What better a subject to originate a theme night, than beer. Through Joe Pregiato’s manic representation on a selection of beers, we had a condensed history/tasting/discussion of beers from around the world. The method of progression was simple: Start off with simple common flavorless beers (Coors Lite, Budweiser), and continue with a growing amount of flavor–more hops, more barley. The ‘hook’ was that all beers fall into but two catagories–ales and lagers. The progression took us through wonderful German Lagers such as Becks and St Pauli Girl, and some full bodied ales like Smithwicks English Ale and Sierra Nevada Pale ale. The quick pace made ‘nursing’ impossisble. It was a flood of flavor meant to quickly compare and appreciate many of the quality beers readily available. A special treat was a selection of growlers (1/2 gal. jugs) from a fine local micro brewery in pleasantville called Captain Lawrence. At this point it was apparent that all of Ben’s Barn Boys were enthusiastically using their new found appreciation of Beer to decide for themselves just what they enjoyed best about a good fresh brew. Sticking to the theme, we ended with a classic: The thick, creamy, almost black Irish Ale; Guiness Stoudt. And just to juxtapose where we started from, we(tried) to taste once again, the Coors lite.
