The December Meeting--The Christmas Party

The annual Christmas Party went off as scheduled at Paul Marshall’s house. The attendance was perhaps the biggest of 1993. Everyone enjoyed good food, good company, and of course, good beer. The biggest attraction seemed to be Bob’s high-tech beer engine [see article, p. 3]. We’ve enjoyed hearing about his UK trip, but this time he gave us a "taste" of the British pub scene. His beer engine delivered a great pale ale (the smallest beer that Bob could physically bring himself to brew) with a thick head and no carbonation. A very clean, smooth pale ale that all agreed could be pounded down, but few did due to the variety of other beer available.

I brought a chocolate porter which needed more maltiness to complement the bitterness of the cocoa. Harry brought a nice caramel beer, but he admitted the hops overshadowed the caramel flavor. Charlie brought the biggest, strongest beer that his brewery could produce with half of it fermented as an ale and half as a lager. Both were very malty and intense, and I’m sure the ten gallons will keep him warm until spring. Many thanks to all who shared their beer.

Tom Dalldorf stopped by with enough Anchor Christmas beers for a vertical tasting. We tried the beers from 93, 92, 91, 89, 85 and 84. While this year’s version is good, most of us agreed that the 91 was (and still is) the best of those tried. The 85 was tasting old and vinous, but surprisingly, the 84 wasn’t as bad. I don’t think the beers before 87 were spiced. It was reaffirmed, however, that a good beer will last at least two years in the bottle.

On the food side were many good things, from breads to desserts, and I didn’t even try half of them. Paul provided some good red beans and rice, and many others contributed the rest of the delicacies. In order not to miss anyone, I won’t attempt to list everyone’s contributions, but in behalf of all, many thanks to all.

The climax of the afternoon was the gift exchange, which always brings out the kid in each of us ("Gimme that." "Mine, mine!!"). The gift exchanged the most was either one of the glass steins or the Guinness sweatshirt. Loretta probably opened the most gifts since she kept losing the gift she had. The pack of Duvel was also popular as was a new beer cookbook. After everything was opened, the lightning round began, with people exchanging gifts as fast as possible.

When the bell sounded and the dust cleared, everyone got to keep what they were holding, but that was secondary to the fun of participating in the exchange in the first place.

Kim brought copies of Christmas carols butchered into beer carols, but Lisa and I had to run to work before everyone’s voices were fully warmed up!