This past Saturday, I attended my first Big Pig Gig. It was a marvelous affair.The event was hosted by our friends Jen and Derek Lee. These folks are serious about their barbeque. We’re not talking hot dogs and hamburgers here – this is the real thing. A great deal of care, time, and effort is required to make pig this good… Hours and hours and hours in the smoker.

Derek lovingly prepared racks of ribs that fell off the bone, as well as some of the best darned pulled pork I have ever tasted. People attacked those pork shoulders like vultures! And seeing as there were 50-some-odd guests, it was quite a sight to see.

Jen and Derek commissioned us (myself and my husband, Tim) to brew a keg for the Gig (sweet PR opportunity for us!). So we came up with a special recipe for them that we called J&D Pale Ale.

Light, slightly sweet, with a subtle bitterness. We went with citrus and floral hops for the flavor and aroma. We didn’t know what kind of crowd we were catering to, so we tried to go with something that even non-beer drinkers could enjoy.

And it certainly seemed to work! We had compliments flying at us left and right. Some were honest with us, saying things like, “I only took a little of it because I didn’t think I would like it. But I’m surprised, it’s actually really good!” I believe Jen’s reaction was, “This is f***ing amazing!!!” You can see Derek’s review of our beer here. Jen and Derek seemed truly honored that we put forth the effort to brew for them, and we were very honored to do it!

Our keg was actually placed in the same bucket as a keg of Victory Festbier, and J&D Pale Ale kicked first! It only took 3 hours! Jen said that we won the Lee Royal Stumble. Quite an accomplishment if you ask me!

Check out my pouring action. Photo credit, Melissa Ward.

We had a lot of people asking us what the name of our brewery is going to be, and whether or not we’ve trademarked it yet… We’re looking into trademarking at the moment, so this will happen very soon. At that point, we’ll announce our brewery name. Maybe I’ll announce it right here in my blog. We shall see.

My brother, Ray, drew the pig-playing-guitar logo for the Gig that you see at the top of this post. (Isn’t he good? Check out the archives of his old webcomic TMABB, and then follow his future creative endeavors!) Jen and Derek gave out Big Pig Gig magnets as favors with this sweet logo on it. Nice work, bro.

Jen and Derek also had live music! The Helper Monkeys were great, I was impressed. It really made for an awesome atmosphere, in addition to all the work Jen and Derek put into decorating. The basement was all decked out! They even had a “Seven Minute in Heaven” room. There were smiles all around…

Ray and Melissa

Me and Tim. Photo credit, Melissa Ward.

I’m hoping that this is an event that continues to happen every year. We’ll most definitely be back next year (with two kegs instead of one).