Tap: Detroit. A great evening!

If you missed Tap: Detroit last night I can only say....."Your loss"!

St Andrew's hall was awash with great beer, food and music last night for the kick off event to Detroit Beer Week. For a mere $35 you had access to the main floor which hosted 7 stations, each with up to 6 different beers and food to go with. Plus some great music from a guy playing an electric cello (crazy but good!), and another band playing some country tunes.

Slows BarBQ were pairing lamb riblets with a chocolate barbeque sauce and a red cabbage slaw (mmmmm!!)- beer choices were too many to mention, but Kuhnhenn American IPA and New Holland Sundog Amber were our beers of choice with our snack, though Dark Horse Reserve Special Black would have been stellar with the chocolate sauce (it was pouring across the way). Detroit Beer Co had jambalaya paired with an English-style pale ale- a fine pairing. Grand Truck Pub had a delicious beef & lamb stew (thanks Dave!), and Arcadia Scotch and Dark Horse Special Reserve Black were the stars with this stew. Redsmoke Barbeque offered pulled pork (Mr Cicerone pronounced this to be very good) with teeny brioche buns, a great macaroni and cheese that tasted like it was made with some horseradish, and corn muffins. Arbor Brewing's Olde # 22 altbier was a fine accompaniment. Next up- Jacoby's with mini schnitzel, mini potato pancakes, meatballs and spaetzl. (The spaetzl were great!). Kuhnhenn's Oktoberfest hit the spot with this. And Millking It AXL pale ale. Talking about Kuhnhenn's, the guys left their own O'Fest celebration to come to this event. Eric looked pretty fancy in lederhosen too. The guacamole, salsa & pico de gallo from Zumba Mexican Grill was good, and popular. Last up was some really good Asiago cheese from Traffic Jam. Mighty good. Think I was drinking Kuhnhenn's Classic American Pils with this. Somewhere in the mix, we threw in a New Holland Hopivore wet hop ale (surprisingly, but deliciously malty), Dragonmead's Final Absolution, Founders Centennial IPA, and more. Again- all this for $35!

An extra $20 entitled you to access to the floor below which housed firkins from The Livery (String of Ponies pale ale), and New Holland (Ichabod pumpkin ale). And a tub full of Belgian and other imported beers. (Offerings included Duvel, Orval, D Tremens, Schlenkerla Rauchbier, Petrus Pale Ale). And Jolly Pumpkin's Luciernaga & La Parcela pumpkin ale. And both Big Rock's, & Kuhnhenn's Black IPA. And more. Great drinking and foot-tapping music was provided by an Irish-style band complete with fiddle and bodhran.

The extra $20 also got you to the top floor which housed a DJ (turns out it was David from Motor City Wine where we'll be doing the Beer VS Wine & cheese event on Thursday), B. Nektar meads, spirits from New Holland, Michigan vodka, and something called "Chocolate Cake Liqueur" (sorry- just not our thing).

A great evening, and thanks to Jason & Jon for all the hard work. Sadly, the event was a tad under attended. For anyone reading this- go next year!