Michigan Summer Beer Festival - best day of summer!
July 28, 2008
Another Michigan Brewers Guild Annual Summer Beer Festival is past and I’d have to say it was another awesome event. I got in an hour early this year, and took a walk around all the tents to see the new layout. This year, the tents were even more spread out, with one additional tent added. I met up with Brian Richards (Homebrewing Adventures - seen above) and we did our share of hanging around the Jolly Pumpkin booth before the crowds rolled in.
I did a terrible job of keeping track of what I tried, but I do think some of the sour beers stood out for me this year (it’s what I tasted when I woke up the next morning!).. Jolly Pumpkin had a great line up; their Persequidor was a definite fan favorite. Big Rock Chop House stood out this year also, they had a couple of great beers, a sour cherry and a sour belgian. Both made me want to take a trip up to Big Rock sometime soon. Oh yeah, their Farmhouse ale was great too!
I also liked Grizzly Peaks Sour Porter. Shorts Double IPA was darn good, as well as Right Brains CEO stout (Chocolate, Espresso and Oatmeal). For lunch I enjoyed a Petoskey Pale Ale from Leelanau Brewing Co.
In between, I had a little bit of everything else. What beers were your favorite? Post a comment if you remember some beers you had that really stood out. We had a great time and met some awesome people. Thanks to the Brewers Guild for putting on another fantastic event.
Click here to see a photo gallery of the festival.
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Posted in Uncategorized
July 28th, 2008 at 9:37 am
Normally, I eschew fruit beers, but I decided to focus on them this time. To my surprise, I had several that were quite good: Walldorff’s strawberry-rhubarb cream ale, Grand Rapid’s Wildberry Ambrosia Malternative, and Jasper Ridge’s blastin’ blueberry wheat.
Also: Livery’s Double Paw IPA (I love IPAs!) and a RyePA (sorry, I forget which brewery made it).
The beer that I was dying to try–OG’s orange Tic Tac–didn’t do it for me. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but the beer wasn’t it.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:07 am
I think my favorite beer of the day was Founder’s Bourbon Porter. YUM!
Others that I really liked: Roja Du Kriek Sour Cherry Beer (Jolly Pumpkin)
Blastin Blueberry Wheat (Jasper Ridge)
Cocoa-Loco Triple Chocolate Stout (Arcadia)
Dubbel Vision Belgian Dubbel (Bastone)
Strawberry Rhubarb Cream Ale (Walldorff)
X Ale Barleywine (Woodward Ave)
Double Paw IPA (The Livery)
Funny how a lot of the stuff on my list is also on TeacherPatti’s list…(might have something to do with the fact that we attended the event together!)
July 28th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
I was on a big time sour binge Saturday. Big Rock’s sour cherry tripple and sour double were outstanding. Beyond the sour ales, the Livery Double Paw IPA and Thomas? were great. There just wasn’t enough time to sample everything. (and not enough stamina)
July 29th, 2008 at 11:08 am
I brought my pen and I brought my notebook and even my camera. Still, I have no notes or pictures to look back on. My problem, I just want to have a good time. I loved the fact that they spaced things out more. You did a great job MBG!
There was so many beers this year that no one can try them all. The special beers that the breweries roll out for this event make it even tougher to taste all you want to but that is a good problem. The Livery makes some great beers and I agree that the Double Paw was awesome.
July 29th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Great job guys! Loved the pictures too! My personal Top 3?
Triple Weizenbock-The Livery (AWESOME BREW!!!)
Persequidor-Jolly Pumpkin
Triple Cherry-Big Rock
Creme’ Brule’-Kuhnhenn
Euphori-ale Barleywine-Royal Oak Brewery
4th Dementia-Kuhnhenn
Perculator-Dark Horse
Cereal Killer-Arcadia
Grapes & Grain of Wrath-Fort Street
Dubbel Vision-Bastone
Ooops . . . did I say “three”??? WOW!!!
July 29th, 2008 at 11:23 am
PS: I must say that The Livery honestly blew me away! I had no idea how awesome Steve’s beers are!!!
July 29th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Rob, I have YOUR tongue picture. I’ll trade ya!
July 29th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
I want to do more add more about The Livery. I rate breweries by how close I want to live by them and I want to live in their attic. Awesome beer, great atmosphere, and great music is what I love about this place. We went there last year to see one of our favorite artist, Danny Barnes and had a great time. We even took their Saturday yoga class.
If anyone is traveling to Chicago it is well worth the extra time and mileage to stop on in.
July 29th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
I thought Jolly Pumpkin’s Perseguidor 3 was my favorite and then that triple weizenbock from the Livery was probably my 2nd fav. Big Rock Chop House brought it pretty strong. I loved that Saison, Cherry Poppin’ Danny’s Beer, the RIS, basically everything they did was awesome. I had a blast this year, can’t wait until next year. Maybe I can even talk my lovely wife into coming down for the winter festival.