THE HIGH HOLY DAYS OF BEER....

....or "ADVENTURES IN BONNY DOON"

That would be Bell's Eccentric day, an annual party at The Eccentric Cafe in Kalamazoo. It's not a "costume" party, but rather a day where one is free to express your inner "eccentric" self, however that may be. We arrived around noon, having been reminded at 9.15AM by our friends Skip & Cat they we were lame- they were already there with their first beer. First order of the day- breakfast beer! I opted for an oatmeal stout, and Mr Cicerone wept tears of joy as he drank a pint of cask-conditioned Porter. And, on from there.....Memorable beers were Rye Stout, Sour Stout (more like an Oud Bruin), the cask-conditioned porter, Wild One (an amberish wild ale with notes of fruit and wood. Tart. Good.), Golden Funk (a golden ale with Brettanomyces,spiced with cardamom and galangal. Delicious!), Quinannan Falls Lager (a strong pils, born of a fevered dream. Delicious.), Two Hearted Ale (of course) and Eccentric Ale 2008 (sweet, sweet, sweet). Bourbon-aged Hell Hath No Fury had run out by the time I decided to try one. The eccentricities continued with lots of delicious food - smoked pheasant, tongue and blood sausage, goose liverwurst, calves liverwurst, lots and lots of strange cheese, baby octopus cooked in sesame oil,lots of fish eggs, pickled eggs, smoked salmon, lots of strange breads, and that's about all I can remember. Oh, the outfits. Larry Bell was "yesterday's news", and Mr Mallett looked sweet in pink polyester pants.