A few years ago when I started running, I got really really into drinking good craft beer. Because, you know, carbs.

(Ginger Man is one of my fave NYC beer bars.)

Laura also really likes beer so we’d craft beer together, too. I really don’t drink beer often any more because it upsets my stomach and makes me feel bloated, but when one of your best friends hosts a beer tasting at the Junior League, you go and you sit in the front row and try not to giggle too much.

Until I met Meg, I’d never heard the word “cicerone.” For those of you who aren’t familiar with it either, it’s basically a beer sommelier. So, she knows her beer stuff. The event paired four local New York beers with two different (delicious) chilis. We went from light to dark — Coney Island Brewing: 1609 Amber Ale; Brooklyn Brewery: Greenmarket Wheat; Ithaca Beer Company Flower Power IPA; and Keegan Ales: Joe Mama’s Milk.

I REALLY like me an IPA, so I was excited to try the IPA. To make a long story short, IPAs came about on a trip to India by the British Indian Army. (Full story here.) It was a happy accident that they figured out, basically, that the hops of the IPA had antibiotic properties. So, IPA is medicine.

We were encouraged to add these condiments to the chili to make it spicier or more flavorful and see what impact that had on the taste. IPAs, we learned, *amplify* the spicy flavors (which I very quickly learned when I added too much hot sauce) while the stout’s milkiness put out the spice fire in my mouth. It was very drinkable both on its own and with the chili and would make a delicious dessert beer as well, I think. ALSO, IT IS MADE WITH COLD BREW. As a basic bitch, I truly cannot drink enough cold brew these days and, as such, felt the same about this beer.

Meg made these handy lil tasting note cards, including that lil beer web at the bottom.

And it was super fun.

What about you? Beer person? What kind of beer? What’s your fave beer?

Also, in a total impulse buy, I just got these shoes after reading Grace’s blog…