Holiday fun? Throw a GingerAle party
My latest LOOKatOKC column hit the news racks yesterday. You can pick up a copy and give it a read. Or you can go to www.LOOKatOKC.com to read it. Or, you can take the easy way out and read it right here:
Do you like to throw holiday parties? Do you enjoy beer? Do you have young children?
If you answered yes to all three of these questions — or even just the first two — do I have an idea for you!
You need to throw a GingerAle party.
What, you ask, is a GingerAle party? For starters, while the serving of actual ginger ale is not frowned upon, it is not a requirement, either.
What is required? Gingerbread cookies and beer.
I threw my first GingerAle party last year. My wife and I enjoy entertaining, especially so around Christmastime. We wanted to do something fun with our friends; naturally beer would need to be involved.
At the same time, we have a 4-year-old son and all the friends we were inviting have children as well. You can throw a party without children, but your attendance figures would depend on everyone being able to find a baby sitter. You would risk the chance of some people not showing up.
So what to do? Find something fun for the kids. It being the Christmas season, and all, we came up with a gingerbread cookie decorating contest. Now we had the main elements of the party in place. The next step was a title for the party. Any party worth its weight has a catchy name.
And so the GingerAle — Ginger for the cookies, Ale for the beer — party was born.
Pulling off a GingerAle party is a snap. Turn on some Christmas music. Provide the gingerbread cookies and various icing and sprinkles options. Provide some food as a base for the beer. And of course, provide the beer.
Beer experts recommend pairing sweet food with sweet beer, food with spices with beer with spices, etc. COOP Ale Works chief brewer Chase Healey suggests Anchor Christmas Ale. Wes Alexander of Marshall Brewing Co. recommends Hoegaarden White Ale or his own Marshall Sundown Wheat. I suggest you can’t go wrong with any of those choices!
But just remember, when you raise your glass at your very own GingerAle party, give a tip of the cap to The Thirsty Beagle.
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