Hello all,

I'll be returning to the Dragon for the first time since 2006 and as you may expect I will be bringing enormous amounts of beer with me. Chad and Detroit Tuned have done a great job with the Brew Swap since I turned it over and I will be attending the Brew Swap this year.

But I see an opportunity here. When I first did the Brew Swap my beer palate was quite bland. I was just getting into microbrews and they were just catching on. When I come to the Brew Swap this year my intent is to swap out some good West Coast beer for some East Coast/Mid-West beer I can't obtain. While that's good it won't leave me time to really taste some great/limited beers and talk about what makes them great. So here's an idea...

I'm thinking of hosting an invite only event of 30-40 people where we will be tasting, not swapping, special beers. I envision the attendees bringing beers that are either:

A. Limited runs
B. Seasonal and not easy to find
C. Special in some other way

For example, I have set aside for this event five 22oz bottles.
1. 2011 Stone Double Bastard
2. 15th Anniversary Stone Escondidian Imperial Black IPA
3. Rouge Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Syrup Ale
4. 11.11.11. Vertical Epic from Stone Brewing
5. Stone's Belgian Anise Imperial Russian Stout Odd Year Release (Unlike Stone's usual IRS they did something "odd" for 2011 and added in a belgian yeast strain)

Beers 1 and 4 will be very hard to find come May and many won't ever be able to find it where they are. #3 was a limited run from what I can tell so this is even harder to find. #2 is the best beer Stone has ever made and I'm not sure where their production is on this. It's not done but I can't get anymore locally.

This posting is to see if there are even enough people interested in this event. If I see the interest I'll open up the requests for invitations. Be prepared to provide an idea of what you'll bring although you can hunt between now and then for more or swap out. I just want to make sure we get people bringing good stuff. As you no doubt figured out single 22oz bottles will provide at most 22 samples to go around. So not everyone will get to sample every beer. And some will likely bring 12oz bottles of something special further reducing sample size.

I'm rambling at this point. If there's interest I'll find a place for this to happen and a good time will be had by all. If there isn't enough interest I'll either drink my savings listed above or bring them to the Brew Swap to trade out although you can bet it won't be 1 to 1.

Post if you are interested.


Matt

 

Most interested. The only evening availability I have would be after the Welcome Dinner on Wed., after 7:30 p.m. Thur., or after the Brewswap Fri. I can bring 3 12s of Two Brothers Heavy Handed IPA (Fall seasonal) and 3 12s of Two Brothers Northwind Imperial Stout (Winter seasonal).

Two Brothers is a micro brewery in W. suburban Chicago (Warrenville). The Descriptions are below.

Heavy Handed IPA - Heavy Handed IPA is brewed to celebrate the harvesting of the hops every year. Within moments of harvest we add freshly picked "Wet Hops" to this IPA. Since the hops have not been dried before use, they add a wonderful character found in no other beer. A hop lovers dream.

Northwind Imperial Stout - Dark delights like this were once shipped to the Imperial Court of Russia. With a firm roasty maltiness balanced against a generous helping of hops, Northwind can stand up to the worst its namesake can dish out. Enjoy it by a roaring fire.

 

Glad to hear it zin. If we get enough interest I'll keep your schedule in mind. I'd love some of that Heavy Handed IPA. Right up my alley.

 

This is going to be my 6th MOTD, but 1st one being of legal drinking age!! unfortunately I'm not much of a beer drinker but my boyfriend is a complete beer snob! and thats being nice. I'll pass on that there might be a "private" good beer get together and I can garantee he'll be there! So Ill tell him he needs to bring the good stuff this year! We live in Maryland, so this could be your East coast connection!

 

I'm the beer snob boyfriend and I couldn't be more excited about this. Currently my collection is a tad light because I was tired of the fridge being so full. However, I still have:

2 Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPAs (I MAY be able to find more)

1 DFH Worldwide Stout and can most likely get more

2 of the 3 DFH special musician tribute beers but only one of each. I think the third isn't out yet. One is Miles Davis ******* Brew and is an ale brewed with honey and gesho. The other is Pearl Jam Twenty and is an ale brewed with currants.

I also have and can get more of the Schlenkerla Smokebeer Marzen and Weizen if you are into super smoky flavors.

I will keep on the lookout for limited release stuff between now and the dragon. We have Flying Dog close by and Dogfish Head and Fordham are in Delaware. There is a "nano" brewery close to me as well. I can find some good stuff sometimes, so even if you don't get enough people to host an event, You can come drink the good stuff with me.

Thanks for the great idea.

 

I love beer snobs. :-)

I'd love to try that Pearl Jam 20 and the Worldwide Stout.

I can't hang with the 120. Too much like a brandy or sherry than a beer to me. But it is fine for sipping.

And I agree that even if I can't get a good size group together we should still get together to sample what we got.

 

If this doesn't happen, I'll have the Heavy Handed and Northwind along with some less restricted Two Brothers brews at the swap (Bitter End IPA & Long Haul Session Ale). Will have 6 of each at brewswap - reserve for high end tasting.

 

Ok, so after all these brew swaps, "tasting", where will the twelve step meeting be? ;-)

 

twelve step meetings are for people with problems, I don't see any problems here My expectation is that probably 20 people will have 1 oz tastes of perhaps as many as 30 beers over the course of probably 3 hours. I would expect there would also be plenty of munchies around to both clear the palate between tastes and to absorb and slowly release the alcohol. This would be roughly the equivalent of having 2 beers or a couple of glasses of wine with dinner.

Not a problem in my book! Of course I wouldn't go right out and run hellbender or the dragon.

 

I'd say Zin is right on for the Brew Swap. I think there's potentially less drinking at the tasting although some of mine will be of much higher alcohol content than normal gravity beers. No meetings for me. I'm a drunk, not an alcoholic. Wife is the DD.

 

I was in no way complaining or accusing, I was attempting to, in my twisted way, poke fun at the concept of this event. The idea seems great, and I copied and pasted this thread for my kids, to make them drool and stop making fun of us for our passion with this MINI event. They are micro brewers, and have made it their missions to intimately know all the small local breweries here in the Chicago area, extending to southwest Michigan.

 

hey Matt... just let me know where and when. I'll help with the cleanup again. Just like old times.

 

No offense taken man. It's all good.

 

So this thread is pretty dead...but is this still happening? I've heard rumors that it is and also that it isn't. What's the word?

 

Since BSG isn't coming, there was no agreed time/place, and everyone is probably already booked to the max, I would suspect it ain't gonna happen

 

I would assume so

 

I guess I have a lot of awesome beer to drink on my own...which isn't such a bad problem to have I suppose...

 

So I'm looking in to saving this event. I am free Wednesday after 7 pm and Saturday after 5 pm. I don't, however, have a venue. We MAY be able to use the C3M cabin on Saturday, but it is up in the air at this point. Do either of these times work for anyone?

 

Only time I'm available is after the Welcome Dinner Wednesday. I have a cabin that could be used for the event, but I don't know how much glassware there is.

 

So our schedules are compatible on Wednesday. That makes two of us. Is anyone else still interested and does Wednesday after the Welcome Dinner work? I can bring glassware from my cabin as well.

 

D-Unit, if its just you and me, no worries about glassware, we can just kick back and savor a couple of rare brews. Do you want to bring the munchies?

 

they have that nice new large wooded deck between the Wildwood Grill and the Rec. Hall you could use is its nice out. And your free to use the DIY tent it it's not in use and you clean up afterwards

 

Yea I guess that will work. So, Wednesday after the dinner?

 

I tried to drum up some interest on my local maryland MINI group board. We will see if that leads anywhere.

 

I got one more person coming, at least for a little bit. He has some homebrew he is bringing, so that should be interesting.