I wasn’t planning to attend SlapShot Brewing’s beer debut at The Beer Bistro’s 8th Anniversary party. In fact, I didn’t even know about the event. When I found out about it, via my friend Jeremy tweeting his disappointment that he couldn’t attend, I seriously contemplated not going. However, not having any other plans, Bill strongly encouraging me to go, and a very honest desire to support debuts and events happening south of North Avenue really put me over the edge.
I’m glad. It was a blast, and it was a at least three different kinds of evenings all packed into one.
It started as a very low-key evening. The brewers and company were tightly packed at one large table and a couple of smaller tables. I ended up at a two-top a bit removed from them and decided to grab their beer and see what it was like.
SlapShot debuted with a blonde ale, brewed with honey, called “Honey, You’re Blonde.” It was a solid beer. A very honey color, not so much flavor, with a bite of hops bitterness at the end. I wasn’t floored by it, but I had two. I liked the second better than the first, so it’s already growing on me. I’m looking forward to trying more of their stuff.
While I was consuming beer the first, I continued reading my current “educational” book1, Neurogastronomy. So far it’s been a little dry, but I’m definitely learning things. This is a two or more time reader, for sure.
Of course, part of that is that I take it to bars to read & sometimes a party breaks out. Between “Honey, You’re Blonde” #1 & #2, two eventful things happened. One, I ordered another new brewery’s beer; Un Année’s Maya. And two, Kevin from Pour Man and his girlfriend & fellow beer lover, Suzie, showed up.
Relevant to point one above, I’m terrible at beer notes sometimes, especially when I’m socializing. All I can say is “Maya” knocked my socks off. I thought it was damn near perfect. Clearly a Belgian beer, but not overly funky (to me) with a hint of orange. Their website calls it a Belgian IPA. I can’t agree, at least based on the pint I had. SlapShot’s blonde was hoppier. I suspect Kevin would agree, as he was not as a fan. As far as I can tell, Kevin and I don’t have much in the way of overlapping beer taste. He likes ’em real hoppy and I could do without quite so much hops, at least in a bitter finish. I can be swayed by a bunch of floral or fruity hops, sometimes.
As I recall, Suzie didn’t try it. Me? I’m dying to have more, but I wonder if there will be more hops (bitter, fruity, or floral) next go ’round. I wonder if Kevin will try it again.
Kevin eventually wandered off to greet other folks he knows, leaving Suzie and I to chat. She’s a fun lady, and that ended up being a really fun discussion. Something of a “dinner out with a friend” kind of evening. I never put my book away, because I wasn’t sure if she’d eventually wander off and we’d be back to “low-key beer and a book” evening.
I really should have known better. Eventually other folks showed up, and it turned into an honest-to-god party. I saw Abby from Ale Syndicate arrive, and watched her sit no more than three feet away at the bar. Then an ocean of people showed up and prevented me from crossing that three feet to say hello for quite some time. I ran into Steve from The Drinking and Writing Theater and Haymarket Pub & Brewery. He kindly bought me my second round of “Honey, You’re Blonde” right as I was meeting Chet, the brand manager for Church Street Brewing. Chet kindly took the third beer I’d purchased off my hands, as I hated it and he liked it.
And, possibly most fun of all (at least for someone roughly in the neighborhood) I met the owner of The Beer Bistro, Bob. Now THERE is a nice guy. He owns a great place, he’s friendly and helpful. And he may have shared a rare beer with a few of us. Maybe.
Beer. It’s all about sharing. Or, at least, sharing is a part of it.
fn1. We’ll come back to making jam at some later post. Maybe I’ll manage to take photos the next time I do it.