1970's Free Love New Years Eve Party

I want to start by apologizing for the the last minute changes of this event. The first theme for our New Years Eve Party was deemed to be classless and in bad taste, so we decided to take a vote on what the theme of this years party should be and a 1970's themed party ended up winning out by grabbing almost 60% of the popular vote.That being said this is a dress up party. Everyone should think of a look that best represents the 1970's for them (ie. hippie, disco, Vietnam, Rock N Roll). Once again dressing up is not required to attend, but it does make the party a lot more fun and visually appealing. There will be a very glamorous door prize for the person that wears the best costume.

We would like to ask that anyone that is able to bring a dish to pass please do so and post on the event wall what you plan to bring so we can avoid people bringing the same thing.The night will get underway around 7:30 pm and will go well into the morning until the beer runs out. There will be a pool and dart tournament. We will also have cards, drinking games, karaoke, twister, music and dancing....and maybe a laser show (if we're lucky).

From a brewing point of view I have been looking forward to this night for about 6 months. I decided to go with a theme of all strong ales for the event. All of the beers on tap this night will be above 7.5% ABV. Here is a brief run down of what will be on tap and a short description of the beer.

• Kremlin Joe's RIS batch #2 - this is a monster stout, thick, chewy and sweet, a favorite of mine. - 10% ABV (limited)


• Palate Pulverizer IPA - this is a hoppy IPA that I make using my own homegrown hops, very herbal and sweet - 8% ABV


• Emma Rose Abbey Ale - this is a beer that I made in honor of the birth of my daughter. Its a belgian style red ale brewed with roses. Sweet, floral and citrusy - 7.5% ABV


• Fugly One - a chocolate, pumpkin Porter that I made for Oktoberfest. It wasn't quit ready in September, but its drinking much better now - 8.5% ABV


• WarChild Quadruple - a Belgian Dark Strong Ale that is very rich and robust. This ale has tons of complexity and is very limited. - 9% ABV (limited)


• Bashore BrewHaus Anniversary Ale - this one is a secret that I'm very excited about! - 8.5% ABV

I truly hope that as many of you as possible can make this event....should be a great night with great beer, food and friends.

Cheers

ON TAP this weekend: WarChild Quadruple

This upcoming week and weekend are pretty busy for Irene and I so I wanted to take the time to announce that starting this weekend we'll have our first Belgian Dark Strong Ale on tap. WarChild Quadruple was brewed with the holidays in mind and is extremely rich and heavy. It is also very very limited. Only 2 gallons of this brew exist....I wish I would have made more after sampling it a week or so ago. I'm really hoping this brew makes it to New Years Eve so that it can get as much exposure as possible, but I have a feeling it'll go pretty fast. On the plus side, I am conditioning a barrel aged version of it that should be on tap in late February.

WarChild pours a deep brown color and smells of dried fruits and alcohol. The tasted is much of the same. It has a ton of fruit flavor up front that gives way to a rich brown sugar/alcohol burn. I am very excited that this beer turned out as well as it did and I personally am very excited to drink a few tulips full between this weekend and New Years Eve. Only a few weeks until our New Years Eve Party and I really hope to see as many of you there as possible.....should be a good night.

I want to send a special thank you to Randy for designing all of the labels for these beers. Every label is very cool! Drink UP!!!

NOW ON TAP: Palate Pulverizer IPA

Each year early in the Spring my hops peek there heads out of the brick around our house and go crazy and grow super high. I take the hops that I get from these vine every year in August and craft a home grown IPA called Palate Pulverizer. Palate Pulverizer has a sweet malty backbone that eventually gives way to a strong herbal hop bitterness as the beer ages. This years version of Palate Pulverizer is 8% ABV and is over 100 IBU's although you wouldn't guess that it was that hoppy because my goal is to balance the bitterness and sweetness as much as possible with this beer. We usually make a couple of hoppy beers every year at Bashore Brewing, but this is the only one that uses Bashore Brewing hops. So far Irene and Dave Kennedy have each had pints of it and both of them seemed to enjoy it. This beer should be on tap for the New Years Eve Party this year, but feel free to stop in and have a pint anytime.

CHEERS!

Only 5 Days Left!!

Only 5 Days left to vote on your favorite theme for this years New Years Eve Party....that only gives you until the beginning of next week. Right now it looks like a 70's themed party is in the lead, so if that isn't your choice get your vote in.

Also, be on the look out for a new beer release next week as we put out Palate Pulverizer IPA. This is the only beer in which we use our home grown hops. MMM MMM GOOD!!

New Years Eve Party Theme in Question

Every year we like to throw a themed New Years Eve party, just to have some fun and to see how creative people can be with there outfits...kind of a Halloween 2. This years proposed theme was a "Reverse Pimps N' Hoes Party" with the girls dressing like pimps and the guys dressing like hoes. This idea has met with a lot of resistance on the side of the fellas. That being said Irene and I would rather throw a themed party that everyone can get behind and support than something that makes people feel uncomfortable. Lets put the theme to a vote and see what everyone is thinking. I'm gonna start a new poll question on the left hand side of the blog page with 4 ideas for themes. There will only be 10 days that this poll will be open so make sure to get your votes in quickly for whatever party seems like it would be the most fun. Here's the 4 ideas.....

• Reverse Pimps N' Hoes Party - I didn't want to take the original them off the table, in the outside chance that this was something everyone still wanted to do. Pretty straight forward....guys dress like hoes and girls dress like pimps.
• Fancy Dress Party - Think church or a wedding....everyone dresses up in fancy clothes for New Years. Guys can wear collared shirts and ties or suits or sweater vests and girls can wear dresses or skirts or a powersuit....or just dressy. We could turn this into a fancy dress masquerade ball if that sounds like fun as well.
• Graffiti Party - This is a pretty easy party to throw. Everyone buys a white or light colored plain shirt and we'll get a bunch of different colored markers and your shirt is a canvas for everyone to write/draw on.....kinda crazy to look back on afterwards and see how the shirt turns out.
• 1970's Dress Up Party - In the tradition of the 80's party we threw a few years ago this would just involve everyone dressing up for the era of the 1970's. Pretty all encompassing....you could go hippie, disco, vietnam, or rock n' roll.....just as long your outfit is filled with all of that 70's love.

I'll posted the results of the poll on the blog in 10 days and change the facebook invitation accordingly.

Cheers and Happy Voting!

Matt & Irene

NOW ON TAP: Emma Rose Abbey Ale

November 24th, 2009 is a day that will always be special for Irene and I. On November 24th at 12:48 am we welcomed our first child into this world as Emma Rose Bashore was born with her eyes wide open. Since I found out that Irene would spend 9 months "heavy with child" I decided to create a beer for my little girl.

Hopefully, this winter will offer similar special feelings for anyone that tries this beer. I really had no idea how the beer would turn out, but I knew I wanted to use an interesting ingredients in it. Obviously, that ingredient would be roses. Now because most rose petals are heavily sprayed with pesticides I was not able to use actual rose petals. Instead, I used rose hips, which are the fruits produced by rose bushes, and I used rose water. I melded these ingredients into a Belgian Abbey Ale.

The result of this is a beer that will taste and smell like no beer you've ever had before. Emma Rose is very fragrant ale that literally smells like liquid flowers and is somewhat perfumey. The flavor also offers a bit of a floral as well. However, up front it has a sweet, sharp citric acidity that's complemented by a nice malty backbone. Having had a few pints already I will say that as my ales go this one changes a lot as it warms up.

Feel free to stop anytime this December to try a fresh pint of Emma Rose Abbey Ale. This ale will most likely be on tap for our Hoes n' Pimps New Years Eve party as well.

Cheers!