A Taste of PA

One of my best friends and long-time bandmates, Jay, will be taking the plunge (at the ripe old age of 30) and officially exiting bachelorhood on February 26th of this year.  In lieu of a typical bridal shower, he and his fiancee Nicole decided to throw a "Jack & Jill" party (ie: a bridal shower with dudes) with the theme of "A Taste of PA," whereby they would allow guests to sample various food, beer and wine made right here in good ol' Pennsyltucky.  So when they asked me if I would be interested in serving as their resident beer connoisseur, needless to say I jumped at the chance!

The first thing I needed to do was decide on the beer selection.  I originally thought of having one style from a variety of PA breweries and brewpubs, but eventually I nixed that idea and went with pretty much the "Big Three" - Troegs, Victory and Stoudt's.  I also threw in a selection from Sly Fox, for good measure... and to show non-beer geeks that good beer can also come in that dreaded little aluminum cylinder.  So, Jay, Nicole, brewslut and I convened for a pre-tasting of sorts to sample what I had in mind.  I picked up some mixed six-packs from Al's of Hampden, and we eventually decided on getting variety cases from each of the "Big Three" breweries, plus Sly Fox Dunkel Lager, which Nicole liked the most out of all of them.  I rounded out my selection with a few bottles of Troegs Troegenator as well as Victory Storm King and Old Horizontal.

Being the anal retentive geek I am when it comes to my life's passions (music and beer), I decided to design and print some fancy but informative beer menus, complete with descriptions about each beer, its respective BA rating, ABV%, IBUs, etc.  I also included full color logos from each of the breweries!

While we had quite a bit of beer leftover (which I was allowed to take home... thanks Jay!), I think it was a positive experience for all who attempted to take the plunge into the craft beer pool, and I certainly had a lot of fun organizing it... not to mention drinking all of the beers!