To commemorate my husband turning the big 3-0 this year, I knew we had to do something EPIC. After much thought, consideration and Pinteresting (is that a word yet?) I settled on a beer tasting.
Here’s how we threw a 30th Beer Bash…
Instead of gifts, each person was asked to bring a six pack of a craft beer to share (we also made it clear that there would be a prize for the best beer of the day).
Our friends are pretty competitive, so we ended up with a pretty wide variety including spicy chili beers, dark porters and for some unknown reason Michelob Ultra Dragon Fruit Peach (to each their own but to me this tastes like cough syrup).
My husband chose a winner and they are now the proud owner their own set of beer tasting glasses complete with paddle.
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For the decorations I procured as many beer related posters, stickers, and bottle caps as I could get my hands on. I used brown kraft paper as table cloths and stuck the stickers to it. (If you don’t have craft brewers around you you can download logos and print them on sticker paper for the same effect). For centerpieces, I used vases filled with peanuts and bottle caps to hold some pinwheels.
I also printed off vintage beer advertisements from magazines (the more outrageous the better), put them in some cheap frames, and put them up around the house — they were an excellent conversation piece (especially the Blatz ad that said the malt in beer was nourishing to baby and would help new moms pick back up).
For food we went with pulled pork (purchased frozen from a local restaurant supply store), chips, candied bacon (this can be done way ahead of time and is a real hit), and jalapeno deviled eggs.
Once the libations were flowing entertainment took care of itself. But we are at that age where most gatherings include a few little kids so I covered our coffee table with kraft paper, printed off some pictures of dinosaurs and left out some markers.
This looks like so much fun! If anyone is really serious about their beer tasting, the paper “tablecloths” would be a great place to write tasting notes. Thanks for the inspiration!
This party looks fantastic. I will be filing away this idea for my husbands 30th next year… The only thing that could make it better, in my opinion? A cheese tasting also!
This sounds awesome! Boyfriend and I love beer so much. We joined the UFO club at our local Flying Saucer. If you drink 200 different beers, you get a saucer hung on their wall (or ceiling) with your name and a quote of your choice. It’s a great way to experience many different varieties of beer.
What beers did you have at the party? Which one won? I’m always looking for new brews to try, and as craft breweries expand their distribution, there’s more and more to try. We’re going to a brewery this weekend in fact. Fall weather and beer? SOLD!
My Husband turns 30 in April, I am SOOOO stealing this idea! Looks like it was a great party!
This is such a great idea!!! Stealing and stashing it away for the future!
I’m interested in hearing which beer won the grand prize. We do this with our homebrew friends.
I’m pretty sure Arrogant Bastard Ale was the winner and the runner up was was a Chili Beer – I think it was Billy’s Chilies
I love this idea! we did a lot of tasting on a recent trip to denver, and I know my husband really enjoys it 🙂
I just did this in August for my partner’s 30th! I put together a ‘mystery beer tour ’round the world’, where the birthday boy he had to match beers to tasting notes/ratings to unlock the next geographical region…I had collected 30 from all over the place (Kenya, India, Belgium, Cascadia, etc.), so everyone had a good time (even with the not-so-good beers) helping him pick out notes. The boy’s a cicerone student, so it wasn’t too hard.
We totally had the same idea with kraft paper – we used it to identify what was in the growlers (for general non-game consumption) the same way you pointed out the bacon. I love those printed off beer ads!
Do I see posters for The Beards?! – The awesome comedy band from Australia that plays music only about beards and how awesome they are?! – Extra points of awesomness for those 🙂
Also, this is a great idea! I love all the little touches you added – kinda pulled it all together! 🙂
And…candied bacon? Sounds delish – I’ll have to look that up!