Beer Shout Out: A Practical Wedding

This is so cool! Boobs and Beer was linked over at A Practical Wedding.
My wedding is May 21! It's coming up so soon!

If you're wondering, we are for sure having Oberon and Detroit Brewing Lager, as far as beer choices go. It was suggested that I round out the flavors with something with a little more hops. I suppose I could go with Miller Lite, as it is Triple Hops Brewed. But that's not a Michigan brew!
Any suggestions for a reasonably priced, Michigan beer with prevalent hops?

Beer News: New Law Lets Grocery Stores Give Beer Samples

You all know that new law that lets grocery stores sell alcohol before noon on Sundays?
Well this same law also lets grocery stores give samples of beer and wine in the store.
All grocery stores have to do is purchase a one-time $70 permit, apply for a free event permit and give training to their employees. This seems like a pretty good deal for stores to help you decide on that pricey drink from a different kind of brewer.

Kroger and Whole Foods are two chains that are currently offering this.
And West Michigan Spartan and D&W stores are having events this weekend.

As a shopper at the store, you simple need to provide your ID showing that you are 21+.

For more on this, check out MLive.

Beer News: Memorial to Pierre Celis

Pierre Celis - Father of Wit Beer (March 21, 1925 - April 9, 2011)

Pierre Celis was a Belgian brewer who opened his first brewery in 1966 to revive the wit beer style in his hometown of Hoegaarden. Pierre was born on March 21, 1925 in his family home on the edge of the Hoegaarden town square. He grew up working on his father's cattle farm, but also helped out in the brewery of his neighbour Louis Tomsin. Tomsin brewed wit beer, which was a speciality in the region around Celis' home town. After Tomsin closed his brewery in 1955, wit beer disappeared from Hoegaarden. Celis, who became a milkman after he married, took up beer making in 1965. The first year he started out with a wash tub in the barn of his father. With a loan from his father he bought equipment that came from an abandoned brewery in Zolder. His first batch of Hoegaarden beer was made on 19 March 1966 and he opened Brouwerij Celis (Celis Brewery). In 1980 he opened Brouwerij de Kluis as he transferred the production to new buildings. In the late 1980s his brewery burned down. Because the buildings were not insured, he was forced to sell his company to Interbrew, now AB Inbev. He then founded the Celis Brewery in the USA, which was managed by his daughter Christine.

In Honor of Pierre, I recommend drinking a Celis White, or Celis Raspberry today.

Beer News: Bell's Brewery to Start Selling Beer in Cans

In 2012, start looking for Bell's beer in cans! So that means all you sports fans, beach goers and boaters can now bring your favorite Michigan beer to the party.

Via M-Live

KALAMAZOO — Bell's Brewery Inc. is planning to install a 500-cans-per-minute canning line at its Comstock Township facility by spring of 2012 as part of an on-going expansion project, president Larry Bell said Wednesday.

By comparison, the main bottling line at Bell's, Michigan's largest brewery, runs about 260 bottles a minute.

Bell said bottles will continue be the container of choice for most bars and restaurants, but putting beer in cans opens opportunities in the boating, golf and sports venue business that aren't currently available.
"Right now cans are doing about 3 percent of the craft beer market," Larry Bell said. "They probably will skew a little bit higher in Michigan, we think, because the nature of drinking opportunities for cans in this state is greater than other states."

Bell said the final decision hasn't been made on which of his beer brands would end up in cans, nor has Bell's decided what size cans it would use.

Houghton's Keweenaw Brewing Co., which opened in 2004, was the first microbrewery in the state to can craft beer.

Rochester Mills Beer Co., of Rochester, and MillKing It Productions, of Royal Oak, are the only other breweries in the state to can.

Arcadia Brewing Co., of Battle Creek, and Brewery Vivant, of Grand Rapids, have purchased canning lines and plan to begin canning in April.

Beer Tasting: Irish Beer at Dusty's Cellar

Dusty's Cellar near Lansing, MI offered a St. Patrick's Day Beer Tasting. Dusty's Cellar usually specializes in wine. From my experience, they are also clearly knowledgeable about beer.
From the list above, I sampled : Harp, Wexford Creme Ale, Murphy's Stout, Guinness Foreign Extra, Magner's Cider, McSorley's Pale Ale, Sam Adams Red, McSorley's Black Lager, Short's Uncle Steve's Stout. (Plus a special tasting of Dark Horse Brewery's Blueberry Stout.)


For those who haven't tried Harp in a few years, you're in for a surprise! It has been reformulated and is now hoppier and fruitier than before. This is a nice, light, Irish brew.

Wexford Creme Ale lacked bitterness, and tasted like the love child of an ale and a creme sherry. This paired very nicely with the assortment of Irish cheese that was offered. For me, it was good, but lacked complexity. This creme ale only struck one note.

We skipped on the Smithwick's and Guinness Draught because we already knew what those tasted like. But there was a lot of nostalgia for these two among the other tasters at the tasting.

Murphy's Stout is very similar to the Guinness Draught. Murphy's has a bit more of the coffee flavor that can come out in a stout, and it was heavier. It also tasted cleaner than a Guinness.

The Guinness Foreign Extra was one of the favorites from the Irish table. It has a very bold flavor with sourness that's rare in stouts, and you can taste the alcohol. Guinness got it right when brewing the Foreign Extra. It's everything that traditional Guinness is lacking.

Magner's Cider was not one of my favorites of the night. This is likely because it's not actually a beer, and it's much too sweet. You get left with a pleasant green apple flavor at the end note.

McSorley's Pale Ale was heavy for an ale, but still light. This is a complex beer with a good kick of hops. My first McSorley's experience, and I was not let down.

The Sam Adam's Red came as a surprise. It smelled like wet dog. I think this is because of the amount of yeast. While drinking this red, all I tasted was yeast. This is a disappointing red.

McSorley's Black Lager tasted like you would expect a lager to taste. This hit it out of the ball park! By far my favorite of the night. This was an easy-drinking heavy lager that hit all the right notes.

The Short's Uncle Steve's Stout was very bitter, and didn't hit the usual malty notes a typical stout will hit. If you really want a hoppy stout, go for this one. I wasn't a fan, but several other tasters expressed their love of this beer.

Although not part of the official tasting list, the beer guys got excited and opened a bottle of Dark Horse Blueberry Stout. This was such a delicious beer to savor. This is a stout with a hint of real blueberry flavor, not a blueberry beer with stout flavor. For a true stout fan, this is the way to go if you want a flavored stout. The alcohol flavor is quite strong, though. Drinking this was like taking a shot of liqueur. I would love to experiment and bake some blueberry muffins with this stout.

Overall we were much more impressed with the Irish table than the American Irish table. Each had its good and bad beers, but the Irish table was more consistent. Then again, they have hundreds of years of tradition going for them.

-Sandy