With my 50th birthday approaching, I’d fixated on having a Hawaii 5-0 Party because I love puns so much. Plus, I love Hawaii and Hawaiian shirts, so I figured why not celebrate the half-century mark doing something I like. As you know, I also love beer, so I asked my good friend Dave Keene if I could have my party at his bar, the best pub in San Francisco — The Toronado. So on Saturday night, March 7, I had a Hawaii 5-0 brouhaha at the Toronado. I had a lot of fun, and a number of friends and family were in attendance. So a lot of the photos below are more family-oriented than beer-related, but feel free to take a look, should you be so inclined.
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With my kids, Porter and Alice.
The back room of the Toronado, decked out for the party.
Merideth Canham-Nelson, Mrs. Beer Geek, me and Sean Paxton, the Homebrew Chef.
Porter with my brother-in-law, Tucker.
Brenden Dobel, from Thirsty Bear, Rodger Davis, from Triple Rock, Christian Kazakoff, from Iron Springs, and his girlfriend, Jodi.
My wife, Sarah, with our daughter, Alice.
Meg, from Oskar Blues, and Bruce Paton, the Beer Chef.
The biggest cake I’ve ever eaten.
Renee, Merideth and Chris, up from Monterey.
My brother-in-law, Roddi, with Alice.
Christian and Jodi again.
I’m sure Sean had a name for this beer cocktail, but I can’t remember it. The base beer was Westmalle Tripel and to that was added a foam with coconut, ginger and something else, and I think Mango juice may have been involved somewhere. To find out for sure, check out the next issue of Beer Advocate magazine, where all will be revealed. Whatever was in it, it was delicious.
Porter showing us his moves.
Sarah watching over Alice’s attempts to play Washoes.