The Falcons participated in a big way, bringing the several member-built bars, two of which were also used as the Hospitality Suite bars for the duration of the conference. At Club Night, we poured over 50 kegs, from over 40 taps PLUS specialized serving aparatus, including a firkin, two tap Cactus, and the Slots o' Hops slot machine (originally built for the 2004 NHC in Las Vegas). We also served about 14 gallons of home-made pasta salad, from a Sanke Keg! The daytime educational seminars were all well attended, including two presented by Drew Beechum and Kent Fletcher. The Awards Banquet, hosted by Rogue Brewing, featured a fabulous meal by the "Homebrew Chef" Sean Paxton, prepared using and paired with several different Rogue beers. The Conference was a huge success, and a great time was had by all.
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Another great ebay score! Fletch (aka Brewgyver) picked up this 20 tap stainless tower (including faucets and a number of commercial tap markers) with drip tray for the minimum bid of $200. A little unistrut, some melaminde shelving and a couple of salvaged dry erase boards, and Voila! A new 20 tap portable bar! Both the 20 Tap and the Oak Bar were used for Hospitality Suite service by all of the other clubs for their pouring shifts - which meant that they had to be wheeled through the bowels of the Marriott Hotel down to the Convention Center for Club Night, then back up to the Hospitality Suite immediatley after.
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For Club Night, the Falcons were pouring over 50 beers, including four different Milds on the Oak Bar's beer engines.
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How do you make pasta salad for 1500, without a kitchen available? We started by cooking the penne pasta before heading to Oakland. We cooked twenty some pounds of it in the Boil Kettle on Nancy's B3 brew rig, then chilled it in her kegerator, packed in plastic bags, iced down in coolers for the trip. Then, Friday morning, we hit the Smart and Final (a half block from the Hotel), and spent a couple of hours cutting veggies, mixing dressing, and tossing 13 gallons of finished pasta salad, then loading it into a chilled Sanke keggle for service.
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After Club Night ended, the bars were moved back up through the caverns of the Hotel to the Hospitality Suite, where the Falcons continued pouring til two something A.M. (ssshhh! don't tell anybody)
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(l.to r.) Drew Beechum, Kent Fletcher, Steve Cook, Jay Ankeny, Maribeth Raines, Vinnie Cilurzo, Cullen Davis, Todd Peterson