The Bakers: November 2011

We hosted our First Annual Baker Beer Bash and Chili Cook-off last night! This event combined our love for good beers and spicy chilis into one epic party. ;) We've hosted beer tastings and chili cook-offs before, but never together...so was born an annual event in the Baker household!

Despite the rain yesterday, we had a great turn out of 40 friends! Wow, just writing that made me smile at how blessed we are to know 40 people who love us enough to attend our party. Or maybe they came for the beer and chili... :) Blaine and I spent the last couple of weeks getting ready for last night, and I think it paid off in the final product. We had a beer tasting competition in which guests brought their favorite beers, I poured them into unmarked bottles, and away we went at scoring each beer (11 total) on taste, texture, smell, and type of beer. We also had a total of nine pots of chili for the chili cook-off, which were all scored based on favorites. We crowned three winners after all was said and done and I think a great time was had by everyone!

Enjoying good beer, great chili, and AWESOME friends!

Our set up...very warm and cozy!

We even had a tent...which was a great decision considering that it rained on and off all night!

Beer tasting station #1...with beer-ritas for the non-beer drinkers

Beer tasting station #2

Dessert and cornbread spread!

Chocolate Stout Cake Shots...mmmm, chocolate cake made with chocolate stout beer!

Grand prize for the favorite chili...a chili cookbook, a set of Williams Sonoma kitchen towels, three different Williams Sonoma spices, a Rogue Chipotle Ale beer, and a blue ribbon made by yours truly! ;)

Scoresheets and pencils...yes, Blaine insisted on buying 20 clipboards.

Enjoying the beer sampling!

Is Steve eating chili directly from the pot?! ;)

The girls from our 'hood!

Linsey and Erin...the same sweet girls that surprised me with a birthday cake last year during softball season!

Rain, rain, go away...Crystal is not deterred!

Blaine announces the winning favorite beer...Alaskan White Ale!

Thanks, Jon and Ashley, for the winning submission! The prizes for the beer winners were Rogue Chipotle Ales and gift cards to our local liquor store.