Kind of Brew: The Brew Council

Last year, I went to my first beer tasting at a local shop in Montclair called Amanti Vino. It was called "Hoppy Belgians" and I was excited not only for the beer on offer but also for the opportunity to "geek out" a bit about my favorite beverage. My brother in-law Dion and I showed up early in the upstairs class room eager not to miss anything. Although it started off very subdued, as the beer started pouring, the volume increased and next thing you know, we are in Beer Heaven! Sitting directly across from us were a couple of younger guys (we're in our 40's) who, I soon found out, were friends who brewed their own beer. Tom and Garrett chatted with Dion and I for the whole tasting. They both were much more knowledgeable that Dion and me but they weren't obnoxious about it. The thing that struck me the most was the shared passion about buying, drinking and critiquing beer.

Towards the end of the tasting, I put out this idea: they were brewers and had beers that they wanted others to sample and get feedback about. Why don't I invite 10 or so of my beer loving friends to my place and they could come over with their beer and do a private tasting. They liked the idea immediately and we exchanged email addresses and promised to make it happen. A few days later, I emailed them both to discuss further. They thought that we should meet at The Cloverleaf Tavern to chat. Over a few bottles of very good beer, we came cleaned up the vision: not only will it serve as a focus group for their beer, but it could work also serve the purpose of beer education as we both had sets of friends who were very knowledgeable about beer and some who next to nothing but were curious to know more.

This led to our first tasting last June. It was EPIC! Beers ranged from IPAs to stouts. I also learned a lesson that night: never go to your cellar to bring up beer after you've tasted a few. I have no regrets but as the evening wore on, I started bringing up my gems: Founders' KBS and Samual Adams Utopias to name a couple. I was lucky that I didn't have to drive home! It was a great way to start and we got inspired to do a tasting once a month.

Since then, we've done about four with various themes: "Fade to Black" (brown ales to stouts), "Belgians and Barleywines" and, most recently, "A Few of Our Favority Things - The Best of 2011". Garrett stared a facebook page which is has about 40 members. We average about 10-12 people per tasting and I host it at my place. What's made this so much fun is the people we invite and the atmosphere we create. We've got a great mix of beer enthusiasts (like myself) and knowledgeable beer (and wine) people. This combination keeps the conversations from getting to scholarly and it makes it easier for those who have a lot of questions to ask them in a non-threatening environment. We have just started to add an "intermission" in which we break out food (cheese, pâté, etc.) which helps with those who need to drive afterwards.

I can't say how much fun this is for us to do! Tom and Garrett do a great job preparing notes and giving overviews of the beers we select. Everyone there is enthusiastic and interested in learning. If you're in the tri-state area and want to join us, let me know. Or, join our facebook page. I've added some random pictures below to give you an idea of how we get down. LONG LIVE THE BREW COUNCIL!