Elite Event – Preholiday Beer Vacation @ Community Beer Works

So I went here during an Elite event back in December, and I fell in love. Everyone was incredibly friendly, The staff of CBW were really friendly, and I was able to finally meet some of the Unilocal community in Buffalo!
I arrived super early, but that was okay, I got to get a tour before anyone else to see the brewing process. I also got to get started on some beers before anyone else. The trivia was a little chaotic but overall a lot of fun.
I was very happy there was also food provided by Dinosaur BBQ, which was excellent: Deviled Eggs and pulled pork sliders.

What a fun event! As usual, Elite events are a blast and the Preholiday Beer Vacation was no different.
This event was a bit less structured than others. For the most part this was an opportunity to sit back (no chairs? stand back?), enjoy some brews, good bbq, and good company.
The event began with a homebrew demonstration by one of Community Beer Works’ brewers. It was interesting to see how they experiment with different recipes and what their brew process is. My only complaint here is that after the demo began we were told that it would resume approximately later after the mash cooked. This never happened, or perhaps it did and I didn’t know? Either way, it felt a bit disjointed to me.
The food by Dinosaur was decent, especially the deviled eggs. The pulled pork was alright, about as good as you can expect in a catered situation.
Beer — Overall I’m not a huge fan of the local beer scene. Don’t get me wrong there’s nothing «wrong» with it, but at this point Buffalo is not on the level of many of the well-​known craft breweries. And this is ok. The scene is fairly new and it takes a while to develop the craft. That said, of the local breweries, I believe Community Beer Works to be in competition for the best in Buffalo (the other being Resurgence). My favorite is the Barleywine. Definitely recommended when it’s available.
Other Activities — There was a trivia game for a chance to win a growler filled with beer, a t-​shirt, and other goodies. What a blast! And I’m not just saying that because my team was victorious. Not at all.
What really made this event shine however was the hospitality of the folks at Community Beer Works. I always enjoy talking beer — process, styles, trends, etc. These guys know their stuff.
Overall, a fun event. Major thanks to Alex, Community Beer Works, and Dinosaur BBQ.

How cool that NYS passed legislation just days before that allowed local/​microbreweries to serve beer by the glass? How cool that Alex and Community Beer Works teamed up to offer Unilocalers a fun evening enjoying delicious beers and the opportunity to learn about home brewing.
Walking in, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Although once I warmed up a bit, I noticed all of the apparel, growlers, and pint glasses displayed on the wall and thought that was a great touch… so much so that I ended up purchasing a long sleeve t-​shirt by the end of the night. I wasn’t exactly sure what to order but Ethan was quick to recommend the perfect beer for my tastes. As for Dino BBQ, yum yum yum. Those pulled pork sandwiches and deviled eggs were wonderful. I haven’t had the chance to check out the Buffalo Dino BBQ just yet but I assured him I will be there for lunch in the very near future! The sandwiches and beer went together quite well if I do say so myself!
The home brewing demonstration was awesome. Robert, an Assistant Brewer at Community Beer Works, was so informative and had a wealth of knowledge that he taught himself through books and local meet ups. I learned a lot about beer in general and it was cool to actually see the process of brewing beer. Now onto the trivia game. Alex had us go out of our comfort zone to make a team of four with at least two people we didn’t already know. Because of this, I had the privilege of meeting Joe Y. and Marc. While our team didn’t come out victorious, I still had a great time and again, learned some new Unilocal and beer facts.
A very fun evening, complete with drinking some great beers and eating excellent food, learning about beer and the brewing process, and fantastic company. What a fabulous way to end the Elite year. Thank you Alex!

I’ve only been to a few Unilocal elite events. This was hands down the best. Intimate with a good crowd, lots of delicious beverages, great food and fun. I’m at CBW all the time and it was nice to learn more about them and take a look around.
No complaints whatsoever and Alex did a great job top to bottom with this event… well done.

What a fun event! Thanks, Alex, for putting it together. It was a blast.
The people at Community Beer Works are passionate about their beers, and it shows. Their beer is delicious, and their explanations about how they make it was quite interesting. Who knew that there were dramatically different kinds of yeasts?
The barbecue from Dinosaur’s was a great addition. At the event, I learned (a) that Dinosaur’s serves smoked turkey on Wednesdays!, and (b) they’re opening a restaurant in Chicago. I have to admit that I’m more excited about (a) than (b), though both make me very happy.
Now, is it really true that in Canada the plural of «beer» is «beer»? I thought it was «six pack» or «case.»

If it were the Community Bear Works, then this event would have polarized people.
If it were the Boer Works, then we’d be at war by now.
If it were the Bare Works, then the pictures would have to be blurred out or censored, especially the one of Alex L balancing a champagne glass on his oiled, shiny rear end.
Thankfully, this is all about dat Beer, bout dat Beer, no Bubbly.
I want to thank Abe Lincoln for making this event possible.
Let me explain. These days Abe Lincoln seems to influence every single lumbersexual male (and my word are we living in a hairy time or what people)… and this event was no different. Think about it:
Alex’s
Beer
Event:
Let’s
Ingest
Nice
Cold
Outstanding
Lager
Now
Obviously, we have Abe to thank for this event.
In any case, the Beer Works people are wonderful, their products are awesome (everyone said so, and kept saying so), the event was a rip-​roaring success (with emphasis on «rip» and «suck» but that’s what happened at Alex’s place later so we’ll not go there in this review), and a good time was had by all.
I have proof that it was a good time, which is that I arrived at 8.12pm (2 hrs 12 mins after the start time, 12 mins after the finish time), and the room was still packed full of people wall to wall, door to door, hall to hall, Blondie’s Rapture style, and most remained for another half an hour or so chatting with each other and myself. I was supposed to be at Quiz by 8pm, didn’t arrive til 9pm because the conversation was so much fun. I missed out on the Dino BBQ but I tried some beer and it was really nice!
I don’t like beer by the way, but if I did, this would be right up there.
And Alex’s events just get more and more exciting and imaginative. Now everyone in our community can say that Alex got them drunk and they don’t remember what happened next. What happened next was that he gave it to them. A quiz, I mean. A random spontaneous quiz. Now that’s my kind of good time.
Fantastic event, thank you to Hawaii for giving us Alex, and thank you to Abe Lincoln for sponsoring this event and influencing men’s facial hair everywhere. And for his awesome role in Bill & Ted for which I believe he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.