C3 at Right Brain Brewery

Every year my husband, who is a comic book illustrator and I go to a comic book convention in Traverse City; called Cherry Capital Convention or C3. And every year the Sunday after party is at Right Brain Brewery. I'm going to be honest - we love Right Brain's atmosphere, but I always am at a loss of what to drink because I have never really liked any of their beers that I have tried, but this year I was going to force myself to try something new and find a beer I like!

Strawberry Fields

Right Brain Brewery - Traverse City, MI
The title of this beer is misleading, I don't know if it's consider a fruit beer but it shouldn't be. It's not in the least bit sweet and I couldn't taste or smell the Strawberries at all. As with most of Right Brain's beers it's too hoppy for me. 4.6% abv

Pecan Pie Whole

Right Brain Brewery - Traverse City, MI
This was much more like it! Malt and Barley and Pecans, oh my! This beer smelled wonderful and was as close to liquid pecan pie in beer form you are going to find. You can still taste the hops, but it's much more malty; did I finally fine the Right Brain Beer for me?

Unexpected Beer Day

Michigan Sunshine

Cellar Brewing Company - Sparta, MI  I started my day with a meeting at Cellar Brewing Company with the new owner Chuck Brown, if you haven't caught on yet- The Michigan Beer Cellar is going through some changes; and they are going to be a great producer in West Michigan! I had their answer to Oberon, their Michigan Sunshine; it's orange and coriander - and in my opinion better the Oberon! Highly recommended if you are looking for liquid sunshine.

Rochester Mills 

Milk Shake Stout

HopCat - Grand Rapids, MI
Later in the day I attended my first Pussycat Beer Guild Meeting at HopCat - also my first visit to HopCat. I love these ladies, and it's going to be a great way to get to test new beers every month. I started with The Rochester Mills Milkshake Milk Stout. To be honest I have tasted this at home with my husband before. It's not ever as sweet as I want it to be, but it's very smooth and has nice dark chocolate under tones. 6% abv

Foret Saison

HopCat - Grand Rapids, MI
One thing I quickly learned at my guild meeting is there are perks :) This bottle was on the house! (The Hellhound was as well) and the second rule of the guild; your opinion is never wrong. This beer was surprising ok for the amount of hops in it, I know I don't usually like Saisons, but this was ok. The head was thick on the pour and it was quite sour. (This beer is from Belgium) 7.5% abv

Dogfish Head Brewery's

Robert Johnson's Hellhound on my Ale

HopCat - Grand Rapids, MI
I didn't like this beer as much as I wanted to, but then again; that's expected since it's a Imperial IPA. It was fairly citrus-y, but very bitter and sour and STRONG. Definitely not a beer for me or the faint of heart; but then neither is the blues. 10% abv

Vanilla Milk Stout

Mitten Brewing Company - Grand Rapids, MI

Right after the announcement that Grand Rapids is Beer City USA, I was lucky enough to meet with Lindsay at Mitten Brewing Company. I was disappointed because they did a limited edition Peanut and Cracker Jack Stout that they were out of; the one thing I am learning is if you want to try something - don't wait!

Instead I got their Vanilla Milk Stout. This was a nice dark stout, dark and bitter. I tasted like a very dark chocolate bar - it smelled sweet and of barley. 4.5%

Mother's Day

Enjoyed at home, purchased at Perrin Brewing Company - Comstock Park, MI

For Mother's Day my awesome husband went to Perrin to get me a growler of my favorite beer. Unfortunately Double Raspberry was a limited batch and it's gone :( However, they have a Raspberry Blonde that they carry all the time, so he got me this.

The Raspberry Blonde is not as sweet as the Double was but is still delicious. Still some of the best fruit beer I have come across. Very fruity, this is a little bitter; but is just delightful!

Blueberry Ale

Enjoyed at home, purchased at Cap & Cork in Comstock Park, MI

Blue Point Brewing Company, Blueberry Ale - Long Island, NY - If this beer only tasted as good as it smells. It has a very strong blueberry aroma, I was excited to take the first sip and... it was not as good as I hoped. I haven't found a fruit beer that can compare to the Perrin Double Raspberry yet when it comes to actual fruit flavor. This is slightly blueberry-ish, but clean and smooth. It was ok, not a struggle to finish it; but there are better fruit beers out there too. 4.6%

Grapefruit Moon

Harmony Brewing Company - Grand Rapids, Mi (East Towne)

Grapefruit Moon, IPA Shandy - I wouldn't normally choose an IPA but this was a recommendation from my server when I said I like sweet stuff. This is Harmony's IPA mixed with Ruby Red Grapefruit. It was delicious and refreshing. The sweet of the grapefruit stood out and it was exactly like drinking grapefruit juice and beer, very smooth and very good. It was acidic because of the grapefruit juice but left no after taste. I would drink it again, but will probably try something new next time I'm there.

Celebration of Women and Craft Beer

Saugatuck Brewing Company- Douglas, MI

So many beers... 

This was a really good event, that I think will grow and become something really wonderful. I met Liz Crowe, Owner of Wolverine State Brewing; Annette May, the first female Cicerone; Katie Spayde, a home brewing expert and Cicerone with Siciliano's Market; Kathy Johnson, the Founder of Saugatuck Brewing Company; Sheryl Rose and her Pussycat Beer Guild; Sarah Aldrich, Marketing at Founder's Brewing and Amy Sherman, Chef and host of The Great American Beer Trail; and probably more that I'm forgetting!

Blonde

The first beer I had was the Saugatuck Brewing Co. Blonde? Honestly I don't remember - it was beer and it was light enough that I could drink it, there was nothing that spectacular about it that I remember.

The Menu

Then I did the Beer & Cheese Tasting with Amy Sherman - This was awesome, and luckily I have the guide still so I can tell you everything that I tried. I was very distracted though, since I was sitting next to the owner and she was more interested in my app then the tasting.  

Michigan Wheat Ale

Round 1: Michigan Wheat Ale with Aged Goat Cheese - I didn't care for this beer, it smelled like
wheat, grass and honey. The cheese helped it a lot. A finished this beer. 

Pathfinder Ale

Round 2: Pathfinder Pale Ale and ESB/Amber with Habenaro Jack Cheese - I loved this cheese. What, I supposed to tell you about the beer? Well, again I drank so many beers a lot of them ran together and these were all kind of similar; tasted like beer - the cheese made them better. I finished both of these beers

ESB/Amber

Round 3: Dead Goat Dopplebock with Gruyere - This beer I remember, it was the first dark one we tasted and it was very caramel-ly. I liked it, it was strong but the gruyere with it was great! I finished this beer.

Dead Goat Dopplebock

Round 4: Singapore IPA with Aged Sharp Cheddar - I didn't like this combination at all. I don't really care for cheddar or IPA, so I know that I wasn't super impressed with this pairing; but I also know I was 5 beers in and Kathy was chatting up a storm. I drank maybe 1/2 of this one. 

Singapore IPA

Round 5: (Yes, I'm on round 5) Big Swingin' Richard and Pier Cove Porter paired with Danish Blue Cheese - These were my 2 favorites, they both were dark, heavy and strong. Big Swingin' Richard is a barrel aged beer, I believe it's brand new. I could give or take the cheese paired with them, I love blue cheese but I think after 6 1/2, I was a little overwhelmed. I did not finished either of these beers.

Pier Cove Porter
(poor image quality because I had hit
a button on my phone and didn't realize it)

After the Pairings there was another presentation and the chance to try more beers, I passed on all of these and drank water until it was time to go.

Big Swingin' Richard
(again, with the photo quality; sorry)

Oh! and I won an incredible goodie bag from Saugatuck Brewing Company. It was a great event, and I can't wait for next year. I made some new friends and tried some great beers, I just wish I could remember more about them ;) 

Purple Haze

Enjoyed at home, purchased at Cap & Cork in Comstock Park, MI

Abita Purple Haze, raspberry flavored lager - This is brewed in Louisiana (I was looking for sweet and fruit beers and not paying enough attention to the location), it came pretty highly recommended. Seeing as how I just had the Perrin Double raspberry I had high hopes for this beer. It is ok, I like sweeter, fruitier beer. This is one of those instances where the flavor is very raw and more of the seed then the fruit. It's smooth, no after taste (as a lager should be) but not the beer for me. 4.2%

Double Raspberry

Perrin Brewing Company- Comstock Park, MI

Double Raspberry - Let me start with- I love this beer. Even over my favorite cider and lambic, I love this beer. It was a great experience at Perrin over all, I had their Pacifist sandwich with sweet potato fries; it was wonderful. This beer is super sweet and definitely raspberry, this is by far my favorite beer and it's so close to home! 4.5%