- Event Report: Holiday Beer Extravaganza
- Venue: Moerlein Lager House (Cincinnati, OH)
- Date: November 16, 2019
- Cost: $40
Holiday Beer Extravaganza has been an annual event for a few years now, and from what I understand the format and beer selection has changed over the years. I gave it a try this year.
Advertising/ Tickets – well promoted on social media and on site advertising. Promotional materials revealed much of the beer and food list, leaving well, maybe 1 little surprise. Ticketing was easily handled through Event Brite.
Check In: On the day of the event, check in was quite easy by name (I don’t think I’ve ever had an Event Brite event actually scan the barcodes, they usually go off the roster provided by Event Brite) Upon check in, you received a swag bag complete with a Christian Moerlein pint glass (not an event exclusive, I saw glasses just like it in their gift shop), a program with the beer list, and a multitude of tickets of varying colors.
The Event itself: I had arrived a bit early, so I found a seat at one of the tables that had been moved to form long communal tables, perfect for meeting new friends and talking beer. At the event start time, our host led us through the logistics of the event. In our bags we should have 4 each of red, green, white, and blue tickets.
The event offered a total of 16 beers, 8 brewed in house and 8 guest beers. Each of the in house brewed beer came with a suggested food pairing, so yes, this event falls somewhere between a beer luncheon and a beer fest. It was noted that we were not obligated to stick with the suggested food and beer pairings, and that we were free to mix and match it anyway we so pleased.
The event was held in the first floor beer garden area of the restaurant, which thankfully can be glassed in on colder days like today. Along the outer side of the room by the windows, across from the bar) were the guest beers. The package included your choice of 4 of the 8 guest beers, and each cost one green ticket. Alongside the bar were the 8 in house brewed beers, and again you had your choice of 4 of the 8 house brewed beers, which cost one red ticket. At the same time, you could order a food pairing (either the suggested one, or one of your choice), the food pairings cost 1 white ticket each. Are you sensing a theme here? So you could have your choice of any 4 of the 8 small plates. The remaining blue tickets were for door prizes which would be announced throughout the event.
Looking over the Moerlein brewed beers – it would be quick to note that 4 of the 8 were variants of their Baltic Porter (French Toast, Raspberry, Irish Cream Coffee, and Elvis (bananas, roasted peanuts, paprika), while 2 more were based on a golden coffee stout (either with or without Chai tea added), along with a special expression of their dunkel, Barbaroasa (Cherry Cordial), and of course their traditional winter warmer, Christkindl.
On the guest side of the room, a variety of holiday beers were offered, from a Christmas Ale (Belgian Strong Dark Ale) from Corsendonk, an authentic Belgian brewery, to some sweet dark beers in the form of Holiday Donut Cookie by Platform, No Bake Cookie Stout by Listermann, and Cinnamon Roll Brown Ale by Southern Tier (a last moment change from Salted Carmel Imperial Stout. Making sure there was something for everyone, there was an IPA in the form of New Belgium’s Accumulation, a witbier in Great Lakes Holy Moses, a barleywine by Streetside (Barleywine is Life), by far the strongest beer at the event at 15.5% while most hovered around the 6-7% range. A cider rounded out the beer selection.
Moving on to the small plates, a full meal could be had if you played your tickets right. The offerings ranges from a salad (field green salad with currants, pecans, goat cheese, maple-bacon vinaigrette), to appetizers (5 piece shrimp cocktail with wasabi and Szechuan spices, or 2 wings (Cherry Habenero), to sandwiches and entrees (French Toast Grilled Cheese (with ham), Coffe BBQ Meatloaf slider, or pork belly mole), to deserts (Irish Cream Coffee Cake or Banana Bacon Tart)
Rounding out the event, a duo played live music on one corner, while St. Vincent De Paul (official charity of the event) had a donation table in another corner. in the center of the main bar was a merchandise table to buy all your Moerlien related gifts as well as additional tasting tickets.
Selling the tasting tickets extras makes it easy it work out the value of the event package. Additional small plates were $5, and additional beer tastings were $3. So in your package you started with 8 beers x $3 = $24 and 4 small plates at $5 = $20 so you get a $44 value before we toss in the courtesy pint glass and a taste from the mystery cask. So easily a $50 value for only $40, and the chance to win door prizes.
Overall, I felt this was a very well run event, While the room was cramped there was seating available. Another big plus was that each beer station was stocked with tasting glasses so no need to worry about rinsing or dumping. When you were finished with a beer, a busboy would collect it (and hey, I even saw the brewer busing tables), and you collected new glass with each beer. That also meant the pint glass you took home was clean when you left, no beer residue. Actual ice water with ice was available from a table in the center of the room, so logistically, the event did everything right.
About halfway through the event they had the mystery cask tapping, tapped by Santa himself. This was announced as the base beer for the Golden Stout without the coffee, so that the hop bill really shined through. I heard and agreed with many comments made to the brewer that the plain base was better than the adjuncts. As another bonus, no tickets were needed for the mystery beer.
Door prizes throughout the event mostly consisted of either Moerlein lager house gift cards, or packages of give away items (think mugs, shirts, stickers and other brewery goodies) provided by the guest breweries. Your humble blogger even managed to win a $50 Moerlein Gift card. Thegrand prize was a hogs head club membership, complete with stein locker, and I think $100 gift card.
While I will try to stay away from beer reviews, since beer as we know is a very subjective experience. We all like different things in beer. I am not a cicerone or anything like that, I just know what I like in a beer. That said, yes I bought some extra tickets, yes the suggested food pairings were spot on. The surprise to me was the Cherry Cordial Barbarosa paired with the Cheery Habenero wings. The cherry binds it all together but the beer and the food provide both the sweet and the spicy.
Until next time, catch you later at a taproom or beer event nearest me.