Detroit Fall Beer Festival

Last Saturday was the 3rd Annual Detroit Fall Beer Festival. Featuring more than 300 beers from over 50 breweries in Michigan, this festival is one of my favorites in Michigan. Taking place in Eastern Market, this festival is smaller than both the Summer and Winter fall beer festivals.

I started at Sherwood Brewing Company, my absolute favorite brewery, and had Erica (one of their beautiful servers) pour a Jamocha Cocoa Coffee Stout. It was delicious.

Next I hit North Peak; I was able to taste both their Hooligan Hoppy Pumpkin beer and the Hoodoo mentioned in a previous post. Both are IPA's, which tend to be bitter. Hooligan was good, but I loved Hoodoo. At 9% alcohol, it was sweeter than I thought it would be. And the hops are from Old Mission Peninsula - go Michigan!

My favorite pumpkin beer is Screamin' Pumpkin from Michigan Brewing Company in Webberville. While I like to try new beers at the festivals, I made an exception for this beer. The brewery owner told me about mixing Screamin' Pumpkin with their Nut Brown Ale, and then poured the mixture for me. It tasted just like a Windmill cookie.

It was a festival full of pumpkin brews - other favorites of the festival include La Parcela Sour Pumpkin Ale from Jolly Pumpkin, Punkin Pie Whole from Right Brain and Funkin' Punkin' from Shorts.

So what does everyone think? What were your favorites from the festival?

Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA at Champagne's

On Thursday Champagne's Wine Cellars in Warren is hosting a limited release beer tasting featuring Dogfish Head's 120 Minute IPA. Per Dogfish Head:

"Too extreme to be called beer? Brewed to a colossal 45-degree plato, boiled for a full 2 hours while being continuously hopped with high-alpha American hops, then dry-hopped daily in the fermenter for a month & aged for another month on whole-leaf hops!!! Our 120 Minute I.P.A. is by far the biggest I.P.A. ever brewed! Between 15-20% abv and 120 ibus you can see why we call this beer THE HOLY GRAIL for hopheads!"

Champane's Wine Cellars has been allocated a limited amount of the September 2011 batch, and is charging $5 for a 5oz. glass.  This event is limited to 80 people, contact Champagne's Wine Cellars (586-978-9463) for reservations.

Black Lotus

Friday night I was able to catch happy hour at Black Lotus (on 14 Mile Road in Clawson).  They were featuring $2.50 pints and half off all appetizers.

Black Lotus will always have a special place in my heart - it is the central meeting place for my college friends, and the brewery that took my bierginity.  There was a time when I only knew commercial beers without flavor - meant to be served cold so you had no idea how bad they actually were.  In those days I tried the Funkin' A Apricot Wheat (5.0% ABV).  I was instantly hooked - I couldn't believe beer could taste good, and I loved the sweet apricot flavor.  It's still one of my favorite beers.

Friday I ordered the Monster Mash Pumpkin Ale, which was delicious.  The first flavor to hit my mouth was pumpkin, and I was left with a spice aftertaste.  It didn't have the sweet vanilla flavor of the Michigan Brewing Company's Screamin' Pumpkin Spiced Ale, which you may prefer depending on your taste.  Black Lotus Monster Mash Pumpkin Ale is definitely one of my favorites of this season.

Note: Monster Mash Pumpkin Ale on left, Funkin' A Apricot Wheat on right.

Black Lotus also has a Black Bottom Oatmeal Stout on tap, which I may need to try later this week. In addition to the beer, they have great specials - happy hour (4-6pm), reverse happy hour (12m-2am), and a lunch time $6 burger/pint special.  The beers on tap and specials can be found on their website.  If you get a chance, order their Magic Mushroom Melt sandwich and the sweet potato fries...they are to die for.

http://blacklotusbrewery.com/

Happy SOUR Hour

Last night I was finally able to get out for Detroit Beer Week.  I attended the Happy SOUR Hour event at Slows BBQ in Detroit, which featured sour beers from Jolly Pumpkin and Leelanau Brewing Company with special guest Charles Psenka.  Beer was available by the bottle, glass, or flights of five.

Flights included:
1. Leelanau Brewing Company Good Harbor Golden Ale
2. Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza
3. Jolly Pumpkin La Roja
4. Jolly Pumpkin Fuego del Otono
5. Jolly Pumpkin La Parcela

I am not a big sour beer drinker, but I thought all of the beers were good.  My favorite was La Parcela (JP's pumpkin ale), followed by Oro de Calabaza.  My date for the evening is a big Jolly Pumpkin fan, and loves sour beers.  His favorite of the flight was also La Parcela, followed by La Roja.  I followed the fight with a glass of Jolly Pumpkin's Bam Noire, which was also delicious.

It was nice to be were able to visit with Charles Psenka. and see Aaron from the Tashmoo Biergarten.

The fun evening was capped off with dinner at Slows...definitely put me in the mood for the Detroit Beer Festival on Saturday.  Hope I see you there!

Jacoby’s German Biergarten

This past weekend I had the opportunity to visit Jacoby’s in Detroit.  Located at 624 Brush Street, this quaint Biergarten features a comprehensive beer list and some of the best German food around.  The potato pancakes are delicious, as is the spatzle. I ordered the German meatballs, which is one of my favorites.

 

I ordered a Shorts The Magician, a dark red London style ale.  It was very good, had a sweet fruity flavor with a hint of raisin.  Unfortunately I was craving a pumpkin beer, and eyed the Sam Adam’s Double Pumpkin Ale on the beer menu, but due to all the area sporting events lately they were out.

Jacoby’s was busy but not packed, the Lions were on and the crowd was into the game.  It’s always a fun time at Jacoby’s, if you’re in the mood for great food, great people and great beer I highly recommend going.

 http://www.jacobysbar.com/

Detroit Beer Week/Detroit Beer Fest

It's an exciting time for beer drinkers - it's Detroit Beer Week. From October 13-23, breweries in the area will have special events and dinners. One of tonight's events is the Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Beer Dinner at Slows BBQ. Beginning at 7pm, in Slows new private dining room, diners will have access to a special menu paired with Dogfish Head beers. Tickets are $50 per person, reservations must be made in advance. For more information or to access other Beer Week events, visit: http://www.detbeerweek.com/.

Saturday, October 22 is the Detroit Beer Festival at Eastern Market from 1-6pm. Tickets are $35 in advance, and are already sold out online. Traditionally this festival completely sells out, so don't wait until the day of and hope to purchase them at the gate. Some breweries may still have tickets, I recommend contacting them before you make the trip out. I anticipate the Michigan Brewers Guild will update the list of available beers throughout the week, the current list (as well the list of breweries with tickets) can be found on their blog, The Mash: http://www.mbgmash.org/. Be sure to pay attention to the special and limited beer releases, even though some are available at certain times typically when they run out you're SOL.

I hope to see everyone out this week, or at Eastern Market on Saturday!

Tashmoo Biergarten

Today I visited the Tashmoo Biergarten in Detroit - what an awesome place! Located at 1416 Van Dyke, Tashmoo is only open Sundays from noon - 9pm, with next Sunday being their last day for the season. It was a great time - family friendly with board games available on the tables and corn-hole games being played in the lot. Sorry, no dogs allowed.

Entry was free, beer tickets were $2 each, and each glass started at 2 tickets (Jolly Pumpkin was 3 tickets). The beer list was great - I love porters and stouts, so I quickly ordered a Founders porter. The Biergarten was wonderfully simple, the food and beer lists were written on chalkboard and the tables were made from old doors. Great atmosphere, it was very relaxed and chill. I absolutely loved it, I wish I could've stayed all day. I look forward to visiting next year.

http://www.freep.com/article/20110925/COL20/109250330/Sylvia-Rector-Tashmoo-Biergarten-ready-pop-up-Detroit-s-West-Village

Bell's Brewery Brown Ale

 At lunch today I ordered the Bell’s seasonal that was on tap - the Brown Ale (think Newcastle). I am not a big fan of brown ales…but I liked this one. It had a good color, good aroma, you could pick up the caramel flavor, and the bitterness was at a minimum. The beer was much better than the service, which left me wondering if the server personally went to Bell’s to pick it up. (Note: Sam Adams Oktoberfest in the background).

You can see the beer had good lacing - the foam near the top of the glass (i.e. the lacy pattern). Lacing occurs when the bitter compounds from the hops link proteins in the beer together. Some feel the more lace the better quality ingredients in the beer. While I really enjoy Sam’s Oktoberfest, note its lack of lace. I’m not an expert, I’ve been told some types of beers have better lacing than others. But I wonder if it may be due to quantity produced? Does anyone reading know?

North Peak Hoodoo

 
North Peak’s Hoodoo beer is available this weekend - the hops were grown on Michigan’s own Old Mission Peninsula.  You can find it in Traverse City at North Peak and Jolly Pumpkin, as well as several bars and beer/liquor stores around the state.  Not a fan of IPA’s, but I’ll try a locally sourced brew.

Note: I checked at the local beer store for this and North Peak's Hooligan's (a hoppy pumpkin ale), they said both should arrive sometime next week.

http://www.theticker.tc/story/hoppin-fresh-beer