2009 NHC Social Events Recap
I decided to wrap up all the social events in one post. Mainly because I will be linking to photogalleries of the shots we’ve taken to the specific events. The other reason is that I don’t really need to recap a social event. We all know what we’re there do to: have fun! Drink beer! Talk to friends!
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| 2009 NHC Pro Brewers Night |
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| 2009 NHC Club Night |
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| 2009 NHC Closing Dinner |
Closing Dinner
Okay, I lied. I wanted to leave this as just a photo recap but I couldn’t leave the Closing Dinner without a few of my thoughts. First off, a big thanks to the Mad Zymurgists for being kind and gracious hosts and letting myself and Sammy stay at their table during the dinner. While Sammy and I are loosely (very loosely, more like on their email distribution list) affiliated with the Sudzers homebrew club, we were without a table that night. Instead of going freelance and getting a table to ourselves, we were able to stay at their table. Thanks again!
Second, a big congratulations to Greg Robles for taking a Silver at NHC for his Vienna lager. Once his name was called, our table erupted and we were all quite happy to see our table represented. If you were there, you’d have noticed the unofficial “duel” going on between homebrewers Greg Strong and Jamil Zainasheff. Both homebrewers took home a lot of hardware that night but Greg earned his as well. Here’s a link to the complete list of winners.
Seeing as NHC was over a little over a week ago, the memory is a little fuzzy. I don’t even think I can properly recap the dinner and pairings with any justice. If I tell you the food was good, would you take me at my word? Argh, I can’t resist… must… list thoughts… using… bullet… points….:
- Salad - Asian noodle salad paired with Mother Hefeweizen. Okay, I’m not entire sure if the name of the beer. I do know that all of our beer was supplied by Rogue Ales. I would’ve never thought of using ramen noodles in a salad before. Most of the salad’s ingredients complimented and echoes the flavors in the hefeweizen. A good pairing here. I believe Sean Paxton used a lot of beer to create the salad dressing as well.
- Entree - Pork with Rogue’s American Amber. This was an exquisite piece of pig. Very flavorful, very tender and juicy. The pork was soaked in 20 gallons of brine created with a Rogue beer called “Charlie”. The beer, a hoppy American Amber, was an okay pairing. I don’t know if the beer really improved upon the flavor of the pork, if anything, I remember the beer being a little too bitter for the entree.
- Dessert - Chocolate mousse with TCHO chocolate paired with Rogues Imperial Stout. What an awesome dessert. The mousse was light and served in a bittersweet, dark chocolate shell. The mousse was smooth and creamy yet light on the palette. It was an extra treat to top off the mousse with bits of TCHO cacao nibs and Hugh Baird malt. Very nice touch! As much as I liked this dessert, and its accompanying beer, I was expecting more. Chocolate and stout is, in my opinion, a fairly easy pairing to make, almost boring really. I was really hoping to have seen something new and different with the dessert pairing. I was hoping to get “Wowed” but my expectations fell short. Like I said, it was an excellent pairing, just a little expected.
The rest of the dinner was comprised of giveaways and going through the entire list of NHC medalist. It was a pretty drawn out affair but if you won, it was totally worth the wait. As I mentioned earlier, it was a duel between Gordon Strong and Jamil Zainasheff to see who could bring back the most hardware. In the end, I think Gordon edged out Jamil because Gordon was the receipient of the Ninkasi Award from Samuel Adams. Basically, he had the most points.
So there you go, my recaps of the 209 NHC is finally over with. Feel free to comment on the photos in the gallery or to leave a comment below in case I got my facts incorrect.
