It was my birthday a few weeks ago and Boom Boom wanted to surprise me with a party. Over the years she threw a couple surprise parties and I hated them. Don’t get me wrong, the parties themselves were great. It was just the surprise part of it that sucked. At other parties I’d been to, there was always that awkward silent moment right after “Surprise!” I always thought that if I were in that situation I could come up with something witty to say or have some kind of gregarious reaction. In both cases, I failed miserably. And the awkwardness seemed to last for hours because it was me. I know, I’m probably being a baby…
Anyway, the compromise here was that I knew there would be a party but I had no idea what, where, and who. Boom Boom really outdid herself this time. I wanted to keep it small, so there were only about fifteen or so people there. Despite it’s small size it was absolutely epic, with a few big surprises. One of them had to do with the food, which I’ll make you wait for a future post. The other has to do with the music, which I’ll talk about this Friday in my Guilty Pleasures post. For now, let’s run through what we drank.
Pre-festivities
In the couple hours before the party, four of us had a few beers. Doesn’t sound too special, right? Well, take a look at this line-up:
– Jolly Pumpkin’s Perseguidor Batch #5 : a blend of three of their grand reserves, each aged more than 18 mos. THe blend was then aged in oak for six months and bottled-conditioned for another six.
– North Coast Brewing’s La Merle
– North Peak’s Hoodoo Wet Pale Ale
– Goose Island’s Bourbon County Stout – 13% ABV Imperial Stout, aged for two years in 23-year-old Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon barrels
On to the main event…
The pre-partying was at a slower pace and it was easy to keep track of what we drank. Once the party started and the Stout kicked in, it was a decidedly different story. I can’t definitely say what we drank, but here’s what was piled up in the recycling bin the next morning:
– 750 mL bottle of Weyerbacher’s Rapture – American Wild Ale from Pennsylvania.
– 2 750 mL bottles of La Fin Du Monde – my favorite beer
– Several bottles of Bell’s Winter White
– Williamsburg (VA) Winery Vintage Reserve Chardonnay
– Luca Laborde Double Select Syrah
– 750 mL bottle of Jolly Pumpkin’s Lambicus Dexteritus – the first lambic beer produced in America. A bit of a collector’s item.
– Chateau Gueyrosse Saint-Emilion Grand Cru
– Kendall Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Cabernet –WTF? How’d that ghetto stuff get in there?
– 750 mL bottle of Jolly Pumpkin’s Fuego del Otono
– Arietta Napa Valley Red (Bordeaux blend)
– Hitachino Nest XH beer from Japan
– Coppola’s Sofia Rose
– Montes (Chile) Cabernet Sauvignon
– Many bottles of Shorts Huma Lupa Licious IPA
– And this weird Gevrey Chambertin (Burgundy, FR) called En Montre Cul
The name of this wine roughly translates to “Show Me Your Ass”. Yeah, that’s right up my alley.
Dessert
I also found this half-empty bottle of Patron…
Again, I’m not saying that we drank anything beyond the pre-party beers – I only found the bottles the morning after. My money’s on the little old lady next door dumping it in our recycling bin.
Stay tuned for more…
Sorry we missed this – damn guests
This post makes me feel like a kid in a candy store! What a birthday (although I’m with you on the surprise part)!
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