftover from MGD's trip
SKA Brewing - Modus Hoperandi IPA & Summer Blonde Ale (Colorado)
3 Floyds - Dreadnaught (Indiana)
Salmon Fly Honey Rye - Honey Rye (Montana)

Other beer-pearances were made by Trade Route's Hoppy Bitch IPA, Anderson Valley's Summer Solstice (extremely good & sessionable) as well as a Growler of Schooner Exact's Seamstress Union. Which I managed to 'splode all over my pants upon opening, shocking. There was a ton of other brew present as well but either we didn't get around to drinking it or I didn't write them down.

'Twas a lovely evening of revelry although there are some things I'd rather forget. At one point I overheard the term 'Chicken Nipple Sauce' being used. Don't wanna know, glad that convo was at the other end of the table. I also feel comforted knowing that the best meat Kenny T. has ever tasted has been that of the meat off a rabbit's face. Wow. That story I DO know and wish I could forget. Sick.

Ended the night in a cozy booth @ Puget Sound Pizza enjoying our fave pie & the Stranger 'I Saw You' ads before calling it a night and heading back to the ranch.

Saturday

Feel sicker upon waking, I'm sure it had nothing to do with the Potluck beers. Hate life in general and experience most boring day of work ever. Somehow manage to talk my way into having a Red Bull delivered before quitting time then headed to Lakewood to watch one of my good buddies perform in the musical: Sweeney Todd. Epically hilarious, so very much laughing managed to wash away any feelings of grossness for a bit.

Sunday

Feel even sicker all night, manage to fall asleep by 3a. Wake up at 4a after a nasty nightmare, refuse to go back to sleep due to sheer terror of having same dream. Body gives in around 4:45a and sleep until 8a. So yeah, feeling great! Time to go to Seattle to watch rugby. Lay/nap/feel like death in sun for 3 hours, achieve patchworky sunburn due to lackluster effort in sunscreen application. Eat lunch and attend Uber Tavern's 5 yr anniversary party so we could sample their special offerings which included: Cascade 2009 Sang Noir, De Proef K-O (Knock Out), Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast Stout & a Boneyard Notorious IPA3. Stayed long enough for MGD to take in all my pitifullness and declare it time to go back home to the 253.

Delicious Sang Noir with some bomb party mix.

During said trip he was promptly informed that my whinging and pathetic-ness would increase exponentially during the drive, thus landing us at Safeway for medicine & animal crackers. It has to be stated that my dude is very sweet and has the patience of a saint. You think I'm a handful when I'm 100%? Try me at roaming temperatures, lame coughing fits and constant nose blowing. Not to mention a side of medicine induced nonsensicalness to shake things up a bit. Good times all around. At the very least, I'm sure he finds me amusing.


Which takes us to Monday. Still feeling pretty nasty but it's survivable. It was a great weekend filled with interesting beers, fun people, new experiences and the usual good times we like to roll with. Freakin' Mazal tov.

Just another manic ThursdayFridaySaturdaySundayMONDAY

the pissed liBEERian

Sporting a Bustard Eagles scarf at DC's

Photography courtesy of MGD & my own bad ass skillery
Editing & 'what the eff are you talking about?' by MGD

Love is in the air... or at least something smells in Tacoma.

I really need to start learning how to write things down in pencil. My poor day planner has about a 1/2 inch thick of white-out because of my ever changing, ale related plans. Thought it best to inform you of the crazy amount of fun stuff coming up for the days, weekend and beyond...

Tuesday 8th - Goldfish races at the Harmon Tap Room (8:30p, Tacoma) I hope for your sake that the Vanilla Porter is still on tap because it was darn loverly in my mouth hole last week.

Wednesday 9th - Brewers Night @ the Red Hot featuring Firestone Walker (6p, Tacoma) Sure to be bountiful schwag and copious amounts of swallowing. At least for me, I'm not a spitter.

Thursday 10th - The Nosh League of Tacoma will be hosting a wine/beer/chocolate pairing (Chocolate Lovers Unite!) at Beyond the Bridge Cafe this evening (6:30-9:30p, Tacoma) or if you feel like making the trek to Seattle, Pike Brewing is having their 3rd Annual Chocofest. Dubbed as a 'romantic evening of chocolate, beer, mead, wine and spirits'. Admission is $25, click here for more details. (5:30-9p, Seattle) I'll be attending the Chocofest but if I could be in 2 places at once this evening, I would. 

Friday 11th - IDK what y'all have planned for this Friday but after I get my tires replaced (stupidrunningoversomethingbigandmetalandstupidattwointhemorningonSundayonthefreeway) I'm hoping to FINALLY get my booty out to the 7 Seas Brewing tasting room in Gig Harbor for a tour and a proper pint or two. (3-9p on Fridays, Gig Harbor)

Saturday 12th - If you are a member of the Tacoma Beer Appreciation Society then you already know about the private Beer Drinkers/Makers Meeting (beer potluck) that's going down. Gonna do my best to stop by Amocat Cafe for some tasting. (7:30p-11p, Tacoma)

Sunday 13th - Anti/Valentine's Day Artist Craft Fair is being put on by Tacoma Is For Lovers at King's Books and has my name written all over it. With a Sharpie. A fat one. In fuchsia. (11a-4p, Tacoma) After I've shopped my little anti-Valentine heart out, I'll be hitting up Metronome Coffee for another rousing meeting of the Literature and Libations book group. (3-6p, Tacoma) We drink (coffee & beer), we read, we repeat every few weeks.

Monday 14th - Happy Valentine's Day! Now go participate in Tap Night Tacoma, I'll give you 5 reasons why you should. Engine House 9, The Swiss, Doyle's Public House, The Red Hot & Parkway Tavern. Oh and Big Al's newest brew, the Hop Villain Black IPA will be at Parkway Tavern. There... I gave you 6 reasons, so just do what I say. Kthnxbai. (6p, Tacoma) I stopped by Big Al Brewery last weekend to get a special tour, ala Micah Sims, and he let us try the Hop Villain Black IPA. Unless of course that was one of the 'Don't tell Big Al I let you have some of this and drink it quick because he'll be back any minute' beers... then I, uh, have no idea what I'm talking about. P.S. It was delicious, can't wait to have more!!!

Wednesday 16th- Brewers night at Parkway Tavern featuring New Belgium. (6-9p, Tacoma) I don't need to be told twice ('cause you're not the boss of me) so don't make me tell you twice either.

Hope you find yourself at one or many of these events, there is just too much fun to be had...

the pissed liBEERian

Sometimes it's hard to remember the things you never want to forget.

New Years Freakin' Eve. I tend to build up upcoming events in my head. I always want everything to be the best, most fun & incredibly epic.  Important nights, like New Years Eve, are placed in a category best known as "most likely to never live up to my crazy big expectations". Someone who once knew me well told me that "they can't all be zingers". True enough. Except in the case of my Friday night, New Years Eve. What an amazingly great time. It was the best (most perfect) NYE I've ever had.





Co-hosted a private after hours party @ Amocat Cafe in Tacoma with owner Morgan Alexander. Got to share my evening with friends both new and old. Some of the people I love most in the world were there. It's a bit sappy but to be able to ring in 2011 with my best friend in the universe, my brother (who's lived out of state for the last 7 yrs & just moved back to WA), and the man I love and adore above all others; means more to me than a few keystrokes can express.

Morgan beer!

We had a million laughs, a ton of great beer (cue the 3 liter bottles of Double Bastard & Grand Reserve Chimay, plus some remarkable home brew by Amocat owner Morgan Alexander) and delicious nomz coming in all shapes and sizes. There was a damn taster cup pyramid for goodness sake!

Did a bit of pre-funking & last minute party preparing with a growler of Schooner Exact's Midnight Union before the guests showed up. Shortly before the hour of importance I trotted down to the Mix for some party swag they were giving away outside. I.e., feathered tiaras for the girls, bowler hats for the boys, and some noise makers for all. Dallas, the Mix's bouncer, let me have whatever my heart desired so I invited him to come drink with us when work ended. As I ran up the street back to Amocat I shouted something to the effect of "Just come do it, right now!" at him. A random street lingerer replied "When a girl like that says 'come do it right now' you go man, right now." Hahahaha. Too funny. He never came (that I know of) but I appreciate his contribution to the party.

My Fave Moments of NYE 

1. While playing with our newly acquired party attire, I believe I started a 'debate' with MGD over who gets to utilize the noise makers. As we clearly had different thoughts on the issue, someone (uh... me, obviously) got all pissy about not getting what she wanted and executed a sneak attack on her nemesis of the moment. Needless to say, I lost the noise maker and a bit of pride and executed Plan B. Some silent treatment accompanied by a whole lot of stink eye...

Trying to smooth the drunken waters, MGD took a rare DFHead bottle cap (which I collect obsessively) and lovingly scratched the price tag off to a perfect glean. And because I'm such a gracious loser in all things competitive, I swatted the cap out of his hand onto the floor while raising my stink eye level. As an innocent party guest attempted to collect it from the floor, I stomped on the cap with my shiny Mary Jane'd heel and swiftly kicked it under the beer fridge. Gave MGD the look of death (read: What now? I don't need your stupid peace offering!) and felt I proved my point sufficiently. Hugs were given, kisses were had and all was forgiven and forgotten.

10 minutes pass...

FUCK. I want that bottle cap. Ugh, why do I always screw myself over to make a point? Stubbornness at it's finest, right here. Spent the next 45 laying on the floor in my supercutepartydress with a flashlight, a big metal rod & the help of multiple friends trying to retrieve the item of importance. To no avail, the DFHead bottle cap shall remain a part of Amocat's history.



2. The 3 liter bottles of Grand Reserve Chimay (which we bought off Chris, the owner of The Red Hot during Lagunitas night) & Double Bastard were the best ideas ever. Holy awesome. I told MGD that it was a bit excessive @ approx. $100 each but then I saw the Double Bastard came with a chain, lock & key... That's a yes. Maybe I was more worried about having to explain to everyone all night what MGD was compensating for by bringing such largeness to share. Which is absolutely nothing. Visual examples below display that dude knows how to show this girl a good time.

3. Our group of 5 (MGD, my best friend and her hubby, my brother & myself) finally cabbed it back (safety first!) to Casa de MGD around 1a. No one was quite ready to call it a night so we stayed up drinking more (Chimay & Midnight Union) and playing Rummy in front of the fireplace, til 6a. It was a perfect end to a perfect night.

If the amount of fun I had on New Years Eve is any indication of the upcoming year, I'm stoked. I hope everyone I know had a wonderful and safe evening as well.

2011, bring it on yo!

the pissed (and uber content with her life) liBEERian

Photo credits: MGD, Myself, Bee & Michele Barnes
Editing award goes to MGD