I think we’ve all heard of cookie exchanges at this time of year. Call me a scrooge, I deserve it, but I live in a two-person household and I can’t imagine what I’d do with a few dozen cookies. So I’ve always weaseled out of the cookie exchange invites. I’m not much into sweets and I have a cookie limit of about three a day, max. And I don’t necessarily want to bring them to work or give them to friends because there are just so many sweets around at this time of year, it’s ridiculous. “Stop the madness!” I say.
But beer, that’s a different story. I drink less beer than I eat cookies, but it doesn’t get stale as fast as a cookie and Ben is sure to drink it within a fraction of that time. So a beer exchange at Christmas-time, that makes sense to me. Amy and Peter Callies, hosts extraordinaire, held their second annual beer exchange recently, and this time, I didn’t weasel out.
How does it work? Let me tell you. Each person arrives with two sixpacks and perhaps an hors d’oevre. We tried to get interesting beers — a chocolate stout, local stuff, stuff we’d never heard of but that looked nice. Everyone’s beers were collected on the dining table. Wow, that was a lot of beer.
Then, each participant took turns tossing an origami ring onto the table and whatever beer it collared, that was then his or hers. Around and around we went. “Everyone’s a winner,” someone kept shouting, like a barker on a carnival midway. Because this was a non-competitive event. If your toss didn’t land on a beer, you simply tossed again. You tossed twelve times, if that’s what it took (and sometimes it did). And you got a ruling from one of the two judges if your toss was ambiguous. A cheer erupted every time someone collared two beers on one throw. Some people tried to aim for certain brews (rarely worked), and then there was the 32-ounce Miller Lite that fell to some poor soul. But you always came away with something, interesting or not. Swaps happened on the sidelines. Those chocolate stouts were in high demand, especially among the ladies (lovers of women, take note).
What do you wear to a beer exchange. Why a beer hat, of course.
After a few hours of drinking, nibbling, conversation, ring tossing, and good cheer, the second annual beer exchange had run its course.
Girlfriends, don’t bother inviting me to your cookie exchange, it’s just not for me. But almost anything else will do. Perhaps next year we can exchange cheese along with the beer — now that would be my style.
