Glasses clink, are you listening,
In the pub, kegs are glistening.
A beautiful sight,
We’re happy tonight,
Drinking in a Winter WarmerLand.
If you ask me, the Winter Warmer party was a big success. I hope a good time was had by all. Ol’ Saccy had a great time and enjoyed seeing so many of his beer drinking friends in one place. I will try to include all of the beers but might miss some. There are lots of pictures and they are random.
The featured beers were Ratchet’s I’m Warming You Spicy Cocoa Stout and Everything Went Black Black IPA. The IPA was the dry-hopped version and was exclusive to the party. It was hoppy yumminess! There were 3 versions of the Spicy Cocoa Stout. The original was a 5 gallon keg. It definitely lived up to its name and yes, that was where the party theme “winter warmer” came from. It felt so nice on the back of the throat and had a great cocoa flavor. The second version was a growler of Espresso Spicy Cocoa Stout. It was just as amazing as the original. The third was a growler of Vanilla Jalapeno Spicy Cocoa Stout. This was my favorite. Who would have guessed that jalapeno and vanilla could balance out so nicely and create such an amazingly good beer? Apparently if you do it just right it does!
The mind behind the beer. Once again, Ratchet was the rock star of the evening. PLEASE keep making your amazing beer!!
Here is me with my sneak preview of the Spicy Cocoa Stout and the Dark IPA. What a perfect start to the evening.
Rick checking out the SawWorks swag.
Here I am in the middle of the cheese farm that was pretty much demolished by the end of the evening. It must have been really good.
Briti and Emily chilling in the comfy chairs.
Kelley and Dale looking bright-eyed early in the evening. Kelley partied hard even though she knew she was running a marathon early the next morning.
That looks like Aaron but it can’t be because he doesn’t have a beer in his hand!
Alex and Cara looking dang good!
Diana and Kelley enjoying some Calhoun’s BBQ. Yum!
Me enjoying some good beer. The first one is SawWorks Pale Ale and I’m not sure but the small one is probably the Spicy Cocoa Stout that Ratchet made.
Jeff (my chiropractor), Delores and B.J. (my attorney) ( :
The Boys; Joe, Derrall, Rick, Dale and Chris.
Derrall’s Coffee Porter. It has gotten even better since the last beer tasting party!
Aaron and Jen.
Jerry and Katie. Thanks to Katie for helping set up, clean up and everything in between. Such a big help!
Joe, Becky, Briti and Emily.
Just me hanging out and enjoying Aaron McClain’s Chicha. He told me it is a drink popular in South America. It was very good, he described it as fermented tea.
A huge thank you from everyone to Johnathan for giving us a tour of the brewery! It was very informative and interesting. I would have never guessed that our group could be that quiet.
Here I am hanging out with Saundra and Matt (you have to look close, I am on her beer glass). Some friends that I first met at the Downtown Casual Pint!
Rick and Briti. I appreciate that they drove all the way from Nashville to attend the party.
Rick, Derrall and Dale.
The beautiful Gina and Jason kept the whole thing going! I can’t thank them enough for all they did. I hope they had a good time as well. Jason also kept the music interesting, thanks for that. Jason’s story is very cool. He actually volunteers at SawWorks. How awesome is that. He’s a firefighter when not at the brewery.
Aaron McClain broke out a bottle of Ardbeg Corryvreckan scotch to share. It was very tasty. Thanks for sharing with an Ol’ Dino, very generous of him.
Millie, Steve and Jerry. Mr. Dupeee made a last minute cameo as things were winding down. I hope he was able to squeeze in a couple of beers!
A big thank you also goes to SawWorks Brewing for allowing us to use their tasting room. It was absolutely perfect! I hope everyone had as much fun as I did. With lots of help and a few good friends it was an amazing evening for Ol’ Saccy.
Below is a list of the beers that were available for tasting. I hope I didn’t leave any out.
From Ratchet Brews:
I’m Warming You Spicy Cocoa Stout
Espresso Spicy Cocoa
Vanilla Jalapeno Spicy Cocoa Stout
Everything Went Black Dark IPA
White House Honey Ale
Blackberry Stout
Smoked Lager
Butternut Squash Ale
Ratchet Brews Oktoberfest
1 year old bottle-conditioned Spicy Cocoa Stout
From SawWorks Brewing Company:
SawWorks Pale Ale
SawWorks Brown
SawWorks Double Chocolate Porter
SawWorks IPA
SawWorks Dirty South Brown
Others:
Calfkiller Grassroots Ale
Derrall’s Coffee Porter
Aaron’s Chicha
Friendship Misty Melon
Olde Hickory Event Horizon
Wow. What a great collection. A beer lover’s dream come true.
“Beer does not make itself properly by itself. It takes an element of mystery and of things that no one can understand.” — Fritz Maytag, American brewer
