These photos were taken Sunday afternoon at King Harbor Brewing Company’s tasting room on 182nd Street, where a couple dozen Craft Beer Guy followers and fans of King Harbor’s own beertender/quiz master extraordinaire, Izzy, gathered for another of my Covid Can Exchanges and to wish farewell to Izzy whose last official day was Sunday.

As Izzy said, I guess people were happy to see him go as this was the largest turnout we have had in the 13 can exchanges we have had since I started doing them, with 23 participants, providing 46 4-paks to choose from. We did have two duplicate beers show up, but I planned for this possibility and brought an extra to swap out; we ended up with 45 different beers to choose from. While it did take a little longer to choose our beers, everyone I talked to seemed very pleased with their picks.

For those unclear on the process, participants bring two 4-paks. We then do a fantasy football style drawing (1 through 23, then 23 through 1) and everyone chooses one beer at a time until we all have two mixed 4-paks. I started doing these in September of 2020, primarily because I missed seeing people during the lockdown, and I figured it would be a good way to support the breweries we could not visit while being introduced to new beers. It has been very well received by all that attend.

As Sunday was going to be Izzy’s last official day at King Harbor, and he was actually the inspiration for me doing these (he held one at the brewery a few years back), I thought it only fitting that he be the theme for this month’s can exchange.

You may have noticed that I said “last official day” a couple times; that is because Izzy will fill in as a substitute once in a while both as beertender and quiz master.

Congratulations to Izzy on his new future, and thank you to everyone that came out yesterday; that truly was a fun time.

For those that are interested in attending a future Covid Can Exchange, please follow The Craft Beer Guy Facebook page as that is the only place I advertise it, unless I happen to run into you at a brewery. Cheers!

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