Patti F. Smith

It’s a toss up over which of these beers I like better. Some years, I’m all about Ichabod and then other years I’m in love with the Jaw Jacker. This year, I think the Ichabod has a slight edge. Both beers serve up nice tastes of nutmeg & cinnamon but the Ichabod still had an underlying malty taste that I appreciated. In other words, I didn’t forget that I was drinking a beer.

 

Next up: Arbor Brewing’s Hoptoberfest & Liberty Street’s Punkin Pie Ale

Even before I changed fields and become a teacher…even before I decided to follow my religion…even before all of that, September felt more like a “new year” to me than did January. Something about the crispness in the air and the sounds of football on TV signaled “new” to me. When I was a kid, September meant new classes, new clothes, new activities, new fall TV shows. Now as a grown person, it still means new activities and new classes but it also means NEW BEERS!

Even though it was ass-hot out there today, I had my first “fall” beer with our pizza dinner: Mt. Pleasant’s Oktoberfest. This was your basic lager beer–very mild hops, amber in color, crisp taste. It wasn’t bad, but it was very basic and would probably be a good “gateway” Oktoberfest beer for your macro brew friends.

Next up: JAW JACKER!!

 

My friends and I, we didn’t know what to expect. I thought that they would come into the bar so fully in character such that, if a murder broke out and we demanded that they call 911 on a cell phone, they would reply, “What art thouest a phone of cell?” sending us into chaos as the shooting continued. Or perhaps they would be in period costume and throw around a lot of thous and arts and nunneries. What would it be?!?!

The “it” of which I speak is Wolverine’s “Beer with the Bard”, which brought the actors from the Michigan Shakespeare Festival out to Ann Arbor. The festival takes place at Jackson Community College every summer, performing such classics as Richard III and Love’s Labour’s Lost. E.T. Crowe, Wolverine’s marketing director, ran into these nice folks at a beer and wine event at MIS. At some point they got to talking about what the group called “Shakespeare Unplugged” and E.T. (in her infinite wisdom) got the ball, er, bard rolling.

Here is where I must admit that I avoided reading Shakespeare–or anything too complicated–in high school. Since those were the pre-Internet days kiddies, I had to make due with Cliff’s Notes. It wasn’t until my late 20s that I happened to catch the movie Much Ado About Nothing on TV and promptly fell in love with it. I couldn’t understand some of it but I got the overall gist and thought it was darling. Nonetheless, I’ve still managed to avoid most thing by our bard B. and so I was hoping that Beer with the Bard would not end with a quiz about Capulets or Hamlet’s ghost or Othello and Iago.

Lucky for me, it was a lot of fun and no Cliff’s Notes were required. The host for the event was one of the directors who explained that the event is a way for the actors to do open mic performances of their other talents. Our first performer sang the Happy Birthday song–in Polish! Then we heard a funny rant about people and their Smart phones. Next, one of the actors recruited E.T. to help him stage a dramatic reading of a 1996 interview with Madonna–an interview that was done in a Hungarian newspaper, translated into Hungarian, translated into English for the American audience, translated back into Hungarian and then for some ungodly reason translated back into English. Thus, the “interviewer” ended up asking “Madonna” if she was “dating many other people in your bed at the same time” and “Madonna” told us that she was “a woman and not a test mouse”. The intrepid interviewer also asked if she could make people “forget the explosions that were Who’s That Girl and Shanghai Surprise?” Madonna wrapped up the interview by assuring us that she was working like a canine all around the clock for our entertainment.

After that, we were treated to a cast member who was juggling like a mad man. Me, I can barely throw a ball to my dog let alone do stuff like that. Next up was a tap dancer who was simply amazing. When I got home that night, my own tap shoes were waiting for me and demanded to know why I couldn’t do stuff like that. My pleas that I just restarted lessons in May fell on deaf shoes; they merely tapped away in disgust.

We also heard some more jokes, stories, poems and even saw some sword play. The lovely folks from the Shakespeare Company were talented and very much fun! The festival, sadly, is over for this year but will return next July. I so enjoyed watching the actors that I might check it out myself, even if it’s just to find out what I should have been reading back in my College Prep English course….

I give them credit for the name. Me, I’d be terrified to name anything “Wurst” because then if it sucked, you’d all be all, “It really is the W(o)rst!” or “Patti’s bar sure lives up to its name!” and then I would cry and cry and cry. Fortunately for the Wurst Bar in Ypsilanti, they most certainly do not suck and do live up to their name in the, er “wurst” way possible.

So before I even talk about the awesome New Holland tap takeover, I must tell you about the food. These folks know their wurst; they have about a dozen different sausages available. Boyfriend Ken tries a different kind of sausage every time we go. So far, he has worked his way through the alligator & crawfish boudin, the spicy rattlesnake chorizo and the red rock smoked andouille and he reports that all have been fabulous. Me, I get the hamburgers because oh my merciful God in Heaven above my man rolls the meat in some sort of umami sauce. Brilliance. And I haven’t even mentioned the sweet potato tots, have I? With the marshmallow cream fluff dipping sauce? Oh yes, this exists. Oh yes, it does.

Now umami burgers and sweet potato marshmallow fluff and alligator sausage would be enough to get us over to Ypsilanti but they also gotta go and have an awesome beer selection. It’s like they woke up, had a big bowl of awesome and said, “What else would Patti Smith like? Oh yeah—craft beer!” And what would I really like? Why, a tap takeover by New Holland, of course.

So by now, I could be punny and tell you how this is the not the “worst” bar, but rather the “best” bar but OH SNAP that would be too cliché. So instead, I will tell you about some of the lovely beers we had that night.

Sour Attitude – this beer was a one-off, according to my friend Jimmy Alcumbrack McDaniel, SE Michigan Beer & Spirits Ambassador for New Holland. This makes me sad because it means that I won’t be able to have it again, but you know what? If the beer goddess asked me if I would rather experience this amazing beer knowing I could never have it again or if I would rather never experience it at all—well, it’s a no brainer. This beer blended Blue Sunday, one year barrel aged Sundog and a house-only brown ale to create a well balanced beer that was fruity and sour.

Pilgrim’s Dole – I have read about this beer but never had it before. It is an 11.4% barleywine, which I never would have guessed had I not read it in black and white. Not too malty and kind of sweet, it went down the hatch quite easily. Conversely, my wine-drinking friend Ruthann said that she could really taste the alcohol in this beer; she had no trouble believing the high alcohol content.

Beer Hive – According to the tasting notes, local bees from someone called Little John make this beer so awesome. You know when I read “Little John”, I thought of this guy:

And thanks to Google images, I will now forever think of this:

I’m guessing, however, that we are speaking of a different Little John. Whoever he is Little John makes some damn fine honey. The ale was a little malty for me but the ginger finish was amazing. Boyfriend Ken found this beer hoppy but I did not. Either way, it went very nicely with my sweet potato tots.

Oak Aged Hatter – My favorite beer of the night was this dry-hopped IPA that was aged in an oak barrel. It was extremely hoppy with a nose of grapefruit and a balanced taste of citrus, oak and malt. I ended my night with a glass of this and what a great way to end a great event!

Jimmy also told me that New Holland would continue to produce small batches whiskeys at a rate of four 8 gallon barrels a year. Their next small batch is due out in August and is called Ichabod’s Flask Spiced Whiskey. Jimmy describes it as “our spiced pumpkin ale, Ichabod, was distilled and aged in new oak to create this intriguing spirit. Spice, coconut, chocolate and mint intertwine in a unique and elusive flavor profile.” That just sounds like fall!

So in conclusion, I must urge you to get out to the Wurst Bar. Because you know, it’s not the “worst” at anything; in fact it’s simply the—OH, SNAP.

It’s over?

It’s over.

Sigh.

I am writing of course about the 15^th Annual Michigan Brewers’ Guild Summer Beer Fest. Whenever I sit down to plan out my summer the last weekend of July is always highlighted for me. Oh sure, there’s the Art Fairs and the opening of the beaches and water parks and Halcyon Sundaze—all of which are awesome—but the beer fest, man. The beer fest.

The beer fest represents the best of summer: a laid back park in Ypsilanti, live music, good food (Traffic Jam cheese, yum!), cool people and the best of Michigan’s brewpubs. Unless you dropped a naked Henry Rollins with a roll of hundreds in his mouth, I don’t know that I could be any happier.

It’s always a challenge to decide what to drink. And this year had an extra bonus: it was Boyfriend Ken’s Very First Beer Fest! I know, right? He took a half day from work and I was already bouncing around when he got home. He headed in to take a nap and said to wake him up at 3; at 2:30, I bounced in to tell him that it was almost time for the beer fest! Similar announcements happened at 2:40, 2:50 and 2:59. By the time we got our sunblock and water bottles ready, I was giving Tigger a run for his bouncy bouncy bouncy full of fun fun fun money.

Back to the challenge of finding what to drink. A few years ago, I focused on IPAs. Another year saw me looking for fruit beers and last year I concentrated on pepper and smoked beers. This year, I decided to make it a priority to get to brewpubs that I had never been to before and that I probably wouldn’t get to visit. This turned out to be a great strategy and, in no particular order, here are my standouts:

Malty Dog Brewery (Southfield), Dog Day’s Summer Shandy. This is a type of beer that sometimes tries to hard. I’ve had “shandies” that taste like Lemon Pledge and those that taste like sucking on a Lemonhead. Malty Dog, however, hit it right on the snout. The taste of lemons were balanced with malt in a beer that didn’t forget it was a beer; that is, it wasn’t like eating a Dolly Madison lemon pie.

Midland Brewing Company (Midland), Pine River “Smoked” Porter. Again, this is a style (smoked beer) that sometimes tries to hard. I’ve had smoked beers that taste like a barbecue grill, and that is rarely a good thing. This beer let you know it was a smoked beer, but also reminded you of its inherent porter characteristics. This would be a good beer for people who say they do not like smoked beers.

Olde Peninsula Brewpub (Kalamazoo), Stout Chocula. Yeah okay, the name drew me in. Normally, I sort of avoid beers that have cutesy names but this just spoke to me (in a Transylvania accent, of course) and I am really glad it did! This was a true chocolate beer in that it did not have underlying coffee notes (that I could detect). Boyfriend Ken loved it as he loves chocolate but does not love coffee.

Michigan Beer Cellar (Sparta), Apricot something. Yeah, okay, so the name of this beer is not listed in the guide and I never got the real name but suffice it to say that this was a delicious apricot beer. My brewing friends have let me know that using fruit as an adjunct can be difficult; my taste buds have confirmed this. Sometimes fruit beers taste like whatever the base beer is with very little fruit. This apricot beer tasted like apricots in all of their summer, yummy goodness. I believe Boyfriend Ken went back for seconds of this. (By the way, I just reread my comments about lemon beer and Jesus Christ am I picky or what?! Can’t be too fruity! Can’t be too beery! Gotta be little Miss Goldilocks!)

Tri City Brewing (Bay City), Lavender infused tripel. Another name that I can’t find in the guide, but holy cow was this a good beer! I was a little leery of lavender in beer, but the good folks at Tri City made it work. There was a light hint of lavender in the nose and in the finish, and it did not at all overpower the beer. This was one of the first beers that I had and it really set the bar for the rest of the day.

Sigh.

There were so many more wonderful beers that I tried and so many more that I wanted to.

Sigh.

It’s over?
It’s over.

Sigh.

Now. How many days until the Detroit Fall Beer Festival?

 

I realize that it sometimes seems that I never get out of the Corner Brewery. There is some truth to this as I do consider that place my second home (i.e. when I have to go, they have to take me) and those people my family. Nevertheless, I do get out to other places!

Since Boyfriend Ken & I moved to Kerrytown, we find ourselves within walking distance of several fine establishments. Bonus points for the fact that we are downhill from downtown so, if we drink too much, we can literally lie down and roll home. (Did you see how I said “lie” instead of “lay”? I thank my 11^th grade College Prep English teacher for teaching us the “people lie, chickens lay” thing, even though I now know that it only works in present tense.)

But speaking of lie/lay, it would be a lie to say that I plan to stop lying on my couch this summer and start laying my hat at far away brewpubs. Given that, I was happy to read that the venerable Ashley’s was hosting a tap takeover by Greenbush Brewing Company. Boyfriend Ken and I trekked uphill to State Street and plunked ourselves down for some yummies.  

The first beer that I had was called Anger. I picked it because when I found out that I couldn’t get a sampler flight of the featured brewpub, I was rather angry. As a teacher, I don’t get paid in the summer, so my money is always a little tight and I didn’t love the idea of purchasing a bunch of pints. (Also, I didn’t have my “fat day” shorts on, so my ass was kind of smooshed and rather uncomfortable). To remedy my (temporary) bad mood, I ordered the Anger and wow did it cheer me right up.

This was, hands down, one of the best IPAs that I have ever had. This black IPA had an amazing citrusy nose. The taste was a nice balance of dark malts and hops (I later learned that Cascade, Columbus, Amarillo and Simcoe are the featured goodies) and it ended with another hit of hops that could only come from dry hopping (I confirmed this on the website).

For my other pint, I ordered the Red Bud, merely because it was described as having an identity crisis. It did, but in the best possible way. It was very close to being a Pale Ale in terms of hoppiness, but there was a taste of a wheat ale, also. It was smooth and creamy and went down way too fast.

I also had samples from Boyfriend Ken and our friend, Tom. The Mr. Hyde Sumatran Cream Stout was amazingly smooth. It was high in alcohol, but went down like a beer malt. The Terminator X (name inspired by the former DJ of Public Enemy—yeah boy!) was another well balanced beer. It was brewed with molasses and Centennial hops, both of which balanced beautifully. There was not an overly “molasses” taste, which is a credit to the fine craftsmanship of this beer (I do not care for molasses, myself). The finish was sweet and smooth.

There were many other beers available, and I am sorry that I did not get to try them all! Alas, I suppose this means that I need to stop lying on my couch and lay my purse down on the bar of Greenbush. Better wear my “fat day” shorts!

The Future is Now: Solar Thermal System at Arbor Brewing Company

By Patti Smith

 

The flying cars and the jetpacks never really thrilled me. I knew even before I ever stepped foot on an airplane that I would hate flying. And, hate on me if you must, but I love cars—always have and always will. Many of my childhood cartoons spoke of flying this and flying that and so to me, the magical “21^st century” never looked all that awesome. None of that stuff really spoke of the future to me.

 

Something that, had I seen it on Underdog or Kimba the White Lion, would have struck me as futuristic would have been the idea of a restaurant using the sun for power. Well my friends, the future is now at Arbor Brewing Company. Today, the brewpub officially unveiled its solar thermal and solar photovoltaic (PV) system with a special event at the pub. The mayor was there! My county commissioner was there! Politicians were there! And of course, there was beer! (I highly recommend the Festival Saison).

 

Over the winter, solar panels were placed on the roof of Arbor Brewing in downtown Ann Arbor. These panels will reduce gas use by about 40% and electricity use by about 15%. But what led to this innovative idea?

Owner Rene Greff that it takes a village to run a project like this. For starters, the brewpub got a $20,000 grant from the Downtown Development Association (DDA), along with low interest loans from the city. My very own councilperson, Sandi Smith (no relation—although I wish!) had the idea for the grant program.

 

 

The lovely Rene Greff!

 

University of Michigan graduate student Jarett Diamond took a team to do an audit of the Corner Brewery in Ypsilanti, which hatched this project. During his talk, Jarett addressed the issue of why a brewpub would want to take on this sort of thing. First, brewing is extremely energy intensive (as any homebrewer knows). Fortunately though, there is what Jarett called (rightfully so, in my opinion) the “brewing spirit”, which is a spirit inside our brewer friends that would make them want to tackle such an endeavor. Also, this is just good business as it is an investment in efficiency and will generate clean energy.

Ypsilanti resident and “Brewguyer” Mike O’Brien, master of all things beer or mechanical, also spoke about his involvement in the project. Each panel will allow power a few lightbulbs, and DTE has hooked it up so that all of the energy generated on the roof is used at the brewpub. If there is ever a surplus (Mike said that this is unlikely), it will go back to DTE.

 

Mike O’Brien, speaking Awesome.

 

Another cool thing were the “on demand” hot water heaters that are heated by the panels. The system is set up such that 180 degree water is produced pretty much, well, on demand. Any homebrewer knows that 180 degree water is magic.

 

(I would like to state here that I am not a scientist – not even a little. If I have misquoted or mis-explained anything here, I am hoping someone will correct me.)

 

Rene ended the slideshow by saying that despite many obstacles along the way they would do this again “in a heartbeat” and are happy to be a resource for other companies. She hopes that other small businesses follow Arbor’s lead and implement a similar plan.

Solar generated energy, hot water heaters getting energy from the sun, reducing the carbon footprint…come on now, this is way more exciting than a jetpack!

When I first became interested in craft beer, I immediately drifted towards hoppy beers. Then I realized that everyone liked hoppy beers and me being me, well, that just wouldn’t do. So, I started shying away from IPAs and Imperial IPAs and RyePAs (except Red’s Rye) and instead drinking browns and porters and stouts and fruit ales and everything in between.

            But every now and again I need to be reminded that just because something is popular doesn’t mean it’s bad. Thanks to Beer Todd and his Beerposium on IPAs, I got to revisit some old favorites and try some new ones. Here are my top 5 picks, in no particular order!

 

Kuhnhenn’s Fluffer:

The Kuhnhenn dudes (Eric Jr. and Eric Sr.) stopped by! How awesome is that?! And I asked Eric Jr. and yes this was named for what you think it was named for; specifically with the idea that this beer is a nice, er, “warm up” for a bigger and more intense beer. The beer had has a nice citrus finish (insert porn joke here) with a very light mouthfeel (id). Weighing in at 4.7% a.b.v. does make it conducive for a heavier beer later on, after you’ve got your mojo going (id).

 

Copper Canyon’s India Pale Lager: I found this beer to be a little sweet, in a very good way. I normally don’t do well with sweetness in beer, but this was a charming taste. Noble hops added some spice to it and it was clean and crisp just as a good lager should be. This came out of the stash, so I don’t know if you can get this at the brewpub or not (sorry).

 

New Holland’s White Hatter: Recently Boyfriend Ken and I had a housewarming party, the theme of which was Heaven & Hell. We had tequila shots, lemon drops and dark beers in the basement and fruity blender drinks & summery beers in our kitchen. One of my genius friends brought along a bottle of White Hatter for upstairs and Black Hatter for downstairs. The bad news was that my friends drink faster than I do and the White Hatter was gone by the time I wandered in to find some. Luckily, this beer made an appearance at this tasting and I got to try some. Made with orange peel and coriander, this beer had a light citrusy taste and pleasant finish. This beer was a nice cross between a white ale and an IPA and extremely refreshing.

 

Sierra Nevada’s Southern Hemisphere Harvest: This beer is made with fresh hops that are, Beer Todd said, picked on the farm and shipped overnight to the brewery. When I first heard this, I worried that the hops would be overwhelming; I am happy to say that they are not. The beer has a nice grassy character to it, but does not hit you over the head with it. Likewise, the hops are definitely present but not so as to distract from the beer’s overall taste and enjoyment.

 

Kuhnhenn’s DRIPA (double rice IPA): This beer won a gold medal at the World Beer Cup and well it should. This beer is also a reminder that rice in a beer is not necessarily a bad thing. By using adjuncts of corn and rice, the macrobreweries have given us a negative impression of this friendly grain; however, after drinking this beer, I think you will find that rice can be used in a positive way. In this case, it lends to the crisp finish of this beer. Leading up to that stellar finish is a whole lot of hops that shine through without a lot of malty sweetness. This is a beer for hopheads, but also for those like Boyfriend Ken who is not at all a fan of the humulus lupulus. (And I should add that the Kuhnhenn family is adorable!)

 

Beerposiums are held at Copper Canyon on the first Saturday of the month. They start at 5pm and cost $20. The topics are usually announced a week or so in advance, so keep your eye, er, mouth open (final porn joke goes here).

For the longest time, I eschewed fruit beers. I’m not really sure why except that it might have started the first time I ever drank a Corona, which of course had the eponymous lime wedged into its neck. I remember thinking, “Huh! This is kinda good!” and then I realized that what was “good” was the freaking lime. (Speaking of Limes, is there a cooler dude than Harry Lime in The Third Man? I mean, that fat dude who sold no more wine before its time was spot on in that role…spot on).

So I forbid oranges (or any citrus) near my beer and somehow along the way also avoided fruit beers. Then along came Boyfriend Ken, who has an affinity for ciders and anything tart. (Insert your own joke about me here). I started drinking craft ciders and realized that they were pretty good. At some point, I started taking sips of Boyfriend Ken’s raspberry or cherry or blueberry beers and realized that most of those beers were pretty good, too.

At some point, I decided that I should broaden my fruit beer palate. Fortunately, Arbor Brewing Company was there to help me out. On the second Thursday of every month, Arbor hosts a beer tasting. This month, the second Thursday in June was not only the last day of school for me, but also the annual Fruit Beer Tasting. Palates ready, Boyfriend Ken and I headed up the street to the wonderful brewing company near our house.

Happy ciders being happy:

As I try to do, I picked my top five standouts…this was a little difficult, as there was a lot of good stuff, but here you go:

Angry Orchard Crisp Apple: This was by far my favorite cider. It opened with a hit of sweetness before fading into a hit of tartness and finishing dry.

Dark Horse Raspberry Ale: This is the standard by which I measure other fruit beers. This is one of the best balanced beers I have ever had, regardless of style. It is neither too sweet nor too cloying yet still very fruity. I don’t know how they do it, but they do it well every single time.

Arbor’s Framboozled: This sour beer begins its life as Strawberry Blonde. It is then conditioned for none months in a Gueze-inoculated oak cask. The beer is then refermented with raspberries and bottle conditioned for a few more months. The results is pure sour awesomeness. I can never really taste the Strawberry Blonde, but I always get the raspberry and the perfect amount of sour.

Shipyard Applehead Ale: This beer reminded me of a pumpkin beer, but made with apples. That is, the spices were similar to the ones used in our favorite fall ales. Having the apple base lent a more tart flavor to the beer. (I should note that Copper Canyon’s Apple Struedel Trippel is the gold standard for me and apple beers. Given that high bar, I still enjoyed this offering from Shipyard).

SeaDog Blueberry Wheat Ale: This was the true find for me. I don’t believe I’ve had any of their beers before and what a wonderful introduction this was! The nose was awesome and smelled like my Blueberry Muffin doll did back in the day. The beer tasted like I imagined our girl would have tasted, if she were a beer. There was a nice hit of hops in the finish (something Blueberry Muffin most definitely did not possess). Overall, the beer was crisp and delicious.

Honorable Mentions (I told you there was a lot of good stuff!)

Northville Hard Cider was a favorite of Boyfriend Ken…he described it as being a “subtle apple wine” and he was right. Good stuff.

Uncle John’s Cider: I might be a little biased about this, because Ken and I went to the cider mill a few weeks ago and had a little sampling adventure. I think though that it is really good stuff made from Michigan apples. When we visited, we asked what they would do this year and the lady told us that they would likely buy other Michigan apples from areas of the state that were not as hard hit when we got the freeze.

ABC’s Strawberry Blonde: My old summertime favorite is back and poured for me by Ex-Husband Jeff no less! The beer is often described as the fruit beer that doesn’t forget it’s a beer and that is definitely true this year. The spices and citrus notes came through, while still retaining a hint of strawberry. Come to think of it, the nose kind of reminded me of my Strawberry Shortcake doll, before it lost its smell in the 1983 Dollpacalypse.

While this particular tasting will not come around again for another year, you can go back to Arbor any second Thursday and enjoy a variety of beers. July is wheats, wits and lambics and if someone could brew a lambic that smells like the Peculiar Purple Pie Man of Porcupine Peak, we’ll be all set.

Pour us, please!

If you asked me offhand, I would say that I would not like lemon zested beer. My fear, you see, would be that it would be like drinking Lemon Pledge. Somehow though, through the magic of I-don’t-know-what, local brewers hit the, er, lemon on the head with some tasty summertime brews.

I’ve had BeerTodd/Copper Canyon’s Summerzest was the first “lemon zesty” beer that I ever had. I can’t describe it to you in detail, as it’s been a long time since I’ve had it, but I think it was a Witbier and I know it had a zangy ginger/lemon taste to it.

Next, I had Clementine Lemon Thyme from Liberty Street. That was an amazing beer also, as the thyme addition balanced out a strong lemon taste. I checked the website, and it appears that this summertime regular is up and running at the pub.

Most recently, Boyfriend Ken and I stopped by Atwater in Detroit. I’d never been to Atwater, as I always seemed to go with they were closed. Indeed, we first swung by at about 2pm on Saturday and the place was deserted. So I asked my trust phone and learned they opened at 4pm. We amused ourselves at Edsel Ford’s estate (day-um, my man had some cool shit goin’ down there) and then headed back.

At first, we were all atwitter as to whether or not we were in the right place. You see, it looked like the brewery was open, but not the bar. Then we realized that the brewery was the bar. So we sort of tiptoed in (picture that user pic of the Kool-Aid man busting in and then realizing he just “OH YEAH”‘ed his way into a church and then backing out slowly? Just picture the backing out slowly, only backing in…you know what? Never mind) and quickly found out that we were in the right place.

We sat at the bar, as I like to do, and got a sampler. To Boyfriend Ken’s dismay, the Decadent Chocolate beer was not on tap, but we were delighted to discover something awesome: Summertime Ale. Again, this is a lemony beer, and again, it manages not to taste like Lemon Pledge. I am not sure of the base beer (I forgot to ask the bartender), but it is a light, “lawnmower” ale type beer with a strong up front taste of lemons and mellow finish. Low carbonation and would be perfect after a day in the sun. It is perfect during a day of cleaning your house with the a/c on, I can tell you from personal experience.

Like summer, these beers are fleeting so take the lemons that life gives you and MAKE BEER, SON (and daughter)!