The 51 Beers for 33rd Birthday

In honor of my hubby’s 33rd birthday celebration we decided to have a beer tasting party. We brewed some, we bought some, and tons were brought. Our final count was 51 (many thanks to Amadis and the Orf’s) I created a check list so people could initial the beers they tired to see who could try the most.

The “official” winner was our friend Doug - he clocked in at trying 22 beers. However there is just no real way of knowing who may have been the rightful winner of the title – because if they were like me that night …….. they may not have been coherent enough to remember to initial a beer after they tasted.

The final count for the night was 51 beers, 1 stray cat, 3 dogs, one 5lb cake, and about 40 guests.

I would go in to the details of the party, but I think that if you check out the pictures and the beer list for the party you will get the feel of the night.

1. Allagash – Four Ale
2. Avery & Russian River – Collaboration not Litigation
3. Bear Republic – Race
4. Brewery De Hemel – Nieuw Ligt Barleywine
5. Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck - Kasteel Rouge
6. Brrouwerji De Troch – Chapeau Mirabelle
7. Budweiser (I thought someone brought this as a joke, but she did not – no worries I made her drink some real stuff too)
8. Caracole – Saxo
9. Cascade Brewing - Kriek Ale
10. Chouffe – Houblon Chouffe



11. Cisco Bay - Gery Lady
12. Cisco Bay - Baileys Blonde
13. Dieu De Ciel – Peche Mortel
14. Dogfish Head – Chateau Jihu
15. Fort Collins – Dopple Boc
16. Founders - Kentucky Breakfast Stout
17. Goose Island – Honkers Ale
18. Goose Island – Matilda
19. Haand Bryggeriet – Odin’s Tripple
20. Harpoon - Oyster Stout
21. Heavy Seas - Lose Cannon
22. Hook Norton Brewery – Hooky bitter
23. Ipswich/Mercury Brewing – Clown Shoes Black IPA (I totally thought this was a Coney Island beer until I read the lable)
24. Jolly Pumpkin – Bam Biere
25. La Devine St Landelin
26. Lagunitas – Hop Stupid



27. Midnight Sun – Acrtic Devil
28. Mikkeller – It’s Alright
29. Orval – Orval
30. Pere Jacques
31. Portsmouth Brewery – Kate The Great
32. Pretty Things – Baby Tree
33. Pretty Things – Jack D’Or
34. Rogue - Imperial Stout
35. Sam Smith – Nut Brown
36. Sanderson Home Brew – Aged (3 years) Belgium
37. Sanderson Home Brew – Centennial
38. Sanderson Home Brew – English Bitter
39. Sanderson Home Brew – Pilsner
40. Sanderson Home Brew – Porter
41. Sanderson Home Brew – Summer Ale

42. Schneider Weiss – Elder Weisse
43. Schneider Weiss – Hopfen Weisse
44. Seadog – Blueberry
45. Shmaltz He’Brew – Jewbelation Bar Mitzvah
46. Smuttynose – Farmhouse Ale
47. Trappistes Rochefort – Rochefort 10
48. Victory – Helios Ale
49. Victory – Wild Devil
50. Waylan
51. Zhiguljovsoje

Our Kate The Great Adventure

If you know anything about beer, you know that Kate The Great (Portsmouth Brewery’s Imperial Stout) is the most sought after beer in the US. It is only released a few times a year, and in very limited quantities. This year only 900 bottles were released People come from across the country, and sometimes outside the country to get a bottle of this beer.

This is my story/adventure of how I got 2 out of the 900 this year.

The Sunday afternoon before Kate The Great day, we were on our way home from Maine – where we had visited Sunday River, my in-laws, and Ebenezer’s Pub, to meet up with our friends Chris, Bridget and their 2.5 month old Finnegan. We had decided a few weeks before that, that we wanted to try and go for Kate The Great, and as our house is only 25 minutes to Portland, they decided to crash at our house the night before.

Sunday afternoon we checked out the Portsmouth Brewery web site to find information about release times for calendar pages (their form or lottery). The website said something along the lines of “the official time we will be giving out calendar days is 7:00AM, however we may release some earlier than that”. We also saw on Beer Advocate that at least 238 people had said that they were going to Kate The Great day.

So when Chris, Bridget and Finn arrived we talked about what time to get up. Originally we were thinking of leaving the house at 5:00 AM, but after our research we knew we had to head out earlier. I called my good friends Carolyn and Chris – who also wanted to join us Kate The Great 2010 and who happen to live a few blocks away from the brewery – and suggested an earlier start. We decided to leave at 4:15 AM.

So on Monday 3/1/10 Steve (my hubby), myself, Chris, Bridget, and our little trooper Finnegan headed out of the house to stand in line in the freezing cold/rain. We all had to gear up for the cold weather, so some of us (not Bridget – she managed to look super cute – darn her ;) ) looked a little silly, but we were going to stay warm. When we drove by at 4:55 AM we saw that there was a small group of people and that they were already handing out tickets. We parked in the nearest parking space and got our calendar dates. We had December - so that means at least 250-300 people had already been there before 5:00 AM. We decided to find a coffee shop and wait for my friends Carolyn and Chris. They arrived at 5:15 and stood in line behind about 75 people, and barley made the cut off for a calendar day. By 5:25 all the guaranteed dates were gone.

We all then headed back to their house, changed, as the rain had died down a bit, had some coffee, and took off at 7:00 AM to get breakfast at a local place downtown. When we walked in at 7:10 there were many happy, but also many sad faces in the packed restaurant. You could tell who got calendar days and who did not.

So we ordered and ate breakfast, and paid our check around 8:45. Kate The Great was being released for sale at 9: 00 so we had to be back at the brewery by 9:00. As we were walking towards the brewery we saw a huge line of a few hundred people for people who missed the bottles, but wanted to try it on tap. They were tapping a few kegs at 11:30 AM. We got there in the perfect time, waited until our month was called (about 9:30ish) and got our 2 bottles each.