late late beer updates

When I started this blog, I had this grand idea that one of predominant themes of it would be my quest to make it to every craft brewery in Michigan – brewery reviews, etc.  The only problem, I soon realized, was that I was a bit behind the times.  By the time this little old blog was born, I’d already been to almost 90 breweries, which means the trips to new ones were getting much, MUCH fewer & further between.  I mean, anything within a 60 mile radius of me (or of Kalamazoo) has at the very least been one and done.

So, scratch that idea –  guess I’ll just talk about random beer as I have/find/seek it??

To start, it’s officially OBERON SEASON!  Oberon is one of those beers I have more of a nostalgia connection to than an actual love for – I’m not and never have been a wheat beer person, but after going to WMU for four years and living in Kalamazoo, I look forward to that first sip of cold sunshine every year.  This year we actually had a work going away party at a bar with Oberon on tap that got moved to a different bar last minute – you can guess where I “accidentally” ended up.

Gimme that sudsy sunshine <3

Followed up with my first taste of Blushing Monk - VERY raspberry, VERY sweet, and VERY alcoholic.

I did get a chance last month to check out a new brewery in Saint Clair Shores & two new breweries in Detroit – Baffin Brewing, the long awaited Batch Brewing, and the newly opened, totally situationally weird Brew Detroit.

I checked out Baffin after an hour of suffering at a 4 year old’s birthday party, so I would have been happy even if the beer had been awful, but it was decidedly not!  The guy serving us (either one of the brewers, or at least involved in the process) was a gem – took great care of us, offered us a ton of insight about their beers, and was just a genuinely passionate person.  I LOVE when brewers get super excited about their craft & that’s the exact experience we had.  They had four beers on tap (one of which was named Roth IPA – as the daughter of a CPA I laughed for like five minutes straight), but they were ALL quality. Best yet – it’s near where I work, and also had some of the straight up best free brewery popcorn I’ve ever had.

A friend and I checked out Brew Detroit after grabbing some brunch at Brooklyn Street Local in Corktown (FYI – the owners are straight outta Toronto, and served me, for the very first time, peameal bacon in the States that tastes how peameal bacon is supposed to taste), which I would like to tell you more about, but I accidentally typed my year of birth in to the site as “2015” and no force on the earth can convince the internet that I am not browsing from the womb, so all I can tell you is they brew(ed?) Badass (the Kid Rock beer) at one point.

Brew Detroit is a pretty big production facility that just recently started brewing their own beer, of which we sampled everything.  The guys working were conversational and more than willing to give us samples of a bunch of stuff not even on tap yet (including a beer that literally tasted like peach rings), & it was a nice place to chill for a while before the Wings game we were going to.  Nothing was incredible (I enjoyed the ESB and the Belgian stout – although I didn’t think it really tasted like a Belgian stout – but they brew in small batches and probably won’t have any of that next time I’m there!), but I was more impressed than I expected to be.

The mug says "PRAHA". You get me, Brooklyn Street Local.

The whole upstairs is dead space right now, but the circular bar isn't so bad :)

Batch was actually quite busy when we stopped by later that afternoon, but they did still let us have a few samples (the guy pouring beer was super friendly & more than happy to provide – the guy manning the counter seemed rather perturbed about it; not the best impression to make, buddy).  I sampled the A-Rye, which had a really nice sweet touch that I’m not used to finding in a rye, and ended up going with the Son of a Batch IPA, which was a solid IPA on the verge of a double.  I liked their focus on slight twists on the standards (they seemed to be doing a lot of experiments with flip flopping the usual yeasts & grain bill on traditional styles – pretty cool, different tasting stuff), and I’ll definitely be going back.

Brewery #98!

Plus all that beer put me 100% in the mood for heaps of Indian food and the Decemberists concert I had lined up for that night (it was a busy weekend)!

Oh you, Royal.

This concert ended with the entire band being consumed by a giant presumably cardboard whale.

March also saw two birthdays celebrated at Rochester Mills, who have VASTLY stepped up their solid specialty beers lately – possibly because of the increased production at their new(ish?) production facility making room for more experimenting and smaller batches at the main brewery?  Either way, I washed down some steak & parsnips with a Newton’s ALEchemy, a Grand Cru, and a really roasty yet surprisingly hoppy black IPA & I’m thinking I ought to be paying a lot more attention to their offerings in the future.

Happy birthday you lovely lady <3

Yes, steak, but mostly PARSNIPS <3 <3 <3

Also got to taste (preemptively – this baby needs another couple months in the bottle before it’ll be at its prime) the Belgian quad I brewed way back earlier in the year.  I’m saving total judgement until I taste it again, but…it’s pretty damn good.  Nice body, a little less syrupy than some quads, and a slight added bitterness/subtle tartness from the currants right at the end.

Lazy girl brewer's uniform.

More to come……brew day Sunday!