The offer alone speaks volumes.
Slainte,
Jeff
Looking for the original Bar Towel blog? You can find it at www.thebartowel.com.
We have a trivia question in order to register to prevent bots. If you have any issues with answering, contact us at cass@bartowel.com for help.
Introducing Light Mode! If you would like a Bar Towel social experience that isn't the traditional blue, you can now select Light Mode. Go to the User Control Panel and then Board Preferences, and select "Day Drinking" (Light Mode) from the My Board Style drop-down menu. You can always switch back to "Night Drinking" (Dark Mode). Enjoy!
We have a trivia question in order to register to prevent bots. If you have any issues with answering, contact us at cass@bartowel.com for help.
Introducing Light Mode! If you would like a Bar Towel social experience that isn't the traditional blue, you can now select Light Mode. Go to the User Control Panel and then Board Preferences, and select "Day Drinking" (Light Mode) from the My Board Style drop-down menu. You can always switch back to "Night Drinking" (Dark Mode). Enjoy!
Michigan Brewer's Festival
Well, the <a href="http://www.michiganbrewersguild.org/">Michigan Brewer's Festival</a> was yesterday, and those of us who went (Josh, Publican, Blankboy & myself) had a blast!
Picture a festival the size of Fort York but with the vibe of St. Lawrence (no drunken frat boys, no macroswill or alcopops, lots of people there to really enjoy the beer). And picture it with 100 or so beers that you have probably never tried before - and with only a very small handful of them in the macro-wannabe category. That's what this festival was like.
My personal highlight was wandering by the <a href="http://www.bellsbeer.com/">Bell's</a> tent just as they tapped their special festival-only beer - a bourbon-cask conditioned Expedition Stout - and finding myself in the front section of line for it without even realizing it! I felt bad when I looked behind me and saw the line of 100 or so people who were waiting for it - but not bad enough to get out of the line.
And yes, it was fucking amazing.
My personal disappointment was visiting the <a href="http://www.foundersales.com/">Founder's</a> tent too late in the day to get a taste of their Kentucky Breakfast Stout - a souped of version of their regular Breakfast Stout (brewed with coffee) which is aged for 7 months in a bourbon cask along with 3 gallons of bourbon, three pounds of espresso beans and two pounds of chocolate. Waaaaaah!
After the festival, we headed into Ann Arbor (about 1/2 hour from Ypslanti, where the festival takes place) to go to a great beer bar called <a href="http://www.ashleys.com/">Ashley's</a> for dinner with some folks from RateBeer. They have around 60 taps plus a good number of bottles, with lots of Michigan micros and interesting imports. And there's a very non-descript looking convenience store right next door with an <b>outstanding</b> micro and import beer selection.
Cass, some serious consideration should be given to arranging an official Bar Towel trip down to next year's edition (Saturday, July 24th, 2004). We could make a weekend of it, and visit Ashley's and some brewpubs in addition to the festival.
Greg
PS: Thanks to Josh's girlfriend Jen for coming along to be a designated driver for our drunk asses.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: GregClow on 2003-07-27 13:37 ]</font>
Picture a festival the size of Fort York but with the vibe of St. Lawrence (no drunken frat boys, no macroswill or alcopops, lots of people there to really enjoy the beer). And picture it with 100 or so beers that you have probably never tried before - and with only a very small handful of them in the macro-wannabe category. That's what this festival was like.
My personal highlight was wandering by the <a href="http://www.bellsbeer.com/">Bell's</a> tent just as they tapped their special festival-only beer - a bourbon-cask conditioned Expedition Stout - and finding myself in the front section of line for it without even realizing it! I felt bad when I looked behind me and saw the line of 100 or so people who were waiting for it - but not bad enough to get out of the line.
And yes, it was fucking amazing.My personal disappointment was visiting the <a href="http://www.foundersales.com/">Founder's</a> tent too late in the day to get a taste of their Kentucky Breakfast Stout - a souped of version of their regular Breakfast Stout (brewed with coffee) which is aged for 7 months in a bourbon cask along with 3 gallons of bourbon, three pounds of espresso beans and two pounds of chocolate. Waaaaaah!
After the festival, we headed into Ann Arbor (about 1/2 hour from Ypslanti, where the festival takes place) to go to a great beer bar called <a href="http://www.ashleys.com/">Ashley's</a> for dinner with some folks from RateBeer. They have around 60 taps plus a good number of bottles, with lots of Michigan micros and interesting imports. And there's a very non-descript looking convenience store right next door with an <b>outstanding</b> micro and import beer selection.
Cass, some serious consideration should be given to arranging an official Bar Towel trip down to next year's edition (Saturday, July 24th, 2004). We could make a weekend of it, and visit Ashley's and some brewpubs in addition to the festival.
Greg
PS: Thanks to Josh's girlfriend Jen for coming along to be a designated driver for our drunk asses.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: GregClow on 2003-07-27 13:37 ]</font>
Halfway through the festival, a group of people standing behind my table broke into a semi-rousing chorus of "O Canada." Was that Josh and his friends, by any chance?
I was at the 2001 festival and this year's event was much better in terms of beer quality. The smaller brewpubs have really improved their product, especially at the high end.
Yesterday's muggy weather wasn't ideal for trying Belgian trippels and imperial stouts, but not one of them disappointed me or my wife.
I was at the 2001 festival and this year's event was much better in terms of beer quality. The smaller brewpubs have really improved their product, especially at the high end.
Yesterday's muggy weather wasn't ideal for trying Belgian trippels and imperial stouts, but not one of them disappointed me or my wife.
Forgot to include the list of beers that I tried at the festival & Ashley's. I'll be posting full notes & ratings at RateBeer soon if anyone cares to check them out.
Arcadia Imperial IPA
Arcadia Imperial Stout
Arcadia IPA
Arcadia Lake Superior ESB
Arbor Brewing Terminator Dopplebock
Bell's Expedition Stout (bourbon cask)
Bell's Oberon Ale
Bell's Winter White Ale
Big Buck Hefe-Weizen
Big Buck Steam Beer
Black Forest Brau Keller Maple Porter
Black Forest Brau Keller Sherwood IPA
Bonfire Bistro Burning Brand Bitter
Bonfire Bistro Roaring Red Ale (cask - and worst beer of the day!)
Bo's Extreme IPA
Bo's Vintage Ale 2002
CJs Lower Straits Stout
CJs 2003 Summer Brew
Copper Canyon Killer Canyon Porter
Copper Canyon Saison
Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA
Dark Horse Reserve Special Black Beer
Dark Horse Thirsty Trout Porter
Dragonmead Kaiser's Kolsch
Dragonmead London Brown Ale
Founder's Breakfast Stout
Founder's Double IPA
Founder's Pale Ale
Grizzly Peak Black Claw Porter
Grizzly Peak Hawaii 5-0 (cask - strangest beer of the day - it tasted like papaya, pineapple & grapefruit!)
Kuhnhenn 120 Schilling Scotch Ale
Michigan Brewing Mackinack Pale Ale
Michigan Brewing Peninsula Porter
Motor City Nut Brown
New Holland Mad Hatter Pale Ale
Royal Oak Summer Wit
Royal Oak Pappy's Porch Sippin' Porter
Stoney Creek Atwater Dunkel
Whew! I drank a lot of beer yesterday...
Greg
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: GregClow on 2003-07-28 11:15 ]</font>
Arcadia Imperial IPA
Arcadia Imperial Stout
Arcadia IPA
Arcadia Lake Superior ESB
Arbor Brewing Terminator Dopplebock
Bell's Expedition Stout (bourbon cask)
Bell's Oberon Ale
Bell's Winter White Ale
Big Buck Hefe-Weizen
Big Buck Steam Beer
Black Forest Brau Keller Maple Porter
Black Forest Brau Keller Sherwood IPA
Bonfire Bistro Burning Brand Bitter
Bonfire Bistro Roaring Red Ale (cask - and worst beer of the day!)
Bo's Extreme IPA
Bo's Vintage Ale 2002
CJs Lower Straits Stout
CJs 2003 Summer Brew
Copper Canyon Killer Canyon Porter
Copper Canyon Saison
Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA
Dark Horse Reserve Special Black Beer
Dark Horse Thirsty Trout Porter
Dragonmead Kaiser's Kolsch
Dragonmead London Brown Ale
Founder's Breakfast Stout
Founder's Double IPA
Founder's Pale Ale
Grizzly Peak Black Claw Porter
Grizzly Peak Hawaii 5-0 (cask - strangest beer of the day - it tasted like papaya, pineapple & grapefruit!)
Kuhnhenn 120 Schilling Scotch Ale
Michigan Brewing Mackinack Pale Ale
Michigan Brewing Peninsula Porter
Motor City Nut Brown
New Holland Mad Hatter Pale Ale
Royal Oak Summer Wit
Royal Oak Pappy's Porch Sippin' Porter
Stoney Creek Atwater Dunkel
Whew! I drank a lot of beer yesterday...
Greg
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: GregClow on 2003-07-28 11:15 ]</font>
Nope, it wasn't us.On 2003-07-27 13:13, Blue Lion wrote:
Halfway through the festival, a group of people standing behind my table broke into a semi-rousing chorus of "O Canada." Was that Josh and his friends, by any chance?
We spotted someone wearing an Amsterdam shirt, though, so there were at least a couple more Canadians in the crowd.
Greg
Sounds like a good time, thanks for the info. Amazing how a difference of a state or two (NY -> Michigan) can alter the beer selection so much (refering to what was had at the old Buffalo festival).
I agree Greg, in absence of the Buff fest, the Michigan festival might be the next best, closest thing for a group trip.
I agree Greg, in absence of the Buff fest, the Michigan festival might be the next best, closest thing for a group trip.
