January Beer Dinner

We had yet another good time at McCoy’s Brewmaster Dinner last night. The two of us were seated at a fun table with another beer-loving couple (we met them at the Schlafly dinner several months ago) and McCoy’s blogger/Facebooker/social-media-guru-in-chief.

We started with Harvest Dance, one of Boulevard’s seasonal Smokestack series beers. It’s a wheat wine, and it went nicely with the roasted butternut squash, pumpkin walnut bread, and Basque cheese.

Next was a duck confit over pastry and a small salad paired Arcadia’s Cereal Killer Barleywine. This beer is now on tap at the Foundry, thanks to the new tap towers they installed. They now have an additional 12 or so beers on tap, so check the board next time you’re in there—you’re likely to stumble across a few brews you haven’t tried.

This course was followed by McCoy’s 10th Anniversary Ale, paired with roasted pork over white cheddar grits. The interesting thing about this beer is that McCoy’s 10th anniversary was over 3 years ago. They brewed a massive IPA that year, and sold it all...except for one keg. That keg hadn’t been moved (let alone tapped!) since then. It has matured to about 13% ABV, and the hop character has melted away. As the brewmaster put it, it’s pretty much barleywine at this point.

(It’s also still on tap if you want to try it, but it likely won’t last long.)

Finally, we had Avery’s Mephistopheles paired with a raspberry beer-a-misu, which is about what you’d imagine. This is one beer I’d never tried, mostly because I was put off by the $10 per 12 oz. price tag (and that's in the liquor store). It was big, dark, delicious, and dangerous. Somewhere over 15% ABV.

And that was the only problem with the event. When you’re drinking such small quantities of highly potent beer, you tend to lose track of where you’re at as far as consumption goes.

The line between “happy” and “holy crap” is a mere half-glass thick, as I experienced shortly after the event.

I had a lovely time talking (progressively more loudly, natch) to friends new and old last night.

I had a less lovely time waking up in the middle of the night with the gurgly stomach, sweaty forehead, and racing pulse of someone who had consumed a bit too much unpasteurized beer on a school night.

It’s a conundrum—should I keep enjoying these monthly events on work nights, knowing that I still outkick my coverage occasionally when it comes to drinking?

P.S.
The next Red X wine tasting is Thursday, February 11th from 5-7pm. :)