The Week in Beer: Easter, Yeasters, Madness, and Fools

On tap now at Ashley's: The Klucking Kat Belgian-style Ale from Witch's Hat Brewing Co., just named 2012 Best Small Business of the Year.

Spring is in the air, and the signs of it are now impossible to deny. Not just the obvious signs like sunlight and temperatures rising above freezing, but also the ongoing college basketball frenzy, the arrival of Easter, and Ann Arbor's most foolish residents taking to the streets. Riding shotgun to all this (no pun intended — you should always sip) is great beer, and if you're reading this, you want to know when and where to get some. Your correspondent is happy to oblige, as always. (You're welcome.)

The Week in Beer: Drink Spring

Sample beers from Whole Foods Cranbrook's spiffy new draft system. Photo: Whole Foods Cranbrook Facebook page

Raise your hand if you're ready for spring. Well, too bad, because it seems Mother Nature isn't quite done with winter yet. But beer seasons wait for no man (or mother), so raise your pint glasses to the new beers of spring, snow or not, because they're here! And as usual, I'm prepared to tell you where to get them. Bundle up and read on for your latest informational Week in Beer.

The Week in Beer: Get Your Stout and Corned Beef and Cabbage On

On St. Patrick's Day, Jessica French of Sidetrack Bar & Grill wants to buy you a beer. Maybe.

It's that special time of year again, when everyone, regardless of their ethnic heritage, turns Irish for a day. I think we've come a long way in this country from when Irish immigrants were hated and mistrusted. It just goes to show how nasty and wrong those old Irish stereotypes really were. Now, before you go out to get drunk on whiskey and beer, start a fight, and vomit, be sure you're clued in to the local happs, with your Week in Beer, St. Patrick's Day edition, below.

The Week in Beer: Bountiful Brew for a Time of Transition

The aptly named Mr. Delicious Double IPA from Arbor Brewing.

March is a busy time of transitions. There's the obvious transition from winter to (thank God!) spring. There's the ongoing Lenten season as the faithful work toward the joys of Easter. And for fans of sport, there's the end of the regular men's college basketball season and the start of the NCAA tournament. Even beer lovers are part of the cycle, as spring brews like maibocks and witbiers begin reappearing on the taps and store shelves, replacing the heavier winter styles. (Stout lovers, of course, do get one last big hurrah on St. Patrick's Day.)

As we patiently await the signs of new life and warmer days ahead, let's celebrate this time of transition with some of those great brews, which are abundant as always in our tasty little neck of the woods.

Hit-and-Run Notes on the Winter Beer Festival

Note: A version of this article originally appeared Feb. 27 as "Complex, funky brews delight at Winter Beer Fest" on MittenBrew.com.

The rest of the Internet has already beat me to the punch as far as recapping what went down at last Saturday's Winter Beer Festival in Grand Rapids, but if you’ve been to any of the Michigan Brewers Guild’s four annual beer fests, you pretty much already know the score. This year, there were again more people (7,500 including brewers, staff and volunteers), more beers (625+), and more breweries (74) than the previous year, a pattern also familiar to regular festgoers.

What was different for me this time was I arrived extra early to help get Grizzly Peak’s table set up, which took longer than expected because the wind kept breaking the tie wraps and threatening to blow the banner into the sky. By the time all five firkins were up and pouring and I was able to get my cup and tokens, half of the Enthusiast hour was gone.