(Photos by Celia Kubiak except the top one which I took)
This past Saturday Feb 23rd the Michigan Brewer's Guild held their 3rd annual Winter Beer Festival at 5/3 Ballpark in Grand Rapids. Quite a bit different from the last two, which took place in one very large tent in Old Town Lansing, this year's event spanned the upper and lower decks of the ballpark, the concourse and pavilion. The spacious layout still managed to conjure up crowds, however, there were no crammed corners like at last year's event.
Beerfests are a lot of fun, in an intense, concentrated way. Here's how it went for me: I went to bed Friday night, woke up Saturday, had some breakfast, went to the beerfest, went home, ate dinner and the day was over. I woke up Sunday wondering where the weekend had gone. Before my coffee was finished perking in the pot Sunday morning I had already read some negative reviews posted by BA members on the beeradvocate website and I say "Boo hoo". It was icy, It was cold, the restrooms were crowded. These things I expected, possibly why they did not bother me. For one, it was very cold until the sun came out after 2pm or so. This, however, encouraged me to start drinking bigger beers earlier than I may have had it been warmer. So after the obvious quick samples of Night Tripper from New Holland, Curmudgeon Old Ale from Founders and Rich's Ice Rye from Short's, I got down to business.
Rochester Mill's Batch 1000 Barleywine snapped the chill from my toes and properly adjusted my mentality. Much ice was below my feet, snow was on the baseball field and the sun was shining on the numerous tiered tents. Crowds ebbed and flowed, green horns and pundits scowled and delighted, beer fans crossed their legs and danced while in line to the ubiquitiously lacking porta-johns. I introduced myself to someone I already knew and made a small fool of myself babbling to a brewer I admire. This is what the thing is all about.
It was very nice to see many of the faces I have meet over the course of my brewery travels. Friends from Bellaire, Warren, Marshall, Hastings, Detroit, Ann Arbor and Webberville. I recognized it was a long day for these out-of-towners. Getting there early and setting up the booths, not to mention organizing the event at this venue, cheers to all the work, time, and sleep given up to make this event such a success! Thinking about this made me both a little sleepy and hungry. I needed a quick one-two punch to get back in the drinking game: enter Sam Sherwood's (Walldorff) Smoked Ale and Kuhnhenn's Lambic, neither of which were listed in the handout. Bam! Mouth was cleared out, wife was happily sipping, and hunger cured.
Beyond the beer geeks and hop heads that usually patronize such a gathering, all other kinds of folks showed up to the sold out event, plenty of who knew not what they were getting into. Anyone with the ability to embrace the unexpected, however, probably had a great time. I overheard many people say "Mai Bock", "Barleywine", "Kolsch" and "Dunkel Weisse" for what sounded like the first time. The good thing was, a smile accompanied most every virgin sip
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