Sweet Tweet at Boundary Bay
When local Bellingham brewpub Boundary Bay Brewery & Bistro tweeted that they were hosting a special beer and dessert tasting event for local Tweeps on Tuesday, June 30, 2009, I jumped at the chance to participate. As regular readers of my Mindfly blogs know, I love to eat and I especially love Boundary Bay beer.
Boundary introduced a Summer Dessert Menu, concocted by Donica Burnett of Bantam Cakes, earlier this summer and decided to consult their fans in pairing these delicious desserts with their craft brews. By enlisting Twitterers, Boundary fans not in attendance could follow the comments along on Twitter, envying every mouthwatering bite and drink.
I ducked out of the studio a little early to head to the Beer Garden for Sweet Tweet. Seeing the set-up of tables under a white tent on a warm summer day was a real treat, and the place settings with personal menus, red cloth napkins, and four empty glasses waiting to be filled with Boundary Bay’s finest brews gave the “focus group” a fancy feel.
Many of the Sweet Tweeters assembled are connected in Bellingham web development, social media, and marketing, but we also had a WWU student and a New Jersey-based photographer in our midst. As we waited for the beer and dessert to arrive, the group compared mobile devices, agreed on a hashtag (#bbst), and took a survey of how long we’d been Twittering; usage ranged from one month to “as long Twitter has been around.” We also enjoyed the fact that this was probably the one and only social situation where Twittering while eating and conversing with others was okay—nay, encouraged!
The first marvel of the event was the sight of Boundary Bay craft brews in pitchers, a rare if not completely unheard of occurrence. And then the dessert came. Kudos to Donica for the lovely presentation of each dish; they were almost too pretty to eat…almost.
I started with the Strawberry-Celebration Shortcake Shortcake and expected the super-sweet dish to pair well with the Lightner Ale, a light American-style ale, but found that the Dunkles Bock, a full-bodied German-style bock, complimented the sweetness of the fruit. Tweeters also recommended dipping the shortcake alone in the chocolaty Oatmeal Stout.
Speaking of the Oatmeal Stout, I loved the rich, black stout with the Cherry Porter Ice Cream Cake (photo above). The creaminess of the ice cream and the moistness of the cake brought out the coffee flavors in the stout, making this a perfect post-dinner pair.
I saved the Larabee Cake for last. This gluten-free dish offers an explosion of diverse flavors—chocolate mousse, fresh blueberries, and a lavender-lemon glaze—and this is where the Lightner Ale worked for me. It provided a refreshing finish that didn’t overpower the intense flavors of the dessert.
As a special surprise at the end of the tasting, Donica served up figs glazed in a stout wort reduction. Although I’m not a huge fan of figs (it’s the texture), you could drizzle that chocolate sauce on just about anything and I’d eat it. We were also treated to the recently tapped Imperial IPA to “clear the palate.”
Sweet Tweet turned out to be a phenomenal way for loyal fans and customers to feel like they have a say in the mission and service of Boundary Bay. It was definitely a win-win event; the Tweeps enjoyed sampling the beer and dessert, and the Boundary Bay team—General Manager Janet Lightner, Public Relations guru Amy Jones, and Dessert Chef Donica Burnett—received useful feedback on their menu and what their patrons want.
As opposed to an open-ended tweetup where you’ll find web developers and restaurateurs and realtors and politicians all clamoring about with no definable agenda except networking, the Sweet Tweet gave attendees a specific task during the event. Having that shared interest allowed a diverse group of people come together so that the networking aspect can occur naturally.
I definitely recommend using Twitter to reward and engage customers in promotions and events for your business. And I’m on board for any other Boundary Bay Twitter event in the future…may I suggest Eat & Tweet to pair brews with new entrée items or Cheap Tweet for Happy Hour specials?
Get Boundary's recap and links to more photos at Sweet Tweetin' at Boundary Bay Brewery.