I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about the swap and thank everyone who came.

First, what a turn out. We only had 2 or 3 people who registered and didn’t show and had a bunch of didn’t register who we let in (since we seemed to be able to fit them in). I wish I had had more time to talk with each one of you more but sadly introductions was the furthest I got with most of you.

Next I want to send a special thanks to Blalor (Brian) for getting you contributors together to get me the intake. I mean, wow, guys I was truly stunned by your generosity. This will be my first real mod to the car and I’m very excited. Chad’s schedule and mine on Saturday conflicted so I couldn’t get it installed but that works out for the best because now I can do it myself and learn how to work on the car. From the bottom of my heart thanks to all who contributed to getting me that intake.

I also want to thank everyone who offered to help Heidi & I out. Next year I will probably take you up on that so I have more time to mingle. There are too many of you to name one by one but we know who you are and we say thanks!

Another special thanks to Randy and Marsha Erb who hooked me up with a cool shirt. And I need the person who have me the Rasberry Liquer in the corked bottle to contact me. I apologize for not remembering who gave it to me but Heidi absolutely loved it and wants to know where she can get more of it. It was a little sweet for my taste but it was still very tasty.

So far I’ve only had about 3 of the beers I got from y’all. The Rahr & Sons Red Ale was delicious. The Upland Weizen was a damn good hefeweizen beer. The Flying Dog Tire Bite Ale was so so, but still very easily consumed. I’m going to drink a few more tonight and tomorrow to get through the cold ones. I have about 2 cases of room temp. beer which will be coming with me to AZ this week where it will be consumed at a speedy pace. Feel free to email me if you want to know if I liked the beer you gave me. Oh and a big thanks to everyone who swapped with me. You guys swarmed like locusts once I made the call to come and trade my beers and I appreciate that. Although I wonder which of you sly devils slipped me the dark beers….there were a couple in there. Guess you want me to learn to like dark beers so I will give them a shot.

Last of the special thanks goes to dotBob and his girlfriend Kim (if I got the name wrong please forgive me but I can’t get the name Kim out of my head). They stayed behind till the very end and helped Heidi & I clean up. Actually Kim did the majority of the cleaning so she gets the kudos!

As far as I know everything went off without a hitch. I didn’t hear or see anyone get hurt during or after the swap. I think everyone made it back to their lodgings safe and sound. That right there to me makes the event a success.

Next year….ah the debate begins, sort of. If the powers that be will allow us to put this on again next year Heidi & I volunteer to organize it. Our attendance would still be up in the air as we’ll be in AZ and vacation time is limited. BUT we may pull a Tuls/Stoopidgirl and fly in and rent a car. We both had such a good time with y’all that we’d like to come back and do it again. Dean & Collin from Gulf South Motoring have also agreed to step up and play a role in the Swap and we hope if we can get this going annually that Gulf South Motoring can continue to be the organizer. Just because I’m moving to AZ doesn’t mean I won’t be a part of GSM. It’s like a gang…GSM 4 life baby! When the planning begins for the 5th annual MOTD, usually in December, I’ll make a plea to DCMM to allow us to do it again. So stay tuned around Xmas to see if it’s a go.

Ok I lied about the special thanks being over. I’d be an ingrate if I didn’t again thank the following awesome sponsors. Detroit Tuned, Motoring File, Coopersport.ca, MINI of The Woodlands (Texas) & Doug Whalen all stepped up with very generous donations. I ask all of you to please support the people that support us. None of these guys had to contribute but they did and I hope you will al give them a chance when you need something for your MINI. If you need their websites or contact info please send me a message and I’ll make sure you two get in touch. If you didn’t get a chance to see the Whalen **** I am sure I can get Tuls to post a pic of it. Doug Whalen does amazing work and if you have a manual you should get one.

Everyone give applause from their computer to Mini2Go and BoCRon for the Pre-Swap BBQ. The food was absolutely delicious, there was plenty of it and it was cheap as hell. Thanks again guys!

Now it’s time for your feedback. What did you like about the swap and what didn’t you like? What should we keep and what should we change?

For those who wanted a Brew Swap T-shirt and didn't order one...I am willing to order a second run but need at least 12 shirts to do it. So send me an email or PM letting me know you are interested and once I get 12 I can set up the shopping cart again and allow you all to order. Price stays the same $15 for YM to XL. $17 for XXL and XXXL. $5 to ship one shirt and $1 extra for each additional shirt.

Also, I'll be posting my pics from the brew swap on the website. Give me a week and it'll be up. I am moving Wednesday so I'll be out of touch for a few days.

Everyone take care and thanks for a memorable MOTD!

Matt & Heidi

 

Matt,
Thanks again for all your hard work. That was a big feat, and all in all a great success.
Mike and I talked about it and both decided we had a blast doing the food. Of course, making people wait a bit for food always seems to make it taste better Having to wait for the rain for a bit was probably a blessing in disguise.
I spoke to alot of people the next day who are hoping for a repeat next year.
John, Karen, Sharon and Heidi, what troopers, standing in the drizzle checking folks in and saying "We got moved and moved back, so everything is here" a zillion times

Sign us up for next year!
Annette

 

BREEEEW SWAAAAP! WOO HOO! LOL ...I'll get ou a pic ASAP!

 

Leif and I had a fantastic time and would definitely participate next year and any year following, forever and ever amen.

I'll also put our names in the pool of people willing to help!

I've been coming down to my case o' spoils every morning and perusing the selection so that I can have some lead time in selecting my beer for the evening. Thus far Leif and I have had the Duck-Rabbit Amber and Capital Winsconsin Amber -- both very tasty! I'll have to keep a tally sheet for next year's requests...

 

I drank the Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout from Terrapin Brewing in Fredricksberg last night. Whoever I swapped for that, THANK YOU! Tasty and *strong*! ;-)

Thanks again to Matt and everyone else who helped make this thing a huge success!

 

^^ That stuff was AWESOME!!! I drank that after the brew swap... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... so tasty!

 

Matt & Heidi (& everyone else)- All of your hard work paid off. What a great event! Didn't drink much during the event cuz I ended up being limo driver for the rest of the dudes... just another excuse to ride in a cabrio with the top down i guess .
More than anything, it was an event where we were able to casually mingle and take the time to meet someone new. Unfortunately, I'm really bad with names, so if anyone out there has pics and can label who's who, that would help jog my memory . I had a great time.

Matt/Heidi.. you know where to find me... behind the wheel

 

YAY, that was ours. That is one of Terrapin's special brews that they only do once a year. I'm glad y'all liked it, it does require an educated pallet!!! The brewery is actually in Athens near UGA, but is bottled in Fredericksburg because of some archaic Georgia law, of course.
Annette

 

I've got several crowd shots from both the BBQ and the swap on my Flickr account. Anyone can draw little boxes on them to label people. :-)

 

I actually had a great time filling in for my bro. Our only complaint is that way too many of the beers were COLD, which meant immediate consumption or finding a cooler for transport back to Indy. It sounds like everyone had fun and stayed safe. Great job organizing, Matt! And a hearty thanks to Annette and the rest for the fantastic pre-swap bbq! Those brownies were awesome!

 

Great job Matt and a hearty "Thank you" to all who helped. It was a great time and I look forward to tasting all of the samples I brought back to Canada!

 

Thanks for all the hard work you guys put into the swap. It was a highlight of the years MOTD. Pam and I, enjoyed meeting you guys, and can't wait till next year to see you again, and Swap some more.....

BEER that is!!!!

Steve

 

hey look what I found! thanks BLALOR!

I must say though...this pic does the work no justice...it's just so amazing in person...

 

It was wet, hot, humid, crowded, and loud. In other words, it was FREAKIN AWESOME!!

We had a great time and I have many beers I look forward to tasting. Many thanks to Matt and Annette and everyone who helped and participated.

Has anybody tried their Michigan Brewing Company beers?

 

Sadly I got none. Apparantly my call to arms escaped your ears.

That's ok I'll have to get some next year. Although figuring out how to get it back to AZ will be a ****.

 

Yeah, that was just a quick snap with Ken from Chicago holding it. Everybody wanted to touch the ****!

Er, waitaminute... ;-)

 

I touched the ***! I also got to watch Tuls get detained at the airport because they thought it was a hand grenade!!! hahahahahaha...that silly Tuls, always causing trouble.

I had a blast at the brew swap and will hopefully get some pictures up soon. We'll just say I had so much fun when I went to sleep that night I had my head hanging out the cabin window while laying on my bed so if I had to (ahem) vomit I wouldn't have to worry about making it to the bathroom. That cool breaze felt amazing too!
I hope we do it again! yayyyy!!!

 

Great job Matt. We had a blast!
Next year I'll make sure to bring more warm Kentucky HorsePiss.

 

This further degrades my opinion of the TSA folks. I mean, how many terrorists polish and engrave their grenades?

 

I realized that after I got home Matt. I'm very sorry...there was so much going on and there were several beers that I didn't get to try and people that I missed meeting as well. Next year for sure!

 

We had a great time and enjoyed meeting everyone! Hats off to everyone involved for a great bbq and brew swap!

 

I learned one thing that i will remember next year, BRING MORE BEER. I had no idea how fast my stuff would go, so I tired not to go over bored. Next year, i am bringing a trailer.

 

Hey, what's up S Curvz?

I agree - next year, we'll bring more of a variety and in general, more beers. Brandon and I had a blast, Matt! I'm glad we got to talk to you before the brew swap while playing pool! We're definetly going to try to make it again next year if its at all possible. And when we commit to it, we're available for helping out too.

It was really nice meeting everyone! (Oh, and whoever traded Old Leghumper with me, Thanks! It was great!)

 

Well, last night DH and I sampled the Ugly Pug and the Yuengling Porter. Both were fabulous, I need to start a list for next year of what I'd like to get again and a list of what we missed out on.
If anyone gets "Food and Wine" magazine, they had a nice write up on some beers to go with certain foods and I was pleased to say that most of the beers they liked were beers we got or at least saw at the swap.
I think tonight we'll try the Old Leghumper and maybe the Hell for Certain, sounds yummy already!
Annette

 

A big thanks to Matt and everyone at the swap. We had a great time and appreciate all the hard work that went into making it a success. And what a success it was!

Marsha and I still managed to get home with over 30 different beers, which will take some time to evaluate. What fun!.