So the wife and I have family and friends over on New Years day each year, a tradition that has gone on as long as we have been married. Having married on the second of January in 1999, we did not start the tradition until Jan 1, 2000, and we missed last year due to her being sick, but all in all, a definite tradition at this point, and something that I think (hope) everyone looks forward to. Good food, good friends, and good beer, what more could you want?
One of the traditions, that started a few years back, is a beer sampling. The first year that we did it, we found that a number of people had brought along 6'ers of various winter beers, and we wanted everyone to be able to try them, so we setup our first sampling. This year that sampling was up to 24 beers, not all seasonals of course, and including one of my own in that 24. Everyone gets a 2 ounce "glass" of each beer, with 12 of us sampling this year, it meant that we could get by with a bomber, or 2 standard bottles of each, so we did not have to go broke setting this all up.
Hales – Wee Heavy Winter - Beer Advocate: B+
Lagunitas – Censored - Beer Advocate: B+
Samuel Adams – Cranberry Lambic - Beer Advocate: C
Deschutes – Buzzsaw Brown - Beer Advocate: B
Elysian – The Wise ESB - Beer Advocate: A-
Redhook – Winterhook - Beer Advocate: B
New Belgium – Fat Tire - Beer Advocate: B
Hales – Red Menace - Beer Advocate: B
Full Sail – Wassail - Beer Advocate: B+
My homebrew – Bridgeport Blue Heron Pale Ale Clone - far more popular with our group than a number of the commercial brews.
Rogue – Dead Guy - Beer Advocate: B+
Alaskan - Winter Ale - Beer Advocate: B - one of the most popular of our tasting.
Eel River – Triple Exultation - Beer Advocate: B+
Samuel Smiths – Winter Welcome - Beer Advocate: B
Pete’s Wicked – Wanderlust - Beer Advocate: C+
Blue Moon – Full Moon - Beer Advocate: not rated
Sierra Nevada – Celebration - Beer Advocate: A-
Stone – Smoked Porter - Beer Advocate: A-
New Belgium – 2 Below - Beer Advocate: not rated
Elysian – Bifrost - Beer Advocate: B+
Port Brewing – Old Viscosity - Beer Advocate: A-
Elysian – Perseus Porter - Beer Advocate: B+
Youngs – Double Chocolate Stout - Beer Advocate: A-
Great Divide - Old Ruffian Barley Wine - Beer Advocate: A - this one gets the posthumous Purple Heart for having been killed in the line of duty, falling out of the beer fridge and suffering a broken neck.
One of the traditions, that started a few years back, is a beer sampling. The first year that we did it, we found that a number of people had brought along 6'ers of various winter beers, and we wanted everyone to be able to try them, so we setup our first sampling. This year that sampling was up to 24 beers, not all seasonals of course, and including one of my own in that 24. Everyone gets a 2 ounce "glass" of each beer, with 12 of us sampling this year, it meant that we could get by with a bomber, or 2 standard bottles of each, so we did not have to go broke setting this all up.
Hales – Wee Heavy Winter - Beer Advocate: B+
Lagunitas – Censored - Beer Advocate: B+
Samuel Adams – Cranberry Lambic - Beer Advocate: C
Deschutes – Buzzsaw Brown - Beer Advocate: B
Elysian – The Wise ESB - Beer Advocate: A-
Redhook – Winterhook - Beer Advocate: B
New Belgium – Fat Tire - Beer Advocate: B
Hales – Red Menace - Beer Advocate: B
Full Sail – Wassail - Beer Advocate: B+
My homebrew – Bridgeport Blue Heron Pale Ale Clone - far more popular with our group than a number of the commercial brews.
Rogue – Dead Guy - Beer Advocate: B+
Alaskan - Winter Ale - Beer Advocate: B - one of the most popular of our tasting.
Eel River – Triple Exultation - Beer Advocate: B+
Samuel Smiths – Winter Welcome - Beer Advocate: B
Pete’s Wicked – Wanderlust - Beer Advocate: C+
Blue Moon – Full Moon - Beer Advocate: not rated
Sierra Nevada – Celebration - Beer Advocate: A-
Stone – Smoked Porter - Beer Advocate: A-
New Belgium – 2 Below - Beer Advocate: not rated
Elysian – Bifrost - Beer Advocate: B+
Port Brewing – Old Viscosity - Beer Advocate: A-
Elysian – Perseus Porter - Beer Advocate: B+
Youngs – Double Chocolate Stout - Beer Advocate: A-
Great Divide - Old Ruffian Barley Wine - Beer Advocate: A - this one gets the posthumous Purple Heart for having been killed in the line of duty, falling out of the beer fridge and suffering a broken neck.
