February Meeting Notes - "Pairings"

In honor of Valentines day, the Dirty South Beer Club theme for February was "your favorite pairing" - most members took the opportunity to pair a beer with a food item. We had a couple of more creative takes on that theme, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

We decided to rate the beers alone and then choose a favorite pairing at the end.
Here are the minutes:

Pairing #1: Aventinus (Germany) (oops - seems the secretary only noted the brewery) and Christa's Homemade Soft Pretzels (see below for the pretzel recipe)
This pairing went over VERY well. With respect to the beer - "Supposedly people get mad when Cook's Warehouse runs out," and we could see why. The pretzels were off the hook yummy.
Beer points: 13

Pairing #2: Mr. Beer West Coast Pale Ale and a "Grain of salt"
This was Matt's (aka Mad Hops') first attempt at a home brew - thus, we were to take it with a "grain of salt" haha! The pairing worked - the beer was "better than expected."
Beer points: 4

Pairing #3: St. Peter's Porter and Highland Oatmeal Porter and St. Auger blue cheese
Interesting experience - we tried this pairing first with the St. Peter's - and it was fabulous - but the Highland didn't complement the cheese as well. That said, judging the beers alone, there seemed to be an overall preference for the Highland.
Beer points - St. Peter's Porter: -2
Beer points - Highland Oatmeal Porter: 6

Pairing #4: Dogfish Head Palo Santo and Dagoba Xocolatl Chocolate
This pairing was "quite the exbeerience," as the Palo Santo is "not your mama's brown ale," and did a great job of balancing a little "mouth fire" from the chile chocolate.
Beer points: 17

Pairing #5: Victory Storm King Stout and Chocolate & Butterfinger Dipped Pretzel Sticks
Smiles abounded with this pair. The Victory was a "distinct Imperial Stout" - "hoppy," and "delicious," with a "pop roxx mouthfeel."
Beer points: 11

Pairing #6: Beer float - Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout and Hagen Daz Chocolate Ice Cream
This was probably the most "daring pairing" - and reviews were mixed. Those who poured less beer over their ice cream were happier than those who filled up the glass. Also, some felt that vanilla ice cream would have been better. Sleeping Brewty feels that this is the "best beer ever."
Beer points: 7

Pairing #7: Dirty South Shoulder Massage and Sweetwater Happy Ending
All agreed that this won MOST CREATIVE PAIRING. We were all told to give our neighbors a short shoulder rub - and then our friends Vargo and Matt supplied the Happy Ending to finish off the evening. And boy did it hit the spot! After laughing a lot, we got down to business with respect to the beer: pine needles, citrus, hoppy start and middle, and of course someone offered "orgasmic."
Beer points: 10

It seems that our secretary failed to note which pairing was the favorite - but I remember the top two were Aventinus and Homemade Soft Pretzels & Dogfish Head Palo Santo and Chile Chocolate.