Cheers

I t was kind of a joke at first, recalls Chris Genua, general manager of The Double Windsor bar in Brooklyn, NY, but the event was mobbed. "We ran out of Girl Scout cookies in a couple of hours," he says. Now that The Double Windsor's Girl Scout Cookies & Beer Night pairing is in its third year, Genua makes sure to stock plenty of cookies. At the event this past spring, customers paid $10 for a flight of four 5-oz. pours of Speakeasy ales paired with four cookies: Black & White Cookie Milk Stout with classic Thin Mints, Old Godfather Barleywine with Samoas, Tallulah Blonde with Lemonades, and Payback Porter with peanut butter Tagalongs. "I wrote up some tongue-and-cheek tasting notes," Genua says. "There were even a couple of Girls Scouts selling cookies outside the bar." Girl Scout night is The Double Windsor's most-popular promotion, although Genua runs one or two tasting events every month. "Most of our beer events aren't about making a killing on money, we just get to get people in here and have a good time," he says. The payback is that many customers will enjoy a featured flight, and then stick around for a few more beers and dinner. At the Four Points by Sheraton Los Angeles International Airport, a.k.a. the LA Beer Hotel, "The most fun pairing event was a mac-and-cheese night," says general manager Phil Baxter. The sit-down dinner featured three variations of macaroni and cheese with three matching beers. More casual flight tastings at the property's beer bar, Brewster's—a Beererie, explore matches for sweet, salty or smoked palates, such as Young's Double Chocolate Stout with Chocolate Covered Strawberries, Duvel with Snyder's Pretzel Rods and Stone Smoked Porter with Smoked Salmon. "Now as guests get more sophisticated, the events have gotten more sophisticated, with more focus on food and beer," explains Baxter. "We went from having really good beer in the bar to incorporating it into room packages and corporate promotions." At Four Points LAX, groups can take a break from their meetings to a hosted tasting of nine 3-oz. pours of a range of craft beers, for $30 per person. Hotel guests can opt for a Beer Club room package, which includes a well-stocked mini-bar and nightly turndown service—with a craft brew instead of a mint on the pillow. www.cheersonline.com MEET-AND-GREET WEEKS Brewmasters are big stars today, and beer geeks want to meet them. That sentiment is fueling local craft weeks around the country, and bars are latching onto the momentum. "It's important to have events where customers get to talk with the people who actually make the beer," points out Fred Crudder, beverage director of Tappan Street Restaurant Group. The Alpharetta, GA-based company operates and franchises 28 beer-centric restaurants under the Taco Mac name in the Southeast. During a kick off for Charlotte, NC, craft beer week this past March, for example, the Charlotte Taco Mac set up Phil Baxter, general manager of the Four Points by Sheraton LAX, also known as the LA Beer Hotel. JULY/AUGUST 2013 | 31

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