OBA April Cleveland Blogger Beer Tasting with The Brewer's Daughter

On Tuesday was our Ohio Blogging Association's April Meet-up. We were gathering this time at Lizardville Beer Store and Whiskey Bar for a beer tasting lead by Renée from The Brewer’s Daughter. She is indeed a real brewer's daughter; her father Jack McAuliffe is known as the father of craft beer in America! How cool is that?!  I have been wanting Scott to come along to a meeting for a while now, all of the people I talk about so frequently would then have faces to them.  I thought this beer tasting would be a perfect opportunity for it- he loves a good beer!

A lot of the other bloggers had the same idea, there were a lot of spouses in attendance!  The more the merrier, especially when there is good beer and good food around!

The bloggers for the evening were:

Alicia from Poise in Parma – with PIP Aunt Kathy
Amie from My Retro Kitchen with husband Scott (that's us!)
Crystal from Eat Drink Cleveland
Dave from Health Insurance Issues with Dave and Again? Really?
Jeff from My Future Past with wife Alice
Jen from Why CLE? with fiancé Matt
Jill from Cleveland Rocks Cleveland Eats
Jody from The Days Go On
Kimberly from SMITTEN…in cleveland with husband Chris
Nidhi from NIDHIZZLE and Cleveland Socialite
Renée from The Brewer’s Daughter
Sara from Sara Finding The Time
Sarah from Cooker Girl
Stuart from sosAssociates
Tammy from Miss WineOH

Smitten in Cleveland with husband, The Brewer's Daughter and WhyCLE with fiance' 

The Beers from left to right: 
Lager: Lagunitas Pils
*Amber Ale: Bells Amber
Belgian: Victory Golden Monkey
*Porter: Founders Porter
Stout: Anderson Valley Oatmeal Stout
IPA: Bells Two Hearted

Our hostess for the evening Renee and the knowledgeable Burl taught us so much about each and every one of the beers!  It made it so much more then just ordering a beer and having a taste.  I learned about the the different hoppiness in the beers or mega addition of malts in another.  I also learned that due to the wonderful tastes of chocolate and coffee in the Founder's Porter, it is fantastic added to cake batter or brownie mix.  I am soooo doing that! 

My most favorite of the beers we tasted were definitely the Bells Amber and the Founders Porter.  I am not normally a beer drinker, except for a wheat beer from time to time or my most favorite type of beer the pumpkin ale.  So it was really fun trying something new and found some new favorites along the way.  

For our food we had a Cheese and Sausage Tray.  The reddish looking sausages were super spicy! It sure made that round of beer go down that much faster! Phew!

There was also a delicious Beer Cheese Bread which was a huge favorite amongst the table plus two flat bread pizzas, a Margarita Flatbread and a Buffalo Chicken Flatbread.  

Scott and I are already planning on making the Buffalo Chicken one here at home in my retro kitchen... Yum! It appeared to be topped with chicken that was tossed in a buffalo wing sauce, mozzarella and crumbled blue cheese and sauteed chopped celery.  It packed a lot of flavor and paired really well with the beer.  

Poise in Parma, sosAssociates, Eat Drink Cleveland, NIDHIZZLE and Cleveland Socialite, Cleveland Rocks Cleveland Eats, Cooker Girl 

I am truly loving my new blogging friends.  Joining OBA has been one of the best things I have done since becoming a blogger.  To have the support, encouragement and friendship from so many people and blogs that I myself admire is amazing.  I always thought it would be difficult to make new friends now that I am an adult, but this group welcomed me with open arms.  If you are a blogger and would like more information about The Ohio Blogging Association, check out their website and pop into one of our events.  They're FUN! 

Coming up we have the OBA May 2012 STATE WIDE Ohio Blog Swap.  I participated the last time we did it and had a wonderful time!  This is a fantastic way to get to know more bloggers in the area and share our support to one another.  For more information on joining or following along virtually, visit the facebook event page.

It was an incredible night and I am thrilled Alicia from PIP put it all together.  Thank you Renee for welcoming us and along with Burl, being such wonderful teachers!  This was such a fun and memorable evening!