See that?  That’s me holding part of the guts of my minivan in the parking lot of a car parts store 20 minutes away from 3 Floyds brewery, and several hundred miles from my home in Toledo, Ohio.

Not quite Dark Lord Day...

The morning of Dark Lord Day, Mike, Sandra (my wife), Ivan (my son) and myself set off from Indianapolis, Indiana, where we stayed the night before, in our 2001 Nissan Quest.  20 minutes into the trip, the minivan started convulsing.  After nearly two hours on the road, the van was shaking so bad and refusing to breach the 55 MPH mark.  I told Mike that I HAD to pull over at the next exit, which I did.  It happened to be our final exit.

We pulled into CarQuest and diagnosed the problem.  It was my distributor.  It had actually come apart inside.  In fact, when I pulled it out, the ball bearing tinkered onto the ground.  The poor little spark plugs in my V6 had no clue how to fire.  The reality set in.  I HAD to fix this now.

After a series of extremely unfortunate events (no distributors were local and had to e ordered, the first distributor I waited 45 minutes for was defective, the second was in Chicago and I had to wait nearly two hour for, when it did arrive a helpful mechanic who had since left did not leave the engine in position one, and I didn’t have a timing light, so it took my inexperienced self nearly an hour to get the distributor timed right to the engine) I got the car running…7 HOURS LATER. In order to make it home to Toledo on time that night, Sandra and I only had an hour now to spend at Dark Lord Day.

Did this ruin my day or even my Dark Lord Day experience?  No.  Here’s why:

1.  It brought Mike, Sandra, and I together.  I only get to see Mike once a year, on Dark Lord Day.  Friendship is far more valuable than any beer event.  Mike and I had each brought an ensemble of our home brews to enjoy the night before the event.  Besides the fact that we had an amazing time reconnecting and reminiscing, we discovered that we each had completely different styles of brewing that are so complimentary to each other, it proved that operating a future brewery together was very feasible.

2.  The van broke down.  How is this a good thing?  That distributor had reached the end of it’s life span and was going to fail.  I’d much rather have it fail while I am driving it.  It would have been a horrible situation had it failed while Sandra was on the highway with our five kids coming to pick me up from work.

3.  The circumstances actually revealed the inerrant goodness in mankind.  The CarQuest store’s employees, whose parking lot I rolled into, were amazingly kind, letting me use any and all of their tools, and actually coming out frequently to help me install the part.  In fact, when I needed to pull the first spark plug to determine the position of its piston and it was discovered that the store did not have the correct socket, one of the workers actually drove to his house to get his for me to use.  One of the workers, who spent about an hour helping time the distributor turned out to be a beer geek, who was actually counting on a friend to get his Dark Lord for him.  Additionally, the distributor was retailing for nearly $500, and the store cut me a deal at $280.   I fully endorse CarQuest Auto Parts.

Nate, Rich, Mike, Dave, Aaron, Stuart, Aaron

4.  I still got to go to Dark Lord Day.  So what if it was only for an hour?  When I arrived, people I had never met patted me on the back and said, “Mike told us about your van.  Bummer, but we’re so glad you can make it!”  Since I couldn’t wait 3 hours in line, Mike worked his magic and got me my beer anyway.  In the hour I was there, I got to meet a couple of bloggers who turned out to be stand up guys in real life as well as on there websites:  Dave from the Drunken Polack, Aaron from Captains Chair, Stu from Friday Night Beer, and Aaron from the Vice Blog, to name a few.  These guys acted as if they’d known me for years, and were willing to share all their beer with us (but I only drank a minuscule amount.  I’m all about sober driving).

Different, yes.  Bad, no.  Whether it be in your living room or at a festival, beer as an experience brings folks together, and can bring out the best in like minded individuals.  While the weekend wasn’t my ideal, it was ideal nonetheless, and I’m grateful to Three Floyds for creating the opportunity once again.

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1. Ichnusa (Sardinian Lager)
2. Spaten Lager (German)
3. Duvel (Belgian Golden)
4. Ayinger Brau-Weisse (German Wheat)
5. Jever (German Pilsner)
6. Samuel Smith’s Pale Ale (English)
7. Chapeau Framboise (Belgian Lambic)
8. Victenaar Flemish Sour (Belgian-Flanders)
9. Saison (Belgian)
10. Rochefort 8 (Belgian Trappist)
11. Crooked Tree IPA (U.S.)
12. Victory Hop Devil (U.S.)
13. Chouffe Belgian Trippel IPA (Belgian)
14. Tilburg Dutch Ale (Holland)
15. Double Bock (homebrew)
16. Belhaven Wee Heavy (Scottish)
17. Brasserie Ciel Du Scotch Ale w/maple syrup (Quebec, Canada)
18. Minschof Schwarz (German Black Lager)
19. Sineboychoff Porter (Denmark)
20. BBC Dark Star Porter (U.S.)
21. Meantime London Porter (England)
22. Old Fog Horn Barley-wine Anchor (U.S.)
23. Rigdeway Insanely Bad Elf (England)
24. Schlenterla Marzen (German Smoked Lager)
25. Lost Coast 8 Ball Stout (U.S.)
26. Flaky Boy Oatmeal Stout (homebrew)
27. Milk me for all I’m worth Stout (homebrew)
28. Old Rasputin (Russian Imperial Stout, U.S.)
29. Dark Lord (Russian Imperial Stout, U.S.)

The beer list is in the order of drinking.  In retrospect, I might have switched the order on a couple, but the basic structure was pretty good.  We drank from lighter to darker, or weaker to stronger.  I intentionally had beers purchased with a wide variety and number in mind, which is represented by the wide spectrum.  Were all of the beers a hit?  No one spit anything out, but it is likely that some of the tasters need a while before they will try some of the beers again.  However, the social side of the party was terrific and the beer a really big hit.

I truly love when people are willing and excited to try new stuff, especially when that stuff is beer.  The beer may have been about $140.00 (which is actually getting out of the thing cheaply) but the pricelessness of introducing people the the breadth and depth of beer is worth every penny.  Among the most common statements made at the party was the surprise people expressed at the complexities of beer.  I even converted some people who hold wine tastings to the idea that beer was at least as complex as their beloved drink (that was a victory for wine’s ugly cousin).

If you really love beer, you ought to consider holding a tasting.  You might be shocked at the amount of joy you get out of spending money on beer and giving the lion’s share away.  If you swing it right, you can get people to chip in on the deal.  My hope was that people were there to chime in and give some notes, opinions, or highlights of the night, which is why I’m not including tasting notes.  I’m also hoping to do another tasting (and spending some money on beer) as soon as possible.  I dare say that beer tastes best when had with the rest.

Here is how to organize the tasting:

The first thing that must be done is to have a guest list.  Who wants to come?  Who would appreciate the beers?  Whose mind do you want to expand?  Answer the above questions, get a date in mind, and invite the most people you can (assuming they don’t have a scheduling conflict).  Part of this whole affair is being or finding a host for the tasting.

Now that you have a people guest list, you need a beer guest list.  The second thing to do is consider what beers you will feature.  I go with a wide variety of styles to increase their exposure to people.  If you don’t know your styles, here is a link to our series on different styles of beer.  What you spend depends on your invitees.  Don’t go bananas (thanks for the spelling help Gwen Stephani) on spending, but don’t be a cheapskate, either.  If you want people to have a pleasant experience, you’ll have to shell out some bones.  I was lucky enough to have friends who were willing to contribute to the cause, so it was a much better price.  We did 29 beers, but you don’t have to do that many.

The third thing you’ll have to do is set up some pairings (if you want to match beer and food) and palate cleansers (wafers or crackers work well).  Have some food and water for people to drink.  We happened to have some steak, chicken, brats, fruits, chocolate covered coffee beans, and deer summer sausage.  Again, this was based on the generosity of our host, Jerry, which is why we had so much food. You’ll also need some adequate cups, glasses, or whatever you want to pour into.  Make sure you have a way to rinse out the old to put in the new.

The last thing you’ll need to do is actually taste.  I stood and spoke about the beer either before or during drinking.  DO NOT TELL THEM WHAT TO TASTE!!!  The way I handled the tasting was to tell the drinkers what we were tasting, not what to taste.  I talked about porter as a style and gave some history.  Don’t suck the fun out by telling them to taste 4 grams of Belgian candy sugar or whatever you’ve perceived in your wisdom.  I also brought some note cards along, so people could make notes.  You could also set up 8X11 sheets with beer facts and leave room for notes.  There are multiple approaches to this tasting.

Remember this thing is about fun and beer education.  Beer Neo-Nazism should not be what people gain from the experience.  Share your passion and zeal, but don’t be a Zealot.  Here is a link to our beervangelism article (it might give some perspective).

P.S.  I’m looking into trying to lead beer tastings as a part-time job.  If you know anyone who would be interested in having a party like this, please point them my direction.  We are currently living in Pasadena, California, and I would love to establish something here.  But I will be in Indiana on a couple of occasions during the year, so please pass the word on to someone who might like this.  Trust me: there is a lot to be learned.

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So recently, when the wife and I had a hankering for pizza, instead of hitting up Papa John’s, we hit our pantry of ingredients and created a delicious homemade Italian delight.  The crust was made using my favorite of ingredients…beer.  Beer is a fantastic substitute for time and quick rising yeast, as the carbonation simulates hours of natural rising from raw yeast, as well as imparting desired bready and beer flavors into the dough.  Anytime I can cook with beer the resulting creating is much more enjoyable, for novelty’s sake alone.  The sauce utilized red wine, tomatoes, cilantro, garlic, brown sugar, and a secretive blend of ingredients.  With plenty of delicious toppings (Fuji mushrooms, tomato, olives, etc.) and mozzarella, the resulting pizza was amazing.

Fortunately, I did not need to run to the store for a brew…my cellar was stocked with home brewed Trappist style ale, that–artistic biased aside–is not only a great beer, but perfectly complimented the high quality flavor of the pizza.  The spiced sweetness from the Belgian yeast strain and dark candy sugar easily embraced the rich sweet-tart sauce and flaky beer crust!  Nothing compares to eating a meal you created from scratch while drinking a beer you raised from a mixture of raw ingredients.

A little older, a little bigger, and wiser, beer and pizza are still a favorite combination of mine; however evolved the appreciation may be.  Does pizza and beer hold a special place in your heart?  What are your favorite beer and food pairings?

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