Saturday Sept. 19th was a very surreal day for me. It started off with me handling some state mandated car problems – problems of which I had put off for six months. But all of that was just a distraction from what was really on my mind. For the last two weeks we have been planning a tasting event with the lovely people at 99 Bottles in Federal Way, WA.

We called it The Great Beer Taste-Off. The 10 beers were selected by Jon and Tiffany and then as a group guests got to guess what style the beers were. Points were awarded for correct style guessed (Cider, Pale Ale, Stout, etc…) as well as if you got close (If the beer was a Dopplebock and you guessed Bock then you got half a point). We even had a guest guess the exact style, brewer, and name of one of the beers – couldn’t freaking believe that when it happened.

I don’t know exactly how many people showed up for the event but I’d like to think it was around 30 individuals. And that’s where the surrealism comes in for me. Here we were – me, Chris, Tyler, Adam, and Adam – getting to taste brews and interact with people who were familiar with what we do here on our website and podcast. Granted that familiarity ranged from close friends who heard about the taste-off via word of mouth to people coming through 99 Bottles for their weekend brews. Still those who stopped and tasted with us were such a pleasure and I couldn’t have been more humbled by the experience.

And I’ve completely neglected to mention the winners of the taste-off! Holy crap, I should have opened with that. We had five categories worth of prizes for this event. Most Points Scored, Most Correct Styles Guessed, First to get the EXACT BREW correct, Best Guess, and Best Dressed. If you look at our pictures below you’ll see all the winners. But just in case you’re going to scroll through them….congratulations to Nick, Alisha, Juliana, Jon, and Kirsten. You made the night that much more enjoyable and I hope you like your prizes.

Before I leave off for this special blog. I want to give you a picture of the brews that were tasted along with them listed. Also, please check out our episode we recorded with 99 Bottles before the event. It will give you an idea of what it was like while during our event. Also, please be sure to visit 99 Bottles and follow them on Twitter and Facebook. You may not be close enough to the shop to enjoy them firsthand…but they deserve all the support you can give them!

1. Cascadia Dry Hard Cider (Cider)

2. Abita Amber (Amber Ale)

3. Franziskaner Weissbier (Hefeweizen)

4. Shiner Bock (Bock)

5. Kulmbacher EKU Pils (German Pilsner)

6. Southern Tier Pumking (Imperial Pumpkin)

7. Big Sky Five Valleys 2012 (Wheat Wine)

8. Avery India Pale Ale (American IPA)

9. Duchesse de Bourgogne (Flanders Red, aka “sour ale”)

10. Flag Porter (Porter)

That’s all for now. Bottoms up! And thank you so much for coming out to see us on Saturday!

Josh

hickory

For the record…producer Adam and I would have won Most Correct Styles Guessed and Most Points Scored….but the two of us were ineligible for victory. You got lucky Juliana and Kirsten….until next time.

11 0 82