Rob’s 2nd Annual Beer Tasting
1 Mar
When our friend Rob mentioned he’d be having another beer tasting in February, I was pretty excited. I’m not huge on beer, but I like tastings (of course), and Rob prepares to the utmost for his.
Everyone had a beer tasting glass and water glass (labeled with our names by Kate). There was Brita water to rinse the glass between tastings and seltzer water to cleanse our palates.
The food was also displayed when we got there. Because we were drinking a lot of stout beers, Rob had a lot of dessert including: brownies, truffles (not pictured), pecan pie, cake and chocolate cheesecake – brought by me.
But the secret about the chocolate cheesecake is that I choked and ended up not making one – but instead buying these 7 individual cakes. I need to be braver sometimes…
Here’s my plate all loaded up, which in the end – was way too much. I didn’t touch the piece of cake and only had a small bite of the cheesecake. Too much sweets for me… my belly was hurting!
And now the beer samplings. Since they all look similar, I created a gallery of sorts. Here was our menu:
1) Rogue Shakespeare Stout – Rogue Ales, Newport, OR., 6% ABV
2) Sam Smith Oatmeal Stout – Samuel Smith, Tadcaster, England 5% ABV
3) Rogue Chocolate Stout – Rogue Ales, Newport, OR., 6.3% ABV
4) Bell’s Special Double Cream Stout – Bell’s Brewery, Kalamazoo, MI., 6.1% ABV
5) Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast – Mikkeller Brewery, Copenhagen, Denmark, 7.5% ABV
6) Rob and Brian’s “Absurdity” Imperial Stout – Existential Brewing, Arlington, VA., 10.2% ABV
7) Victory Storm King Imperial Stout – Victory Brewing Co., Downingtown, PA, 9.1%ABV
Bell’s Expedition Stout – Bell’s Brewery, Kalamazoo, MI, 10.5% ABV
9) Dogfish Head World Wide Stout – Dogfish Head Brewery, Milton, DE 18% ABV
10) Mystery beer Rob brought out – don’t remember the name
And here are some photos…
I ended up tasting most of the beers, but at one point my stomach started really feeling upset, so I took a break. I ended up sipping a few and giving the rest to Bill. I think I overdid it too quickly – and ended up paying for it. Even though the stomach issues happened, I still had a great time and enjoyed trying the different beers. The first and last ones were my favorite.
Here are some photos from the night:
Rob pouring us each a glass.
Preparation + Socializing
More friends 
A Whole Lotta Brian in this shot (see left)
Billy and I… we decided to finally get a picture together (we always forget to do this at parties!)
An hour or so after the tasting, everyone was craving some non-dessert food. Kate went out to a Peruvian chicken place and brought back some grub. I thought the food might help my stomach (plus I was really hungry), so I grabbed a sampling of chicken, coleslaw, a few french fries, and different beans.
There was also (of course) some music being played, and I secretly captured about 30 seconds of Rob and Keith.
We hit the road around 10:30 p.m. – which is pretty early for us, but I got a call from work that worried me and the weather was getting bad. We got home around 11:15 p.m. or so and pretty much crashed.
All in all, I really enjoyed the beer tasting and hope Rob has more in the future! I can only see them getting bigger and better
CAAAAAAAKES!!! Holy yum
HOW FUN!!!! I wish I liked beer…
I love the picture of the two of you, and it looks like you had a blast!
I get the same tummy issues with too much sugar. I usually just ignore them!
HOW FUN!!!! I wish I liked beer…
I love the picture of the two of you, and it looks like you had a blast!
I get the same tummy issues with too much sugar. I usually just ignore them!
HOW FUN!!!! I wish I liked beer…
I love the picture of the two of you, and it looks like you had a blast!
I get the same tummy issues with too much sugar. I usually just ignore them!
ahh that looks like such a fun time with friends!!!!!!! thanks for sharing! i can’t believe how organized it all looks!! so cool! peruvian food sounds delish too!
All the beer sounds so fantastic, I’d wanna try it all =)
And the pic of you and Bill is so adorable too! It’s good to hear you had a good time, despite some tummy aches
That looks like so much fun!
Are you ready for the winter storm? I’m hoping for a snow day tomorrow!
That all looks so fun!
Great pics!
how fun! you two are so cute!
This is so much fun! I was looking forward to reading this post all weekend haha. Does that make me lame?
Hey Chica~
You left off the Speedway stout and the mystery beer, Stone Imperial Stout that was cellared for a year (both beers are from San Diego). Hope your tummy feels better today!
Wow, what an awesome night! I love that it featured a lot of desserts
) Although I hope that your tummy is feeling better! (P.S. I would have chickened out and brought store-bought cheesecake, too, lol)
Hope you have a wonderful Sunday night!
Cute picture of you and Bill. I like beer but don’t think I could drink more than a sip of those dark beers.
Looks like a fun evening. I totally would have stuck to the delicious eats though, and passed on all the beer.