A Fabulous Brewers Night

See?

Brewers Night at Grizzly Peak is the 1st Tuesday of each month, 6-9 in the evening, when Brewmaster Duncan Williams hangs out and talks beer with interested parties, gives tours of the brewery, and pours a special cask of beer. (This last one was on the second Tuesday, owing to New Years Day.) Though it's my day off, I made the trip out with Mrs. C., and made it just a bit more fabulous with my erm, spiffy new shirt gifted to me by Skip and Cat, who KNOW I will have my revenge....

Not Exactly Beer Related

I should oughta have my head examined. About a month ago, my buddy Joe at Liberty Street Brewing Co asked me if I would be willing to participate at a storytelling event planned for November at the brewery. Given the many (0) times I've got up on a stage and told a 10 minute story to a crowd of pubgoers, I of course said yes. I now am envisioning a version of this famous movie scene. More info about the event is at the Midwestern Gentleman website....

Michigan Brewers Guild Summer Fest '12 Is Over

...watcha wanna do next? How 'bout...

Whoooooo!

Hot Glass Cold Beer. An awesome event!

Thursday August 2nd, 5-10PM, at Furnace Design Studio/Glass Academy, Dearborn. These lovely people know how to make gorgeous works of (glass) art, and they love Michigan beer! Mr Cicerone and I will be pouring beer at this event. There will be 5 Michigan breweries at the event, glass blowing demonstrations, and beautiful objets d'art for sale.

For those on Facebook, details here. For those not, details here.

Wanna drink your Michigan beer from this? Then come by!

Beer VS Wine throwdown

The Southern Great Lakes Symphony Beer VS Wine Throwdown fundraiser has come, and gone. Results?
Beer won 4 rounds, and wine won 3.

Here's the courses....
Chicken Cesar salad.
BEER StMartins Abbey Blonde Ale (Belgium)
WINE Karantes 2010 Rose de Karantes Langedoc.
WINNER- BEER!

"Very Veggie" Italian Pasta with Tomatoes
BEER Moretti La Rossa Doppelbock (Italy)
WINE Di Mago 2010 Sangiovese Terri Degli Osti
WINNER - BEER!

Bohemian Keilbasa & Kraut
BEER Veldensteiner Munich Dunkel (Germany)
WINE Pine Ridge 2010  Chenin Blanc & Viogner
WINNER - BEER!

"Doug's Famous" Pulled Pork Sliders
BEER Motor City Honey Porter (Michigan)
WINE Plungerhead 2010 Zinfandel Lodi
WINNER - WINE!

Slows To Go Macaroni & Cheese
BEER Saugatuck ESB/Amber (Michigan)
WINE M Lawrence - NV "Sex" sparkling rose.
WINNER - BEER!

Bodacious Brownies
BEER Atwater Vanilla Java Porter (Michigan)
WINE Grahams 6 Grapes Reserve Porto
WINNER - WINE!
 (Editor's note. They were all wrong!!)

"My Big Fat Greek Bakalava"
BEER Detroit Brewing Radler
WINE Tintero 2010 Moscato D'Asti Sori Gramela
WINNER - WINE! (Wrong again!)

A great time was had by all, and the event netted the symphony a bucket of cash. Yay!
We ABSOLUTELY have to do an event like this again. And soon.

Beer VS Wine Throwdown!!

Support the Southern Great Lakes Symphony Orchestra by attending their "Beer VS Wine" Throwdown fundraiser on Friday June 8. 6 small plates paired with both a beer, and a wine! You vote! And,  be entertained by a jazz quartet at the same time!

Mrs Cicerone is doing the beer pairings!
Tickets available here.

How time flies!

Once again, Ashley's Westland are having their annual Cask Ale Fest on May 12, from noon-6PM. Early bird tickets are available here for $20 instead of $35. More info posted when available!

More on the intriguing beer dinner.....

The dinner at The Rattlesnake last Thursday was wonderful, and a lot of fun. Mr Cicerone, unfortunately, was out of town at a family funeral, so my date was Miss Eat It Detroit (who isn't really a fan of IPA, though she's being won over...)  Brian Tennis of the Michigan Hop Alliance was the guest speaker, and he did a wonderful job talking about all things hop-associated, as well as discussing the beers that were being served that evening. Thanks to Alex for the idea, and for putting this evening together - I'm not aware that an all IPA dinner has ever been done before? And thanks to Chef for the amazing food!
Here are some pictures......


...Full post

An Intriguing Beer Dinner

Rattlesnake Club is doing an all-IPA beer dinner next week on Thursday. A very interesting idea; check it out here. What other beer styles would you think might lend themselves to such an adventure?

Ashley's Belgian Fest

Ashley's Westland is holding its second annual Belgian Fest from February 9 until February 19, 2012. Last year we attended a couple of the events - the highlight for us being "Sour Fest". Here's a peek at some of the line-up for this year.

And, on the way home......

......a stop at Dark Horse for the 4 Elf party

...where we shared a beer (Mr Cicerone- Rod, me- Fore Smoked stout) with.....

Barry & Kathy Johnson of Saugatuck. Brewing. Barry IS Saugatuck Brewing. We also run into him everywhere we go.

And....we had a few fun moments with.....

Scotty Karate!

And, ate a little of this, too......

Ode to a haggis....

I love haggis!

Luckily, getting some is easy, if you happen to be in the vicinity of Battle Creek in early December. You might be lucky enough to be at Arcadia Brewery on their annual anniversary celebration, an occasion featuring not only great beer....not only haggis....but Tim Suprise himself addressing the haggis! This year was their 15th anniversary. (Congratulations Tim, Josh, Stacey, Rick, and everyone involved with this wonderful brewery!)

We dined well on haggis....wanna know a big secret? Haggis is NOT the nasty, slimy brains-of-a-she-monster thing that everyone seems to think it is. It's MEATLOAF. Yes, there are organy bits in there, and maybe it's cooked inside a sheep stomach, but it's chock full of spices, and oats, and it tastes great. Even Uncle Dave liked it!

See? Meatloaf!

Arcadia brought out two versions of an 15th anniversary ale this year, for sale only at the brewery on celebration day. The base beer was a strong brown ale brewed with tart cherries. Anniversary 15 was this beer aged in bourbon barrels. Anniversary XV was this beer aged in red wine barrels. Sadly, on the day yours truly was suffering a terrible cold that totally killed her taste buds, with beer being the big loser. So, no report! I couldn't taste much! (I still can't, and haven't enjoyed a beer for nearly a week!!)

The Rockery rocks!

The Rockery in Wyandotte have an amazing Michigan beer selection that just keeps getting better. The Lovely Melanie has just announced the inaugural  meeting for the Downriver Women's Craft Beer Lovers Society at The Rockery on Thursday December 8 at 7PM. More details here if you use Facebook.

See you there!!

Beer Week! Whooo!!

This week, we are on the "Beer Dinner A Day" diet, a grueling marathon. The first event, the Dogfish Head dinner at Slows, was amazing; Mrs. C has loads of food-porn pix, and will recap the dinner, but just let me say, Whooo!!

It warms my heart to see a beer dinner at Slows again after so much time off, and to see Chef Brian and Chef Mike so happy to be doing what they do so well. Can't wait for the next one. Meantime, we're off to Foran's Grand Trunk tonight for a dinner featuring Barry Johnson's Saugatuck Brewing Co. beers.

Beer dinners- past, and future!

Dessert- Caramel mouse, eeer...mousse, with chocolate pot au creme & hazelnut ice cream. Paired with Sam Adams Cream Stout.

We attended a spectacular Sam Adams beer dinner at Wolfgang Puck Grille last week. Chef Marc did another incredible job pairing five beers with 5 mouth-watering courses. Miss Jessica, the Sam Adams rep, did a wonderful job presenting the dinner, and talking about the company and the beers.
APPETIZERS- Shrimp tempura, crab cakes, tuna tartare- all paired with the lovely lemony Coastal Wheat.
TWO- Sauteed red snapper, mussels, caramelized cauliflower, pepperoni & saffron beurre blanc- paired with Sam Adams Imperial White Ale  ( delicious malty, spicy wheat wine). This was Chef Marc's homage to paella!
THREE - Roasted pork tenderloin with cabbage, confit of bacon, cider glaze & mustard sauce-paired with Sam Adams Oktoberfest marzen. Mmm, Mmm.
FOUR - Beef tenderloin with cipollini onion, blue cheese, cabernet reduction & fingerling potato, paired with Sam Adams Boston Lager. A rich, intensely flavoured dish on many levels that may have been a little better matched with a slightly stronger flavoured beer (Black lager or Boston ale would be my first pick from their portfolio), but the Boston Lager was pretty close to matching the intensity. Boston Lager is a delicious, flavourful, and often overlooked beer....
DESSERT- delicious on all accounts. A great match.
Thanks once again to Jessica, Chef Marc, and the entire team at Wolfgang Puck Grille for their exceptional service.

UPCOMING BEER DINNERS....
Detroit Beer Week is upon us again. Apart from a bunch of beery events, there's a slew of beer dinners that are not to be missed!
Monday October 17- details not finalised yet, but Slows are having a Dogfish Head beer dinner.
Tuesday October 18 - Cliff Bell's Dragonmead/Kuhnhenn beer dinner, AND Foran's Grand Trunk Pub Saugatuck Brewing Beer Dinner, which I think is sold out.
Wednesday October 19 - Andiamo Dearborn's Short's beer dinner
Thursday October 20 - Rattlesnake Club Bell's beer dinner

Get ready to loosen your belts!

Detroit Beer Week Approaches

We're still a bit short on details, but here is the executive summary:

When: October 13-23, 2011
What: Beer related special events
Where: All of your favorite beery places around town
Who: All of us!
Why: Beer! Whoooo!!
How: Show up thirsty....

A growing list of some of the events can be seen here.

We would also like to point out that the Michigan Brewers Guild Fall Festival will be on the 22nd at Eastern Market. Whooo!

Sunday afternoon....

We spent yesterday afternoon drinking some fine beers at Tashmoo Biergarten, Detroit. Some innovative people have created a temporary beer garden of sorts in a vacant residential lot there. They managed to get the licenses involved to pour and charge for beer, and I'm sure proceeds will be going to local charities. It runs for 5 Sunday afternoons.
It's outdoors, and there's no tents or any other cover, so as long as it doesn't rain.....Beer are poured from a temporary bar toward the back of the lot, and people sit at very cool communal tables made from old doors atop trestles (I love these!).
The beers were great- Jolly Pumpkin Bambiere and La Parcela (their pumpkin beer) for $6 a pint, and MillKing It BRIK Irish-style Red & AXL Pale Ale, New Holland Poet Stout, and...I think there was one more, for $4 a pint. There were 2 food booths- brats and perogies, both sourced locally.
There was a good crowd there, despite the chilly day!

Merchant's event has been cancelled!

Boy, this makes me sad. $30 for over 50 beers, a full buffet, a BJCP styles table, ice cream made from beer from Treat Dreams, and lots of giveaways. We didn't sell ONE SINGLE TICKET. BIG sigh.

Upcoming beer events

Thursday September 15
Andiamo, Dearborn
Atwater Brewing beer dinner

Tuesday September 20
Foran's Grand Trunk Pub
Founders Beer Dinner

Friday October 7
Merchant's Fine Wine Beer tasting event at Knights of Columbus O'Kelly banquet hall, Dearborn, including cider, mead and sake. Ciceroney stuff, too ("Styles" table). Lots of food, including  Dearborn Sausage Co hot dog stand, and Treat Dreams ice cream. More info on the way.....

We went to Bonny Doon..(again!)

That would be Great Taste of the Midwest, 2011. The 25th festival! My first one was 1997, or 1998 (I can't remember!), I skipped 1999 'cos I'd just had some surgery, and have since been to every one since. Mr Cicerone joined me for his first in 2003, the year we met (aaah, fond, fond memories of our starry-eyed courtship....). We're members of Chicago Beer Society, and hence get tickets through them, and luckily we've not missed out yet.
It was, as usual, a wonderful day.

Beer highlights were Revolution Brewing's saison, served with a small lemony cookie dipped in beery ice cream, Jolly Pumpkin's Calabaza Blanca with hibiscus (okay, we just had this at the MBG fest in July, but I couldn't resist!), Metropolitan Brewing's Krankshaft kolsch (poured through a robot draft tower!!),

Lafayette Brewing's agave wheat wine & their oatmeal stout poured through a coffee randall, Great Dane's THREE pilsners, New Glarus' everything, Kuhnhenn's Mild (on cask on the Real Ale tent), Goose Island's Sofie, Fleur & Scarlet (no, I didn't stand in the line for an hour to get a pour of Rare BCS), and a few more that can't be remembered clearly. Our plans to taste Chicago's 5 Rabbit beers, as well as the strong beers we always leave until last were foiled by the inevitable summer storm which hit hard at 5PM..
Food highlights were a smoky barbecued pork loin sandwich, and these.....

Back in Chicagoland after the fest, we dined at the incredible Bavarian Lodge in suburban Lisle which boasts this draft beer list....(wow!!). It was Porterhouse Oyster Stout for me.
The rest of the weekend saw us beer shopping (including a bottle of Brewdog's Sink The Bismark which I picked up for a friend), dining with friends (and we did enjoy 5 Rabbit's 5 Lizard witbier brewed with lime and passionfruit with dinner), a Viking breakfast with Child O' Mr Cicerone and a stop at Bell's on the way home (we missed out on Wild One at the festival).
Here's the new bathroom at The Eccentric Cafe!!