Beer Festival countdown!

It's that time of year again... the Michigan Beer Festival is mere weeks away! Support MI beer- get over to Ypsi and try some. Try lots. (But make sure you have a safe way to get home afterward!)

The event is July 24-25 at Riverside Park, and tickets are on sale now. They are cheaper if purchased in advance, so what are you waiting for???

Drink Michigan Beer

This weekend was (finally) the Michigan Brewer's Guild Summer Beer Festival in Ypsilanti, our chance to truly try a bunch of Michigan beers. We weren't disappointed! I also handed out a few ChicksDigBeer business cards on Saturday. Hopefully more like-minded women will be willing to write about their favorite beers as well. (Drop me a note if you're interested!)

51 breweries brought 330 beers in 60 different styles- not bad for ONE state! All the breweries were located in 4 big "pavilion" type tents with the exception of the Brewer's Guild's Michigan Grand Crew Saison, which had a stand-alone tent. The Grand Crew is the annual collaboration between all the members of the Brewer's Guild and it was quite tasty!

I sampled a whopping SIXTEEN beers on Saturday, some I liked a lot more (and drank more of) than others. M and I had a discussion with a couple other attendees about regional differences and how it's difficult to judge whether a beer is good when you've never tasted anything like it before. Sure, you can tell someone whether you personally like it, but when it comes down to whether it deserves the awards it may have won it isn't so simple. Best example: in NorCal, I never once tasted (or for that matter recall hearing about) a sour beer, but there were a LOT of them at the fest. A couple of breweries specialized in sours and one offered "Ancient Ales". It would have been fun to try everything, or at least one beer from every brewery, but that would take far more than an afternoon.

That being said, of the 16 I tried, here's a list of my favorites. I was a little surprised by my top two: a rye IPA and a Scotch Ale. (ME???) They were just spectacular beers!

• Michigan Brewing Company Rye IPA - wow. I don't see this beer mentioned on their website, but I hope I'll be able to find it again!
• Old Hat Brewery Scotch Ale. Another wow, and I don't often like Scotch Ales!
• Black Lotus Brewing Company Detroit Hip Hops IPA. Of course I had to have an IPA at the top of my list!
• Michigan Brewer's Guild Grand Crew Saison. See above- this is the collaboration brew.
  
• Founder's Brewing Co. Red's Rye IPA- yeah, another one! Who knew?

In addition to the food and wine offered, there was also the added entertainment provided by people watching and wondering where some of the beer names came from! The brewery that had a female mannequin rigged up with beertaps coming out of her breasts was pretty amusing too. Some of the more intriguing names (and concepts):

• Grapes & Grains of Wrath Porter Shiraz (Fort Street Brewery)
  
• When Monks Get Drunk Belgian Imperial IPA (Fort Street Brewery)
• Quit Jerkin' My Ferkin Real Ale (King Brewing Company)
  
• Haar der Zeige (Hair of the Goat) Maibock (Grizzly Peak)
  
• A Few Schillings Too Many Wee Heavy (Kuhnhenn Brewing Co.)
  
• Norm's Raggedy Ass IPA (Big Rock Chop & Brewhouse)

Judging by the quality of the Summer Beer Fest, I can't wait for the Winter Fest: February 28, 2009 in Grand Rapids. Bring it on!