After a week of porcine dinners, panel discussion, pizza, and many pints, the Brooklyn Brewery hosted its grand finale with hundreds of pounds of beef served on pieces of bread devoured without the benefit of silverware or napkins. Happily, aprons were provided.
The host of the evening, Beefsteak Betty, vamped cheerfully and bawdily, with single entendres and provocative poses while introducing the event's signature band, Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Company, guest band To Be Continued brass band, and emceeing the steak eating competition.
The eating competition was done in pairs, with one person blindfolded feeding the other, who had his hands tied. The winner ate all the steak and drank a pint of Brooklyn Lager before the others even know what was happening. There was also a bread stacking competition, to use the bread rounds the steak came out on. The winning team rigged up some sort of pulley system that lifted the threaded pieces of bread.
It was a gluttonous yet joyful celebration of beer, beef, music, bawdiness, and fun. It was very New Orleans in spirit and sensibility. As local writer Scott Gold said of the event, "I know what I'm doing for my next birthday party."
