To start off the last month of 2022 and to celebrate the coming new year, the Highstreet team gathered for three Employee Engagement Activities: a beer tasting, a wine tasting, and a cupcake decorating class. The Beer Tasting event hosted by Mary Catherine through City Brew Tours, started off with employees receiving a box for the event containing various cheeses, other goodies, and multiple craft beers that were perfectly paired for one of the cheeses. The Wine Tasting event was hosted by Andrea Komulainen through In Good Taste.
Beer Pairing & Tasting
Once the boxes were opened, Mary Catherine took the Highstreet team through the tasting. The first step of pouring a good beer is to tilt your glass to a 45-degree angle and aim for halfway down the glass. Once the glass is filled hallway then tilt the cup back upright. The beer tour started at Spiced Holiday Ale then moved to a Chocolate Porter. Paired with the Sriracha Windsordale, a type of cheese, the combination was delicious. The tasting ended with a dry-hopped Kolsch style ale. All the beer and cheese that were a part of this event were from Vermont. Not only did the box come with beer and cheese, but there was also a chocolate bar, ginger cookies, fig preservative, a holiday cracker, and a holiday bottle opener. All items that could be mixed and matched to each attendee’s pleasure.
To end the tasting, everyone prepared to crack their poppers—a fun Christmas tradition originating in the United Kingdom. Once the ends were grasped firmly, everyone pulled hard and celebrated the holiday with their gifts. Whistles, miniature cheese graters, and jokes were a perfect way to end the evening.
Wine Tasting
How often do you get to experience a Shark Tank winning wine tasting? Andrea Komulainen took Highstreet on a tasting journey that spanned both time and space. She started out by explaining that whenever you enjoy a wine, you should observe the five “s”: see, swirl, sniff, sip, and savor. This is the outline for your whole experience. Utilizing these five tools throughout the tasting, the Highstreet team enjoyed six wines: A 2020 Vermentino, a Chardonnay, a 2019 Barbera, a 2019 Coteaux Bourguignons, a red blend from California, and a Rose of Sangiovese Marche
Delivered in a cute box, the wine tasting kit came with a QR code specialized to our wines and a card explaining the tasting protocol. The individually sized bottles were decorated with modern labels and were a perfect serving.
Cupcake Decorating
The final event where Highstreet gathered to celebrate the holiday season was cupcake decorating. Have you ever wished you could produce beautifully decorated desserts for your holiday party? This was the event for you. Provided with four colors of Wilton icing, Satin Ice fondant, cupcake-sized decorations, icing tips, and 12 pre-made cupcakes, the Highstreet team was now ready to don their bakers caps and aprons and decorate. The instructor led everyone through six unique decoration techniques and helped everyone make the best holiday desserts they could. The event, hosted by CourseHorse, was a perfect event for team members to enjoy with their families, children, and grandchildren. Thank you, My Make Studio, for providing a great decoration kit that the Highstreet team got to enjoy.
Building Better Teams
Highstreet celebrates 2022 every quarter. Setting aside time to enjoy and appreciate the team is time well spent. Dedication to our clients begins with dedication to our team. By showing our appreciation for their expertise and hard work, Highstreet is building a team of talented experts. Our team loves providing the best service and technological expertise possible.
If you’re interested in joining a growth focused team, check out our job listings or reach out to us directly. We’re always happy to welcome talented, passionate people to our team.
