Spring Fever "beer basket without a basket" update

Spring Fever Cabaret 2012.  Cate the Great, winning bidder
of the basket, me and Gloria in costume as "Gloria" for the
All in the Family skit.  Thanks to James for the pic.  

Very happy to report that my first attempt to put together a beer basket for the Spring Fever Cabaret & Silent Auction went well.  Happily, several people bid on the beer basket without a basket.  I keep calling it a basket, but I didn't have the time or talent to create a presentation and just sent the beer in for the silent auction.  It worked out, but I will hopefully do a better job next year.  Here's the description of this year's beer basket.

For future shows, I'm starting to plan now and intend to create a new, unique basket each year based on my beer travels.  We are going to GALA in Denver and I hope to pick up some bottles there.  Also, we're going to be in Belgium and France this summer, so I'm hoping to find some excellent local-only beers that aren't available in the US.  For those who know a bit about cellaring, I will be looking for high alcohol, big and/or hoppy beers that will age well until spring for the cabaret.  With those bottles I find on the road, I'm leaning towards filling out the collection with Minnesota craft beer favorites.  Maybe a combination of local beers traveled to Minnesota by me will be interesting for the auction.  But, the plan is very amendable, and I will simply look for the best beers to include in the collection and let it grow organically through my beer experiences.