I am BACK after a couple weeks of madness and #beersaturday is right here waiting for me! You are invited to leave a huge upvote and join our friend 
For week 438, I have survived the annual 6-stop brewery tour and Beer Exchange!
Chugs on the Run
For those who have just started following this year, @zekepickleman/beersaturday-chugs-on-the-run will tell you last year's tale of 6 breweries in a single day leading to a 60-person party. In the end, 24 of us left with a beer advent calendar from across the continent and a big hangover the next morning.
This is our group shot from last year...
...and this is the advent calendar of beer we were each left with after the exchange! What did it look like this year? Read on!
Starting Out
This year, we settled upon Cambridge Ontario as the city of destination for its rich craft brewery scene and the fact that Guelph had a competing Beer Bus tour which would interfere with the capacity at each stop. So, naturally we opted to start the day out at Jackass Brewing They were nice enough to open an hour early this day so that we could gather, enjoy a few pints and start our day.
They were also very accommodating to one of our crew who rolls wheelchair style and has a cool setup in his car for getting around. They let us roll right in the back door and walk through the brewing facility to the tap room.
Despite our tendency to arrive late, we did so early this time to get set up and make sure the crew was ready to host our tour. Goo to go and a promising start! You can see the cult classic Uncle Steve parked at the right of the bar, ready to pour his namesake Uncle Steve's Irish Red Ale.
One of my favourite things about small unique craft breweries is the big menu on the wall. A nice selection of ales, lagers, sours, porter, IPA, fruit beer, cream ale and even stout.
As you do when you are discovering a new brewery, many of our crew ordered a flight. For the uninitiated, a flight is a selection of ~5 ounce pours of a variety of available beers, here served on a paddle for style.
Looking at the menu, this one appears to be the Munich Lager, Cool Beans Cream Ale, Stout n About stout, and my preference, the Hazy Ass New England IPA. The far flight appears to be the Strawberry Rhubarb sour, one of the IPAs, maybe the house lager and the stout.
Such a great way to sample a few different style to discover a brewery.
As is tradition now, I jumped up on a table at the front and shot a pic of those who met us for the very first stop. More join along the way culminating in a 50-person party and beer exchange.
Did We Make It?
Spilling the cool beans on every brewery we visited this day would make this post way too long to get through. So, I will leave you with the Advent Calendar we assembled for each of the 24 members of the beer exchange. I still have maybe 10 days til I can start December 1st with beer #1 and enjoy a craft surprise daily right up until the Christmas eve. So, I will have to tell you the second half of the tale next week and present this as evidence we survived with nothing more than a mild hangover the next day.
#BEERSaturday!
How's this for an idea for #beersaturday swag once Hive reaches $10 each and we are all taking brewery tours together. This might keep us cool for the summer ones!
Now it is time for you to join me,