Along with @stevendkrause, I attended the Michigan Beer Fest on Friday evening in Ypsi’s Riverside Park. Sold out venue opened at 5 p.m. The line looked like this from the bridge over the Huron River, near Depot Town.
For thirty-five bucks, you get a five ounce cup and a plastic baggy with fifteen tokens, each good for a three ounce sample. They provide a map, but it’s an ambling scene, more wandering than purposefully itinerant. The only factors affecting my thinking as we went in were 1) need to get some food, 2) want to stop by Original Gravity’s booth, 3) prefer IPAs, and 4) venue closes at 9 p.m. I’m not so excited about the wildest experimental brews, but I sought to intermix the stuff I thought I would like with the stuff that was funky and offbeat. Here’s the list:
- Rad 2 the Max from Pike 51 (top three of the night)
- Belgian Saison from Bob’s Brewery (came with bratwurst)
- Reclamation IPA from Ore Dock, only representative from UP (forgettable flavor)
- Root Down Ginger Beer from Original Gravity, Milan, MI
- Coconut Cream Ale, 51 North, Lake Orion (terrible; coconut cream pie and bud light, as if sipped from Hawaiian Tropics bottle)
- Sassafras Dark Day IPA from Olde peninsula in Kalamazoo (odd vanilla scent; sassafras note, pleasant)
- Cheboygan Brewing Co, Blood Orange Honey (too fruity for me; light and summery)
- Mistress Jades Hemp Ale, Sherwood (p good)
- Spiney Norman IPA, Right Brain Brewery, Traverse City, MI, (top three of the night; a good, hoppy IPA)
- Also tried Mangalista Pig Porter from Right Brain (bacon; brewed with pig heads; sip is plenty)
- Ol’ Dale, Mountain Town Brewery, Mt. Pleasant
- Twice Licked Kitty from Rupert’s Brew House
- 4C’z Slam IPA from Farmington Brewing Co. (never again)
- Low End Theory black IPA, Batch Brewing Company
- Barrelman English IPA from Shorts
- Hop in Yer Rye from Saugatuck Brewing Co. (top three of the night)
- Figpa IPA from Dark Horse variety station
Not much else to add, besides these photos:
