Beer Fest 2012!
Last weekend was the Michigan Brewers’ Guild’s Summer Beer Fest in scenic Ypsilanti. To those of you not from here, it’s right next to Ann Arbor and is the fun-loving, rough-around-the-edges Billy Carter to A2’s stately, educated Jimmy. There were over 50 brewers serving close to 350 different beers, once again proving that Michigan has one of the best craft brewing industries in the country. The event also reaffirmed that yours truly is a major lightweight. If you’ll recall from my post last year, I was fully expecting to be in Mel Gibson territory on the free breathalyzer but was actually well below the legal limit. Some things never change.
Boom Boom came with me this year and we brought along our close friends, The Bloodsucking Lawyers. This was Boom Boom’s first time at the event and agreed to go only after I assured her that it wasn’t anything like the movie.
arlingtondrafthouse.com
I would be remiss if I didn’t suggest this absolutely hilarious movie as a must-see for all of you guys out there. The movie follows a group of five friends as they train and eventually compete in a secret underground beer game Olympics. It’s the absolutely low-brow (downright unibrow) slapstick type of humor made for those of us with XY chromosomes. Your girlfriend probably won’t understand this movie and will hate you for making her sit through it. Just gently reminder her of how you sat quietly through The Waitress without complaining.
OK, back to beer fest, the event… Once again, those of you looking for details and tasting notes on the beers are going to be disappointed. I could barely keep track of what we drank, let alone what it tasted like. Since taking pictures only involves pressing a button on my iPhone, I was able to snap a few good ones.
Insert Game of Thrones reference here. I’d do it, but I haven’t seen any episodes yet.
Best beer name. Was that a horse I just heard?
#2 on my wishlist for if I ever get a man cave.
Wow, Slash really hasn’t aged well.
Here’s the list of the beers we sampled:
Original Gravity 2-Wheeler Witbier
Saugatuck Brewing Ginger Honey Ale – Yes! Flavorful with some strong acids.
Black Lotus Brewing DTF Tripel- 10% and smooth. Hmmm what does “DTF” stand for?
Livery’s Taxman Imperial Stout – 14% alcohol. The beginning of the end.
Midland’s Smoked Porter – Liquid sausage
Malty Dog’s Frau Blucher Hefeweizen
Bastone’s Saison Du Bastone – Boom Boom says it tastes like piss. Agreed.
Fenton Brewery’s Head-on Collision Black IPA
Fenton Brewery’s Beachhead Belgian Tripel
Old Peninsula’s Stout chocula
Greenbush’s Rage Imperial Black IPA – 14.7% !
Greenbush’s Emptiness Apricot Wheat
Greenbush’s Loud Mouth Soup
Dark Horse’s Sapient Trip Ale
Dark Horse’s Smells Like Weed – didn’t
Dark Horse’s FigPA
Dark Horse’s Death Star Lover Oak Age Chocolate Stout – Wonder if I got the wrong beer? It tasted like a great Belgian sour ale.
Big Rock’s Sour Cherry Tripel
Big Rock’s Go Figure Black IPA
Big Rock’s Tripel shandy
Big Rock’s Flying Buffalo Imperial Bourbon Stout – Tasted like a milkshake
Kuhnhenn’s Creme Brûlée Stout – always a crowdpleaser
Kuhnhenn’s Mandarin Orange Wit
Kuhnhenn’s General Tau Ginseng Ale
Jolly Pumpkin’s 15th Anniversary Ale – Hoppy wheat IPA. Not sour like the rest of their beers. Wow!
Mt Pleasant Brewing’s Freight Train Double IPA
Sherwood Brewing’s Disco Lemonade – refreshing
Sherwood’s Sun King Black Tea Lemon Ale – Flat and taste like ass.
Millking It’s Axl Pale Ale
Millking It’s Brik Irish Style Red Ale
Who wants to go with me next year? Better yet, who wants to re-enact the movie?
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15 comments on “Beer Fest 2012!”
Leave a Reply to seasonedwithsarcasm Cancel reply
wine century
Doppel Member, Baby!
oh my gosh I am SO jealous!!! An event like that needs to be a week long because that’s too many beers and not enough time (or sobriety). The hubs and I have become total beer snobs and are madly, deeply in love with craft beers. So much so that we brew our own. The craft beer movement is huge to the point where even the local watering hole near our house has at least 1 craft beer on tap.
Thanks for stopping by! Like yours, the local townie bar near my house is getting in on the action. And this is a place where Bud LIght was considered exotic. What’s your favorite style? Loooooove Belgian Tripels.
So many choices..Leinenkugel Summer Shandy, Saranac Summer Ale, plus so many from all the local craft breweries in Pennsylvania. We are lucky to have so many talented people brewing beer in the Steel City! I’m really still digging the porters and stouts right now, even though it’s summer! Dark Horse brewing has a really AMAZING smoked stout beer called “Fore Smoked Stout” that just blows my mind. Samuel Smiths Oatmeal Stout is another fave. And I’m not trying to rush summer or anything, but I cannot wait for pumpkin beers. Souther Tiers Pumpking is just, wow. Definitely give it a try if you get the chance. I also like the Wolaver’s (organic beer, amazing too!) Oatmeal Stout, Pumpkin Ale, and Alta Gracia Coffee Porter. Great Lakes Christmas Ale and Penn Brewery’s (local) St. Nikolaus Bock Bier. Damn. Now I’m thirsty.
Lmao ridiculous fun time!
I didn’t know they had so much variety of beers(over 300)?What’s your favorite then?
Yeah, was an awesome time. I don’t if there’s that many types, just people with their own versions of the same ones. I like Belgian stye beers, especially Tripels. Those are triple fermented so their hella strong.
I NEVER go to the movies, and I went to see Beerfest in the theaters! Of course, the hubs dragged me there. (I didn’t put up too much of a fight.) It was sort of rough, but I did love the beer goggles scene! It’s much better now when I catch it on cable on a Saturday afternoon. We have a lot of great beer festivals here in Denver– always a good time! I’m seriously impressed you remember the beers you tasted.
Soo impressed u saw it in the theater. Lots of hilarious scenes. About the list, I was able to type in a bunch on the phone. After a while I took pictures of the names. Definitely prevented autocorrect issues!!
So how was the Malty Dog’s Frau Blucher Hefeweizen?
It was good. Not earth-shattering, but not like urine. Probably 8/10. On the plus side, it gave us an opportunity to talk about YOung Frankenstein for a good 1/2 hour.
I better not tell my beer-loving wife about it, because she’ll be mad that we missed it…
Next year!! Let me know I you go. There’s also a
Winter version in Grand Rapids.
Oh, I’d love to go together! The winter one could be interesting, too. We should keep that in mind!
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