Mark's Wedding Shower - A Little Bit About a Lot of Things A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

June 13, 2014 Mark’s Wedding Shower

Mark is getting married!! Instead of a typical shower at work, I decided to do something a little different…a little more…Mark. We had about 25 people after work gather together for a craft beer tasting led by…yours truly. What’s odd about this is that I know very little about beer, let alone craft beer. So I took Mark’s Untapped profile to Marty’s and asked them to make some suggestions based on the beers that he rated the highest (so sneaky right?) I jumped on Beer Advocate and Google and managed to piece together a PowerPoint presentation (we were at work after all!) Here’s what I learned: Go To IPA by Stone Brewing Company, located in Escondido, CA is 4.5% APV and is an American IPA. The beer is very hoppy, and tends to be dry and bitter. It is made with the “hop bursting” technique, where all or most of the bitterness comes from late hop additions at the end of the boil instead of the traditional approach where bitterness comes from earlier additions at the start of the boil.

Workers Comp by Two Roads Brewing Company, located in Stratford, CT is 4.8% ABV and is a Saison Style beer. Saison beers are traditionally crewed in the winter, have a complex style, and have a fruity aroma and flavor. It has a earthy yeast tone with a mild tartness – a lot of spice with medium bitterness. It is brewed with a variety of grains including barley, wheat, oats and rye.

Brouwerij St. Bernardus NV is made by St. Bernardus Abt 12, located in Belgium and is 10% APV. It is a quadrupel Belgian style ale which is a bolder flavor compared to the dubbel and tripel sister styles. It is a full bodied beer with a malty palate and is sweet with little bitterness. The flavor is complex and has a bittersweet finish with a hoppy bite. It has been seen as one of the best beers in the world. It was one of the original recipes from the days of license brewing for the Trappist monks of Westvleteren.

Hell of High Watermelon, made by 21st Amendment Brewery in San Francisco, CA is 4.9% APV and is a fruit beer. It is brewed with real watermelon and has a crisp, dry flavor. It is a summer, seasonal beer that starts by being brewed as a classic American wheat beer and then undergoes a traditional secondary fermentation using fresh watermelon.

Mark was (mostly) surprised and opened gifts while we celebrated.

Mei Mei Street Kitchen catered the shower! Above is the magical kale salad: local kale, Narragansett Creamery sea salt feta, garlic panko breadcrumbs, tossed in a rice wine vinaigrette. Everyone loved this dish, it was gone in about 3.2 seconds. They also offer the salad on their truck and at their brick and mortar restaurant.

Pierogi dumplings: fried hand-rolled dumplings filled with Schartner Farm russet potatoes, local greens & Cabot cheddar cheese. Served with pickles and soy aioli. While I like their traditional dumplings, I thought these were a great twist – such great flavors!

Hummus with Clear Flour crostini.

Sweet corn fritters: local cornmeal batter, Schartner Farms sweet corn, masa, served with Sriracha aioli. These were such a crowd pleaser! Stay tuned for a post about the wedding!