The Every Two Weeks in Beer: Welcome the Patio Season with Good Brews

Image source: Biercamp on Facebook.

The patio season is here, and as even a careless observer knows, Ann Arborites love to do a lot of dining and drinking outdoors when the weather cooperates. But whether inside or out, there are opportunities galore to find the perfect beer to suit the season and your mood. Here are some highlights.

The Every Two Weeks in Beer: The Rest of the Story

Beer judges Annette May, Mike Bardallis, and Fred Rouse at the May 12
Grizzly Peak Mug Club Brew-Off.

You already know all about what's going on for American Craft Beer Week. Now here's... the rest of the story.

Saturday, May 17

» If you’re a Michigan Brewers Guild Enthusiast member, head over to Unity Vibration Kombucha Tea, 93 Ecorse Rd., Ypsilanti, for a free tour from 12-2 p.m. See how the unique kombucha/beer hybrid is produced and ask owners Rachel and Tarek Kanaan all about their future plans. RSVP to info@unityvibrationkombucha.com.

» It's a double header! Next, get over to the Chelsea Alehouse, 420 N. Main, Chelsea,, for a second MBG Enthusiast tour from 4-6 p.m with founder and head brewer Christopher Martinson. RSVP to chris@chelseaalehouse.com.

Monday, May 19

» New Holland is taking over the taps at Red Rock Downtown Barbecue, 207 W. Michigan Ave., Ypsilanti, beginning at 5 p.m. for Beer Enthusiast Monday. Tap list is TBD, and be on the lookout for a possible appearance from Randall the Enamel Animal, who loves to add fresh new flavors to select draft brews.

First Ypsi-Arbor Beer Week Scheduled for August 1-9

After various false starts over the years, it appears the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area is finally jumping aboard the "beer week" bandwagon. Distributors Imperial Beverage and Rave Associates, in partnership with the Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor Convention and Visitors Bureaus, have announced August 1-9, 2014, as Ypsi-Arbor Beer Week. Yes, it would have made more sense to do it during the week leading up to the Michigan Brewers Guild Summer Beer Festival, but there you go.

From the press release:

It's not just the people in attendance that will make events exciting.  Ypsi-Arbor Beer Week will feature hard-to-find beers, tap take-overs, brewer presentations, beer dinners, and more. "There is no limit to how fun—and sometimes quirky—these events will be.  We encourage host locations to plan events that are centered around craft beer and fun.  We invite speakers to present that will appeal to those that might identify as 'beer geeks.'  In some cases, we've had movie, bowling, or bingo nights with our brewers. Very little is considered off the table when planning beer week events," says Anne Drummond, Imperial Beverage Marketing and PR Director.

But equally important to what beer lovers will find at Ypsi-Arbor Beer Week is also what they won't find. "YABW is not a gathering of 4,000 of your closest friends under a tent to taste beers in a third party location. Those events are great, but that's not what this is," says Drummond. "Ypsi-Arbor Beer Week will drive consumers to places where craft beer is shared, sold, consumed and loved already—area bars, restaurants, and retailers."

Keep an eye on the (under construction) YABW Facebook page and website for updates and schedules.

The Local's Guide to American Craft Beer Week

Did you know American Craft Beer Week starts tomorrow? Now you do! Here's a quick rundown of who's doing what and when.

Monday, May 12

» Arbor Brewing Brewpub, 114 E. Washington, will have a couple guest beers on tap all week, selected by head brewer Mike Moroney. Look for Mt. Pleasant Sacred Gruit Ale and Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA. And, of course, today is happy hour all day.

» Arbor Brewing Microbrewery, 720 Norris, Ypsilanti, is releasing a different special beer each day of the week. Today: Remedy Ginger Pale Ale, a crisp 7.2% ABV ale with a nose full of ginger and subtle citrus hop notes.

» World of Beer, 1300 South University Ave., is having a Sam Adams tap takeover, featuring Boston Lager, Double Bock, Hazel Brown Ale, Honey Queen Braggot, Rebel IPA, and Summer Ale. Everyone who orders a Sam Adams beer gets a free Sam Adams glass (while supplies last) and a ticket for a raffle to win something cool. Boston Brewing rep Catherine will also be on hand to talk beer.

The Short Pour Celebrates Drinko de Mayo

An old t-shirt. Because I don't have any better illustration.

Commemorating the epic battle of something or other with beer and tacos. Mexico!

• ¡Street party! For the second year, Tios Mexican Cafe, 401 E. Liberty St., is closing off the street in front of the restaurant for a Cinco de Mayo celebration from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Various beverages, including Mexican beers and Dragonmead Final Absolution Trippel, will be pouring in the beer tent, and there will be live music and Mexican food (natch).
• ¡Viva la cerveza! World of Beer, 1300 South University Ave., is offering $3 drafts of Short's Cerveza de Julie Mexican Lager, Dos Equis Amber, and Pacifico Pilsner, along with half-off Margar-IPAs, whatever those are. Ashley's, 338 S. State St., is also tapping Cerveza de Julie.
• ACBW is coming. May 12-18 is American Craft Beer Week. Yes, this is a thing. The Arbor Brewing Brewpub, 114 E. Washington St., and Microbrewery, 720 Norris St., Ypsilanti, are celebrating all week long with specials. See what's on tap at the brewpub here and the microbrewery here.
• Stock up on hops. Adventures in Homebrewing is celebrating 15 years in business with a today-only 15% off coupon, good for not just hops but damn near everything. Get the coupon here; expires tonight at midnight.

Funeral for a Distant Acquaintance

Later. Image source: Ashley's Westland on Facebook.

The fine folks of Ashley's in Westland asked me to deliver a eulogy for the Bud Light tap handle that died there last week, to be replaced by Short's Local's Light. I thought all y'all might be interested in checking it out.

Here's how I wrote it:

Ladies and gentlemen, friends, fellow beer lovers,

This is a momentous occasion, for Bud Light was my introduction to drinking good beer.

Said no one, ever.

We gather today to mark a turning point in the craft beer movement that Ashley’s has long championed. We say goodbye to this mass-produced light lager, brewed by a foreign-owned conglomerate, even as we welcome its replacement, a Michigan-made craft beer from our friends at Short’s.

Today’s burial is symbolic, but it goes beyond just symbolism. I’m old enough to remember when practically none of this existed. Once upon a time, Americans drank only stuff like the dearly departed. Most still do. But there has been an important shift in taste, thanks to the growth in just the past three decades of small, independent breweries that use real, traditional ingredients to make their beers. Or real, nontraditional ingredients, in the case of Short’s.

I’m not a numbers guy, but the statistics bear out the truth that more people these days are drinking better beer. Nationally last year, at a time when overall beer sales by volume were down almost two percent, sales of craft beer by volume grew 18 percent. Craft beer now accounts for about 8 percent of all beer sales by volume in the country. There’s clearly a lot of people out there still drinking bland macrobrews, but make no mistake, the big boys are running scared.

Mountains that turn blue when the can is cold. Aluminum bottles. Punch holes that help you pour your tasteless brew more smoothly. And boobs. Lots of boobs. As my brother, a professional and home brewer, puts it, “The big breweries will do anything but actually make good beer.”

Thankfully we now have lots of smaller breweries that will and do make good, flavorful beer – more than 2,700 nationwide and about 150 in Michigan. You can try many of them right here at Ashley’s, whether during special events like today’s Cask Ale Festival or on any average school night.

So we raise our pints in farewell to you, Bud Light. It’s been real. But in this bright new era of great beer, there’s just no room for you anymore. And I can’t really say we’re sorry about that.

Cheers!

And here's how I delivered it (via Erik Smith), impromptu changes and all:

A Brief History of a Bygone Brewery

This month's edition of The Session, aka Beer Blogging Friday, a regular roundtable of beer bloggers writing on a chosen subject, concerns local brewery history. Host Reuben Gray of The Tale of the Ale asked for a profile of a local brewery at least 20 years old, and as none of Ann Arbor's current breweries meet that criterion, I reached back in time to talk about one of the city's 19th-century establishments. And I'm a little late, so this is Beer Blogging Saturday.

I decided to write Ann Arbor Beer: A Hoppy History of Tree Town Brewing for two reasons. The first is that I already knew this Midwestern college town — like so many other older towns across America — had a solid pre-Prohibition brewing history. The second is that I also knew, apart from some scattered newspaper mentions over the years, that nobody had really bothered to seriously document any of this history.

Enter me. I did it. I answered the siren call of The History Press, a small publisher with a series of books out about the beer histories of various cities throughout the several states. It was a chore made so much easier by Ann Arbor’s colorful past.

The Every Two Weeks in Beer: An Unbelievable Bonanza of Beer

Nothing like an imperial stout poured through a Randall of espresso beans.

Beer dinners, homebrewing, outdoor imbibing, firkins full of real ale. Man, there’s so much going on in the local beer scene the next two weeks you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. But I’m going to tell you anyway, because that’s how I do.