04/15/12

Last Friday night, we hosted a party organized around guided tastings of four flights of beers. Twenty-seven of our friends gathered at our home, including quite a few brewers who brought some of their handmade beers with them. Of course, I started off with the intention of taking lots of photos, took three (bad quality) photos and forgot to take any more. Oh well . . .

This is Kurt Esslinger and Erica Sanchez. Kurt is the pastor at Agape Campus Ministry at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Erica is a member of Agape's board of directors. The party was a benefit for Agape and raised $1,000 for the ministry.

One of our BOSS (Brewers of South Suburbia) friends, Jim Todd, led us through the second flight tastings - Amber Ales. Steve Kamp led the third flight (India Pale Ales) and I led the first (Light Hybrid Ales) and fourth (Stouts) flights. Those leading the flights gave a little history of the category, some insight into the ingredients and process used, and what distinguished the styles. 

In addition to leading the conversation fo the second flight, Jim also brought some of his handmade Cream Ale for the first flight. Another brewer, Bill Goetz, shared his Tiger Blood Amber Ale. Our friends, Christopher and Shelley Barnard shared two of their beers, a Rye IPA and a Russian Imperial Stout. 

Each flight of beer was accompanied by a cheese and another dish, paired with the beers. The cheese came from the Half Italian Grocer and Deli - check it out, wonderful cheeses, and thanks to Steve Kamp for helping to pair the cheeses with the beers. 

After the guided tasting portions, which took about an hour, we brought all the beers and food back out and people spent the next two hours exploring the beers further, visiting, laughing, learning more about Agape. Special thanks to Terry Frey for sharing some of his extraordinary handmade Belgian ale. As often happens, beer culture brought people together and folks had a great time. 

Here are the beer flights:

Light Hybrid: Jim Todd's Cream Ale, 5 Rabbits Blonde Ale

Ambers: Bill Goetz' Tiger Blood Amber Ale, Metropolitan's Alt, Bell's Amber

IPA: Chris and Shelley Barnard's Rye IPA, Argus' Pegasus IPA, Finch'sThreadless IPA, and Lagunita's Hop Stoopid

Stout: The Barnard's RIS, my organic Cream Stout, and Barley Island's Brass Knuckles Oatmeal Stout

It was a great gathering, with church friends, beer friends, and just friends.