Saturday, May 8, 2010

Lots of Springtime Beer Events

It's been awhile since I wrote anything here.. I am way over due.

Where to start? My brother came out to visit me for a week in late February. We toured New Belgium Brewery (highly recommend it), attended the 1st Annual Sour Festival at Avery and stopped by The Mountain Sun for Stout Month (where we had a most delicious Tangerine Cream Stout!!!).

The February Ales for Females focused on chocolates and beer. I have misplaced my notes on the pairings but will update you later.

Jeff Mendel was our guest speaker at the March meeting of Ales for Females where we discussed Wheat beers. The beers we tasted were:
Schneider Weisse Hefe-Weizenbier - more carbonated, sweet & spicy
Left Hand Brewing Hefeweizen Haystack Wheat - cloves
O'Dell Brewing Company Easy Street Unfiltered American Wheat - more citrus.

The April meeting of Ales for Females included a guest speaker from the Brewers Association - talking to us about women in the beer business. Our food/beer pairing revolved around fruit beers:
Great Divide Wild Raspberry Ale paired with a Blackberry
Left Hand Brewery Good JuJu Ginger Ale paired with a ginger crisp/cookie
Pyramid Audacious Apricot Ale paired with an apricot

The Pumphouse Craft Beer tasting series continues to be really fun and educational. I missed the one in February - Strong Beers. The guest speaker was Matt Thrall from Avery Brewing. In March, we learned about Belgian Ales and our guest speaker was Peter Bouckaert from New Belgium. This event occurred during a blizzard but all who attended had a blast. The April tasting was India Pale Ales and our guest speaker was Doug Odell. Another fun night.

Cheers!
Jennifer