We are technically in the middle of an alcohol fast.

Chalk it up to an inordinate amount of fall weddings and way too many open bars for our own good.

But when your friends keep hitting major milestones, and you live in craft beer country, it’s really difficult to say no to a celebratory outing. Especially when you know that this is the last free weekend you’ll have until the clock strikes 2016.

So here we find ourselves, honoring three friends at three different breweries in a span of just 48 hours. Jason [bless his heart] stuck to his guns, but I [being the social drinker that I am] completely caved. AND I DON’T REGRET IT ONE BIT. Because the people we were drinking to deserved every bit of our celebratory selves.

The first beer was for Beth. Beth is one of those people who gets along with everyone she meets. Her gentle nature, enthusiastic thirst for learning, and massive wheelhouse of information allow her to thrive in most every situation. She is a geophysicist for the US Geological Survey [USGS], a job that has taken her around the world to research the earth’s crust. She and our other friend Lyndsay [also a smartypants scientist for the USGS] know everything about rocks, as well as growing food from the earth, keeping bees, and Chris Thile. Most importantly, they are the people you want at your dinner party. They certainly put us to shame…

Beth, left, and Lyndsay, right. Both unaware of our paparazzi photo skills.

So we [ahem, Elizabeth] drank our first beer in honor of Beth and her upcoming departure to Antarctica [yep, ANTARCTICA!]. She was heading to the ice fields of the south for a month-long work detail, and we couldn’t think of a better way of sending her off than saluting her and her genius, adventurousness, and altogether amazingness.

Plus, we  love Joyride Brewing. Mostly because they were the headlining sponsors of our church’s Oktoberfest event, and any local businesses that support the local community are friends of ours.

Next up, we had a double-header: Lauren and Pete.

Every year, we adamantly look forward to Lauren’s annual birthday gathering at Strange Craft Beer Company. Lauren and her husband Jeff are fellow Trinity grads and such lovers of life. We always find ourselves over at their house for the next White Elephant Christmas party or St. Patrick’s Day celebration, ready for a night to remember. Genuine, hilarious, and explorers at heart, they are the kind of kindred spirits that we feel fortunate to have in our midst here in Colorado. We weren’t friends in college, but thank goodness for the shared people in our lives who brought us together. Plus, you can always count on her to “like” your dog’s Instagram photos 🙂

Randy, Lauren (the birthday girl), Kelty, and Tyler

The group of people gathered at Strange were a healthy mix of wonderful, and the beers — certainly “strange” in their approach but delicious in their execution — were worthy of refills.

But we abstained. Because our third and final beer was being saved for Pete.

Pete [and his girlfriend fiancée Whitney] is one of our closest and most longstanding friends in Denver. It’s that age-old tale we always have to tell: I have a friend, I introduce said friend to Jason, and Jason and said friend become besties, leaving me in the dust. Fortunately, Pete is one of those diligent friends who we have no doubt will be in both of our lives forever, even if they do one day make that move back to Texas they keep talking about. For almost three solid years, we have met consistently for a weekly game night [read: nerd cards]. We LOVE game nights, not only for the tasty snacks and games of Dominion that are a given, but also for the company of Pete and Whitney. Canning pickles, brewing beer, skiing in Winter Park, snowshoe hut trips, symphony outings, and speakeasy whiskey cocktails: this is our experience with Pete in a nutshell. No wonder he’s our friend!

So there was no way that we were not going to represent at the Comrade Brewing celebrations following Pete’s professional engineering license exam. We’ll find the results at a later date, but seriously — What a baller. And what a guy.

And what memorable beers!