Happy National Beer Day (7APR2019)! A late night led to an early Hop-filled Holiday for me.
This is my second Birds & Brews post and I’m already going to break my pairing guidelines of a Bird & Beer; all for good reason. If rules are made to be broken, are guidelines made to be ignored? For their sake, I hope so.
Most weekends my wife and I like to get to bed early so we can head out to bird early the next morning. Last night however, we stayed up late to spend time with more than 100 birds (in card form). We had been looking forward to a ‘game night’ all week. We had a fridge full of beer, ready to toast the arrival of the acclaimed, and extremely hard-to-find board game Wingspan.
Fellow Rogue Birder, Chris Collins, is preparing for a Birds and Brews evening in Columbus, OH on April 15th to enjoy some brews, fellow birders, and highlight the game Wingspan in person – all while raising money for Ohio Ornithological Society. He, along with most of our ‘Metal Birder’ friends (more on the moniker later) spent hours pouring over Wingspan’s gorgeous design, rules, and taking a stab at playing a full game.
This stat-driven game is a treat for the eyes as well as your intellect. Designed by Elizabeth Hargrave, Wingspan contains more than 200 beautifully designed playing cards, wooden dice with a bird feeder dice tower, five individual player boards, and much more. 170 species, three habitats, and multiple food types are all represented, along with subtly placed, impactful facts such as nest types and brood sizes. All of these items must work together to complete different objectives throughout the four rounds of game play.
After the stroke of midnight, while watching the final round of Wingspan come to a conclusion, *beer enters stage left* I was enjoying a Split Shot Espresso Milk Stout by Elysian. My first experience with this beer included a happy accident of leaving a couple of bottles in the freezer a bit too long. I enjoyed this Espresso Milk Stout, Iced. Not too bitter, as I find most cold brews, this smooth, semi-sweet beer was a perfect nightcap during the early hours of National Beer Day. Oregon’s own Stumptown Coffee provides a nice richness to the pleasing flavors.

I will admit that this Birds & Brews pairing is simply icing on the cake to the time spent with good friends and passionate birders – or rather the thick, foamy head on my creamy, dark stout. Probably should have stopped before that got weird.
If you would like a great overview of the game and how to play, check out this You-Tube video: Click Here
More information on the upcoming Birds & Brews event HERE!

Beer Info –
Brewery – Elysian Brewing Company
Location – Seattle, Washington
Beer – Split Shot Espresso Milk Stout
Style – Milk Stout
ABV – 5.6%
Untappd Rating – 4.25/5
URL – elysianbrewing.com
Game Info –
Name – WIngspan
Publisher – Stonemaier Games
Creator – Elizabeth Hargrave
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