New Wolverine Beer Releases Tonight

The eagerly anticipated (by me, anyway) release of Wolverine State Brewing's District 16 Vienna Amber Lager comes at 11:30 tonight, just in time for toasting. Wolverine's E.T. Crowe AKA Liz AKA Beer Wench has some notes on the beer's name and style:

"Just what IS the 16th District of Vienna" you ask, intrepid follower?  Brewer states it thus:  It's the "Ottakring," home to Ottakringer Brauerei, the last large remaining brewery in Vienna whose most famous brew is the Ottakringer Helles, a beer with an alcohol content of 5.2% and a wort of 11.8° Plato.  The forward thinking Austrians put this beer in cans...

The Week in Beer: Ringing in Some New Beers

Cask ale is on at the Peak.

Too broke to jet off to Tahiti for an exotic New Year’s Eve junket? Tired of being fondled and scanned at airports? If you’re sticking around town for 2011’s grand entrance, you fortunately have options — and all of them involve good beer, too! Take a look at your New Year in Beer, below, and I will see you on the other side. Cheers and auld lang syne and all of that!

Dogfish at Ashley's; Good Humans at Sidetrack; Hoppy Amber Ale at Original Gravity

Lots of good beers going on tap today. Here's the scoop:

» Ashley's, 338 S. State, is hosting a Dogfish Head event tonight beginning at 6pm, with plenty of draft Dogfish brews including World Wide Stout, Pangaea, Theobroma, India Brown Ale, Black & Blue, and Sah'Tea. It's a great opportunity to try some of these unusual beers from the host of the new Discovery TV series Brew Masters.

» Speaking of unusual beers, in Ypsilanti, Sidetrack Bar & Grill, 56 E. Cross, is tapping a keg of Good Humans Dry-Hopped Double Brown Ale from Short's.

» And at Original Gravity, 440 County, Milan, Brad Sancho will be unveiling his latest small-batch brew, an amber ale dry-hopped three times with Amarillo hops.  (Ooh, triple hops brewed!)

Get 'em before they're gone!

O Christmas Ale, O Christmas Ale: How Tasty Are Thy Ingredients

Wassail Ale at the Blue Tractor.

So, from 9pm tonight to 9pm tomorrow night (Christmas), Caesar has decreed no alcohol sales, which means you also need to get your beer purchasing on even as you finish up all that last-minute shopping. The question, then, naturally arises: Who has the best Christmas beer on tap right now? Let's take a look.

New Growlers, Maracaibo On Tap at Jolly Pumpkin

Maracaibo Especial Brown Ale — brewed with cacao, cinnamon, and orange peel — is back on tap at Jolly Pumpkin Café & Brewery, and you can take some home for Christmas in a fancy new growler for sale for $29. With a Grolsch-style cap seal, the beer inside will presumably stay fresher longer, too. Not a bad gift idea, eh?

The Week in Beer: Have Yourself a Beery Little Christmas

It's a merry Christmas with a Noel de Calabaza at Jolly Pumpkin.

As 2010 draws to a close, your correspondent would first like to thank my many loyal readers, including all those who frequently come up to me at various events and say how much they enjoy reading my columns. It’s great to know you’re all out there. I’d also like to thank the good folks at AnnArbor.com for giving me such a cool platform for spreading the word about the truly excellent beers being produced right in our own backyard and, in a larger sense, all across this great big mitten we call home. Finally, I'd like to thank everyone who makes, distributes, and/or serves all of these fantastic malt concoctions for a thirsty public. We love what you do! And to everyone out there: Have a very Merry Christmas, and enjoy the last full Week in Beer of 2010. Ho ho ho!

Two Releases at Liberty Street Today

Writes Joe Walters on the Liberty Street blog:

This Wednesday when we open at 3:00pm, we will release the collaboration beer made with Sherwood Brewing. Resinator Dopplebock is a hemp ale (a la Sherwood), made with a nice roasty flavor from toasting the hemp seeds. Later at 7:00pm, we will release the Gnarley Barleywine to the LSBC Mug Club (available to all others after 9:00pm). This is a Sons of Liberty batch that comes in at a whopping 10.5% abv (half pints only, and sorry no growlers).

Might be a good reason to make the drive to Plymouth.

Cheap, Tasty Trader Joe's Beers Help to Make the Season Tight

Those in the know have been aware for a long time that Trader Joe's sells some pretty tasty brews under its own label, as well as under other names. Two great examples around this time of year include the JosephsBrau Winterfest Lager and the Trader Joe's Vintage Ale. The former is $6 a sixpack of bottles and the latter is $5 for a 750ml bottle. I wrote about these last year.

Where do these beers come from? An article making the rounds among craft beer lovers notes where the various TJ branded beers are brewed — and it's from the respectable likes of Gordon Biersch, Firestone Walker, Goose Island, and Unibroue, but at a lower price than you might otherwise find for these breweries' own products.

So if you're looking for some good, economical beer to drink while you sit down to wrap all those expensive Christmas presents this week, you could do worse than bringing home a few of these brews.

Live Music and Santa Claus Come to Wolverine Brewing Tomorrow

Wolverine State Brewing wraps up its week-long food drive on behalf of Food Gatherers tomorrow from 6-8pm with a concert from Kevin Devine as well as a visit from Old St. Nick. Bring in some canned goods for some nice beer discounts. Flier below:

Ho ho ho!

Road Trippin': Midland Brewing Co., Frankenmuth Brewery, Redwood Lodge

Sorry for the dearth of posting the past few days. Your correspondent was up north on assignment, but on his way home he conducted some quick investigations.

First stop was the Midland Brewing Co., which just opened in October.  They presently have eight beers on tap that run the gamut: a light lager, a blonde, a pale, an IPA, an amber, a nut brown, a stout, and "Copper Harbor Ale," which was originally meant to be the amber but came out not quite right (and is now their best seller, go figure).

Mason Brewer's Best Release at Original Gravity

Writes Brad Sancho of Original Gravity Brewing Co.:

Stop by OG to try a pint of Mason Brewer's Best! A very revised recipe of the original Mason Brewer. Easy drinking English-style session beer that is not short on flavor. Medium-bodied ale that combines the best attributes of both an English mild and English-style bitter. Brew Crew members get $2.50 pints of "The Best" all day long!

I'm heading in the opposite direction (north) today, or I might consider dropping in for a glass or three of this. Love me some English milds and bitters! If you make it over there, leave a comment and let us know what you think of this beer.

The Week in Beer: Beat the Cold with Some Holiday Brews

Thursdays just got better at Bar Louie, 401 E. Liberty.

The solstice approaches, and after last weekend’s storm and its aftermath, nobody can doubt that Old Man Winter is in the driver’s seat, joyfully spreading snow, ice and arctic blasts around for our collective misery. Well, why not show the old man you know how to beat him at his frigid game? Stay inside, keeping warm and drinking beer — by the fireplace, at the bar, in a comfy lounge chair, anywhere good craft brew is pouring. As usual, your correspondent is happy to help you plan your rebellion against the elements with plenty of ideas in your Week in Beer, straight ahead.

Ashley's Announces February 2011 Belgian Beer Fest in Westland

Belgium. The very name conjures up exotic images of... well, hell, I don't know. Jean Claude Van Damme?

No, scratch that. How about images of some of Planet Earth's most awesome and unique beers? Yes, yes, that's more like it.  Jeff More, owner of Ashley's, and his brother, Roy, agree, and as a result of their recent trip to Belgium, they are proudly announcing the first-ever Belgian Beer Festival at Ashley's Westland, February 16-20, 2011.

Barrels o' Jolly Pumpkin News

Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales is blowing past milestones and not looking back. Owner/brewer Ron Jeffries is not only celebrating seven years in business; he also recently brewed JP's 700th batch of beer, which turns out to be the same as the first batch, Oro de Calabaza. Oro, for those who don't know, is a Great American Beer Festival gold medal winner and in February was also chosen by a panel of New York Times beer tasters as their favorite Belgian ale. Here's a short video of Ron talking about Batch 700:

Liberty Street Brewing Co. Turns Two Tonight

Liberty Street Brewing in Plymouth is celebrating its second anniversary tonight with live music and a special feast prepared by Executive Chef Jason Stoops and the rest of the team from the 5ive Restaurant at the Inn at St. John's. All courses feature Liberty Street beer as an ingredient, and the menu includes braised beef short ribs, natural jus beer-poached brats, roasted onions, beer-braised sauerkraut, green peppercorn mustard, and pasta salad with sun-dried tomato, fresh basil, pine nuts, roasted garlic vinaigrette. The long-awaited Liberty Two, a dry-hopped version of Siamese Dream Double IPA, will also be unveiled.

Tickets are $20 and include the first pour and chances to win door prizes and gift certificates. Call the brewery at 734.207.9600 to reserve your spot. And congratulations to Joe, Jim, and the rest of the LSBC crew on two years of great beer!

The Week in Beer: Forget the Milk, Leave a Brew for Santa

Santa Claus (aka VP of Sales Mike Turriff) and auctioneer Wayne Reif raise money for charity at the Dec. 7 Jolly Pumpkin rare beer auction.

Santa Claus is coming to town, and wouldn't it be nice if, instead of the usual milk and cookies, we offered him a nice stout? Or perhaps a spicy Christmas ale of some kind? Dude must surely be tired of the same old, same old, so why not treat the jolly old elf this year to something more, well, jolly? Here are just a few ideas in your Week in Beer, below.

Rare Beer Auction Tonight at Jolly Pumpkin

Tonight is the Second Annual Rare beer auction at Jolly Pumpkin Café & Brewery in Ann Arbor. What's a rare beer auction like?  Here's a video clip from last year's event:



The write-up is here. It's a fun event for a good cause and definitely worth checking out if you're looking to expand your beer cellar's holdings or just impress your beer nerd friends.

Some of the 40+ bottles available include La Roja from 2004; Oro de Calabaza from 2004, 2005, and 2006; the first batch (2006) of Madrugada Obscura; Biere de Mars Grand Reserve aged 16 months in oak; the first batch of Perseguidor; the first batch of Fuego del Otono (2005); and the very rare Lambicus Dexterius, which will likely not be bottled at all in 2011.

Brewer's Night at the Grizzly Peak Den

Brewer Duncan Williams pours a special cask ale on Brewer's Night.

The first Tuesday of every month is Brewer's Night at the Den at Grizzly Peak, with brewer Duncan Williams conducting tours of the brewery and pouring out beers from a special cask. This time it's Broadside Ale, a barrel-aged, dry-hopped blend of Sheerwater IPA and Bear Paw Porter. Samplers of the other Grizzly beers are also discounted, and right now the rotating taps in the Den include Yakima Biere (a Belgo-American Ale) and Hopfenkopf Altbier. Drop in to enjoy pints of these tasty brews while talking beer with their creator!

The Art of the Mug

Local ceramics artist Jay Howe exhibited some of his unique barware last night at the Corner Brewery, for whom he makes personalized Mug Club mugs, and gave a live demonstration of the process behind mug-making.  I arrived too late for the live demonstration, but just in time to try some of the last of the small-batch Rat Pad beer Jay brewed for the event. The slightly smoky, well balanced yet fairly light-bodied porter went excellent with the roasted turkey dinner plate I had.  (Kudos to Mike O'Brien for roasting the birds to perfection.)

In fact, I believe there is still some of that turkey left...

Be-costumed Beer Drinkers

Photo pilfered from Two Cicerones.

Today is Eccentric Day, the day when Larry Bell releases his annual Eccentric Ale at the Bell's Eccentric Cafe in Kalamazoo. Many hundreds of raving mad beer drinkers — including plenty from our area — converge on the cafe to try the new beer, whose recipe varies from year to year, and celebrate with a party that is, well, eccentric. You see, would-be attendees have to dress in some seriously goofy duds or else be denied entry to the popular event (see above).

The Week in Beer: December Bustles with Beer Events

Get your growlers ready for some new brews from Wolverine State Brewing Co.

The shopping, er, holiday season continues apace, as do the fantastic local beer events. But why waste time talking about it? Let’s dig right into your latest Week in Beer, below.

Flamboyant Wild Release; Winter Beer Fest Tix on Sale

While Ron Jeffries of Jolly Pumpkin rightly receives regional and even national acclaim for his many fine Belgian-style sour ales, Matt Greff and his brewers at Arbor Brewing are quietly producing a worthy series of sour beers of their own. Today is the release of Flamboyant Wild Red Ale, a barrel-aged, bottle-conditioned Flemish style ale.  Arbor describes it thus: