UYE – Fizzy Yellow Beer is for Wussies Beer Tasting

This is how behind I am on my reviews. For this one, I was battling a tough cold and wasn’t feeling so great, so I was glad to even have made it. Though I will say that drinking seemed to help clear up my congestion — and after a few brews, I actually forgot that I wasn’t at 100%.
To say this event was well-​attended is an understatement — Casa del Carajo was bursting at the seams… patio, check. Brutally hot garage, sure — after all, some of our beer was in the garage fridge! Bedroom? Umm, yeah… roger that one too.
I’d say we got in about one hour of serious beer tasting, and then the rest of it was a free-​for-​all. Still, the more savvy drinkers knew which Unilocalers to keep tabs on, to ensure they didn’t miss any of the craziest bottles.
For my part, I think the most solid beer of the night was the Malheur 10 Tom brought, a dangerously drinkable Belgian Strong Pale Ale that was so spot-​on per style, it could be used as a benchmark. Cigar City’s Papaya IPA was also one of the more popular beers, for good reason. Liefmans Cuvee Brut, a Flanders Red brewed with cherries, was an early crowd-​pleaser. Brandy Barrel Angel’s Share from Lost Abbey was thick and intense, as expected, with lots of oaky vanilla and boozy vinous notes — a true «tasting beer» if there ever was one. The Avery «Axis of Evil» also made an appearance courtesy of Rony — big imperial stouts and quads are always appreciated.
These tasting events are also about food — my favorite was the cheese plate. Those of you who weren’t there on time… you all pretty much missed the cheese plate. Sorry… ehhh, no, I’m not.

First off, hats off to Arwen for being such a gracious host to all of us, truly a class act.
Second, this UYE beer tasting event was immaculate, heavenly, and angelic. I was truly amazed at all the obscure, variety of beer. There must have been well over 50 different beers. The beers brought by others made my choice of St Bernadus Abt 12 look like it was as common as a Budweiser.
Beer was flowing so quickly that I honestly cannot name which beers I liked and disliked. I do know now that I do not like sour beers and yes, Natasha I am looking at you.
It was a blast till I had to call it an early evening due to a wardrobe malfunction. I hear too much beer consumption can make a shorts button burst off. Well, unfortunately my waist grew too many sizes from all the beer and my shorts decided to give out, but it was well worth all the tomfoolery with my lovely Unilocalers.

Arwen L. thank you for being such a delightful party host! I can honestly say this has been the best beer tasting I have ever been to. There was an immense variety of beer that I had never even heard of. This is what beer tastings are all about enjoying great unique beer! Everyone also pitched in and brought a bunch of food that lead me into a serious food coma. Who ever made the bacon and goat cheese wrapped dates THANK YOU! So damn good. Some other yum yum’s included home made hummus, Mikey D’s courtesy of yours truly and Luis S., cheesy dip, pastelitos, pizza and so much more.
By the end of the night I was extremely wasted and although my taste buds were in a bit of a numbness, I still craved my new favorite beer TERRAPIN SIDE PROJECT! Shout out to whoever brought this. I think there was as many as 60 beers being tasted. It cannot get any better then this. The night was so fun and I hope there is another beer tasting in the works.

This beer tasting was Epic Epicness.
There was enough craft brew to stock a convenience store, enough food to feed a small village and enough glass shattering to rival dozens of Jewish weddings or Greek parties.
Mazeltov! Opa! Ommegong!
Many of our favorite breweries were represented: Dogfish Head, Ommegong, Cigar City, The Bruery, Terrapin plus many more. And when I say many, I mean a shit-​ton more. Arwen’s garage fridge was stocked. There were also several coolers stuffed with bombers.
Seriously? It was like Brewconnaissance 101, a condensed summer course. With lab included. Thank heavens we didn’t have an exam. I would have failed miserably.
A big shout out to PJAM whom filled our ear candy quota with an awesomesauce playlist. He also filled our mouths with his usual array of delicious, fancy pants beer snob brews.
We had such a great time that we even popped champagne! Veuve Clicquot to be precise. You know, to celebrate the good times. It was an «inception» type of celebration. A celebration within a celebration. I think if we reached a third level we may have spontaneously combusted. Leo Dicaprio wasn’t here to spin his totem. Mmmmm, totem.
I loved seeing the usual suspects and meeting a few new peeps as well.
Tom, Vane, Meesh, Q, Lena, Tashi, Robbie, Malty, Paul, Rony, Eschel, Mercedes, Sergio, Richard… big hearts, hugs and kisses!
Hugest props to Arwen! Beer goddess, quintessential hostess, vacuumer extraordinaire. It’s gonna be hard to top this UYE but I am sure you can manage ;)
Cheers!

Alright — when the person who hosts the event writes a review before you –you know you have a serious hangover!
This was my first tasting. so I am no longer a virgin –but I’m still very innocent so please be gentle with me… oh wait. that another review. Kudos to Arwen and Patrick who tried to explain the process to a room full of neophytes. I won’t lie… I don’t remember what beers I tasted — I tried to be diligent about keeping happy face notes — but got distracted by Paul’s fabulous posterior.
I did pace myself… this is what happened: eating, talking, laughing, drink — eating, talking, laughing, drink — eating, checking out Paul’s butt, drink, eating, laughing, singing, drink, hugging random people, drink, getting bit by Tasha, drink jumping into people’s pictures, drink… drink…drink…oh wait. forgot to clear the glass with water… oh dang… all the beer is starting to taste the same — dang… now I gotta start from the beginning…
I don’t know how there is anything left… I mean there were a lot of Unilocalers in attendance .All I’m saying about the matter… is that there needs to be a part 2.
oh yeah… Paul…Thank you for remembering the Sharpies and glasses — they made a wonderful name tag and ice breaker… oops. did I just say breaker… who broke those glasses (shhhh…you didn’t hear it from me… but it was some tipsy Unilocalers ;-)) … and Sorry Arwen for drinking, singing, eating, dancing, laughing, talking (rewind and replay) but not helping with the clean up… I’ll be sure to be a better guest next time. HUGS!
High Five to yet another Unilocal-​a-​licious event!

Huge props to Arwen. She didn’t plan a half-​assed event where we just showed up, fended for ourselves and guzzled a bunch of beers, one after the other. Well, OK, maybe some of us cretins kind of turned it into that, but Arwen planned a nice event and a proper tasting. She had a bunch of 3 or 4 ounce glasses set up along with Sharpies so we could mark our names on them, she had forms for us to fill out and mark down each beer we tasted, whether or not we liked it and a little about each one, and she had a few charts for us to check out, one with the different kinds of beers with lagers at the top, ales at the bottom and all the different styles in between, and a «beer wheel» which illustrated the various tastes and flavors of beer.
I came away with a few new favorites, with the knowledge that I don’t care for sour beers and a reinforced knowledge that I don’t much care for IPAs, but I prefer more balanced beers, and even some beers that are a bit more sweet.
Some of the nibbles that people bought or made were quite tasty, this event was a lot of fun (as evidenced by the photos, ha!), I got to talk with a few people who I either hadn’t met before or hadn’t seen in a while, and we got to meet and play with Arwen’s 3 dogs for a while as well.
The carnage wasn’t too awful, I only remember 2 occasions where glasses were broken in dear Arwen’s kitchen (one of them involved multiple glasses), but for some reason it seems that Rob and Natasha disappeared. Not sure where they could’ve gone, but for some reason I never got to say a proper good night to those two. Must have been tired and needed to go to bed early or somethin’.

When you waking up with a hops after taste you know it was a good night. I have never tried so many different beers in one night, ironically enough towards the end I was craving my wussie Miller Lite which is pretty much water by that point. Everyone brought an amazing assortment of beers that I never even knew existed. Arwen was basically lecturing us about all the beers we were trying. Great job putting the beer tasting together it was was a great experience. I swear I felt like I was in Napa or something in your kitchen trying all the beers. Not only did we sample tasty brews and get a buzz on the bites were pretty kick @$$ too. From home made hummus which was awesome to chicken mcnuggets there was a little bit of everything. (who ever made those bacon wrapped dates you are the bomb) To top the evening off I had my fix and caught a bass in the lake. Overall I was buzzed, full and I fished it really doesn’t get any better. Thanks again!

Beer, a good crowd AND Mickey D’s chicken nuggets?! Sign me up!
Nothing can quite beat the joined forces of the Brewjas. In typical Miami fashion everyone trickled in way past the invite time but as the clock ticked the crowd warmed up and the libations poured on and on and on and, well you get the point. Over 60 different craft beers, just about as many ppl (or did I start seeing double?) and quite the spread (spicy water chestnuts, rosemary, i think, cookies, to die for cheese dip and of course pizza) this UYE made for one heck of a Saturday night.
I left with quite a few new faves, (Lucifer, Imper Ale, and Loose Canon) a little bit of a stomach ache, and the guilt of knowing what lay ahead for Arwen’s clean up task.
Glad to have finally caught up with my Unilocaling Pals and promise to catch up soon.

Oh what a night (and I drank ONLY 5 beers!)
I had the pleasure of attending Arwen’s 5 star Beer Tasting as I further engaged in my beer education in the company of fellow Unilocalers. My favorite was the Papaya IPA from Cigar City (hey what can you expect from a dessert fiend like yours truly :) The Guava Grove Ale was a close favorite (notice a trend here ?)
Foodwise.Hey was this a beer tasting? You Sure? Because the food was absolutely delicious as well. Starting from Rony M’s Orzo pasta, Tom and Vanessa’s Cheese Dip, Lena Bean’s Pigs in a Blanket, Nacho Dip and of course the sweet and spicy Bacon Wrapped Dates. This event could have easily doubled as a gourmet bar food tasting!
No Unilocal event is complete without company and entertaining, and while I didn’t convince the King of Beers to include reggaeton on the playlist, I soundhounded some of the indie rock and dance tracks for further listening. Conversation was always fun, and had the added bonus of introducing one of the other partygoers to the «Only in Hialeah» page.
Thank You, MiamiBrewjas, for an epic Saturday evening!

Nice job Arwen!
Nice job everyone who brought an amazing assortment of yummy-​delicious beer & food! Not only do us Unilocalers love our craft beer, but the food everyone served up was pretty damn impressive too!
What was my favorite beer of the night? I have no idea, because the combination of over 60 beers (and image of RobDFilms that was burned into my eyes) by the end of the night have erased my already meager memory cells. I do remember the great times and hilarious conversations that always ensue when this crew gets together.
The event picture speaks for itself, but we knocked down an impressive selection of some tasty brews. And the beer charts and flavor wheels helped to spark some interesting discussion, while we were sill able to discuss.