• Halloween, Beer, and Candy

    The candy

    The candy

    As with last year, and the year before that, Halloween this year was another great night of fun with kids and candy, and as always, the adults loved the beer.  Candy, I give away a lot of it, I mean A LOT, but it’s for the kids and they love it!!!

     

    Pizza

    Pizza

    My family comes over and we have pizza before the evening of kids comes trick-or-treating to our door.  I forgot to get a picture of the pizza before everyone started eating.

     

    The setup

    The setup

    I had about 120 kids stop by and went through all of the candy as well as about two and a half cases of beers.  It’s fun watching the adults decide which beer they’re going to try.  This year’s Sam Adams sampler pack had Har­vest Pump­kin Ale, Ruby Mild, Hazel Brown, Octo­ber­fest (which I also had a case of), Lat­i­tude 48 IPA, and Boston Lager. The Harpoon sampler had Octoberfest, Rich and Dan’s Rye IPA, IPA, and UFO Pumpkin.  I also had four packs and six packs of Shipyard Pumpkinhead, Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale, Dogfish Head Punkin Ale, Schlafly Pumpkin Ale, and a growler of Ellicott Mills Brewing Company Sleepy Hollow Pumpkin Ale.

    Me getting a beer!!!

    Me getting a beer!!!

    This year, for the first time ever (I have been doing this for about 10 years), someone brought me a beer.  I had a woodchuck pumpkin.  It tasted a lot like the inside of a pumpkin, not really my kinda beer, but I was happy to get one I haven’t tried!!

    Charlie Brown was once again shown on my garage.

    Charlie Brown was once again shown on my garage.

    I bring up my projector and put It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown on my garage door.  A lot of the kids end up hanging around for 10-15 minutes watching while their parents have a beer.

    Too many choices.

    Too many choices.

    I give away lots of candy every year with a slight twist.  There is a game I have all the kids play where they reach into a bag and pull out a poker chip.  Most of the chips are white (and I change the odds as needed), but if they pull out the black chip they win an entire sleeve of candy.  This year I had a bunch of halloween themed toys, too, and they were a big hit.

    Showing the young ones how to grab a handful of candy.

    Showing the young ones how to grab a handful of candy.

    What was your setup like this year?  Does anyone else give out beer or do prizes?

     

  • Real Beer Floats Available at Red Robin Restaurant

    Red Robin must have read our Real Beer Float article.  They are now offering a Sam Adams Octoberfest over vanilla ice cream with caramel drizzled on top.  I guess we were a little ahead of the times when we did our beer float reviews about a year ago.

    “Nothing says Oktoberfest better than a beer, so I incorporated the fun spirit of Red Robin into this innovative milkshake,” said Donna Ruch, master mixologist with Red Robin. “Now, our guests don’t have to choose between a beer or a shake to go with their burger. They can have the very best of both in our new Octoberfest Milkshake.”

    So now is your time to try a real beer float.  Head out to Red Robin and drink one down and let us know what you think.