The man in red was wearing a kilt.

This past Saturday was the 8^th annual Winter Beer Festival put on by the Michigan Brewers Guild, who are easily the coolest guild in Michigan.  We joined the line two hours before the gates opened to general admission, and hunkered down for the wait. We had some pregame beers while we waited, and snacked lightly on our pretzel necklaces.  Right around noon we tried to have a pizza delivered to the line, which of course did not arrive until after we had made it in the gate. Thirty minutes or less indeed.

We traded our tickets for a cup and tokens and made a beeline for the Shorts stand.  Woodmaster.  Bourbon Goodnight Bodacious.  Ginger Snap. Bourbon Wizard.  Cup A Joe.  Bourbon HumaLupaLicious.  (Pattern? We’ll come back to that.)  It was just all so magical, we were giddy with excitement, so we took a quick break for some hot food.

The answer is always Turkey Leg, the question is irrelevant.

After manly sustenance, we tried to step back and take in the whole experience, which is no small feat.  No matter where you look, there’s something going on.  The bonfires and umbrella heaters, the live band rocking out the jams, and the masses of beer lovers.  One of the great things you’ll ever find about craft beer lovers, is that they’re a fantastic crowd to be in.  They’ll talk to anybody around them; they’re all in it together.  While standing in line to break the seal there was a lady walking around looking to be searching for someone. Andy asked her if everything was alright, and she replied that she couldn’t find her friend.  Andy asked her friends name, and then just started shouting it out at the top of his lungs. In seconds, everyone around him joined in belting out her name to help find her.  As it happened, her friend was only about 15 yards away and turning no less than eight different shades of red as she ran up, but where else are you going to see instant community like that?

Despite his undeniable grace, he did not stick the landing.

One of the things that stood out to us the most was the prevalence of aged beers.  Bourbon aged, oak aged, whisky aged, it’s a definite trend busting out right now.  We love it.  We’re huge fans of powerhouse aged beers, and in specific bourbon beers; but holy molasses, the sheer volume was a  surprise sock in the liver.  Most of us were a few more sheets to the wind than we had planned on being; Larry lost everybody and started wandering from bonfire to bonfire to get warm, and Andy was trying to do flips off the giant snow mound in the middle.

This year was without a doubt, the best executed Winter Beer Festival we’ve ever been to.  The beers were phenomenal, with plenty of great newcomers to try out; and none of the lines were too long, either at the brewery tents or the bathrooms.  Huge thanks to the Michigan Breweres Guild for throwing such an amazing event, and to the brewers for making such amazing craft beers.  Great job guys, we already can’t wait for next year!

Oh yeah, and we got to meet this guy!

Still Winning.

We wish we could give tickets away to everybody, but tickets to this year’s Fest were a rare commodity.  We’re happy for the lucky winners, and for everybody else who wanted some, check back with us often, we’ll run more giveaways and contests in the near future.  We’re here for the craft beer lovers, we can’t leave you hanging.

We’ll be out at the Pike 51 Brewery in Hudsonville this evening to present the tickets.  If you’re free, please come join us for some special batch GR Beer Week releases!  You can meet us, and find out more about upcoming events and contests we’ll be having.  We always have swag to hand out at our events so you won’t want to miss them (or the awesome craft beer we feature).

Again, congrats to the winners, we’ll see you all at Pike 51 tonight to celebrate, and on Saturday for the BEER FESTIVAL!

Prost!

In addition to the pregame breakfast, there are a few things that first timers are going to want to make sure they have, we’ve compiled a helpful list:

YOUR TICKET  This we should not have to tell you.  Tickets sold out online in an astonishing 13 hours this year.  Servers were crashed, cards were double billed in the confusion, and general mayhem. Ahh, the wonders of the internet.  If you were unable to get yourself one, Tuesday Nights is here to take care of you.  We’ve heard that additional precautions are going to be taken in the future so as to have a more fair distribution of tickets and to prevent dastardly scalpers from hoarding them, so as worst case scenario, make sure you pay attention to join us next year.

The most expensive tapwater evar

WATER Let’s be serious here, there are more than 600 different beers from more than 80 breweries.  You’re gonna need to stay hydrated so you don’t end up falling off a snowbank, crushing your brother-in-law’s legs when you slam the car seat-back on them when you pass out on the ride home, and spending the rest of the evening on the floor of the porcelain throne room in a drooling stupor.  When your babysitter decides to stay longer to watch the kids AFTER you get home, you probably could have used a bit of hydration in between the sampling (also food, but we’ll get to that in a minute).  So let’s be dignified, people.

FOOD  For the exact same reason as water.  You’ll need to help soak up some of that delicious beer to make way for even more delicious beer.  There will be food there that you can buy (see example of delicious turkey leg at left), brats/dogs/chili/burgers/etc (so BRING CASH).  This will not be enough.  Standard beer festival procedure is to adorn yourself with carefully crafted necklaces of pretzels, string cheese, and beef sticks.  There are no points awarded for being fancy, or for the most intricately woven pretzel neck-ware, just cram as many onto a string as you can.  Wear it with pride.

This man is winning on so many levels.

CLOTHES  Yes.  Wear them.  We’d recommend dressing for the season (come on, it’s February in MICHIGAN), but that’s never seemed to stop people from wearing ridiculous outfits before.  Kilts are a common sight, we’ve also seen people in gorilla suits, chicken suits, Dr Seuss hats, beards, viking helmets, and other absurd things.  Long johns and jeans, with a warm coat, hat, and gloves will most likely be what most of us will be in.  If you choose to forego the ordinary and wear something ludicrous (You mean AWESOME – Rob), there are fire barrels and bonfires dotted around the courtyard to keep your fingers and other appendages from freezing off. (Fingers are important, they help us hold our beer – Andy).  Whatever you wear, make sure it’s easy to pee in, as you will be doing that A LOT.

PATIENCE  Last year, there were more than 6000 people that attended the Winter Beer Fest.  There are going to be lines at the beer tents.  And the food tents.  And the port-a-johns.  And the biggest line of all just to get past the gate (seriously, it’s like a mile long).  Don’t be a dick, we all want the same thing.  Remember, if you act like a douche, there are thousands of drunk people that will be ready to put an end to your shenanigans in no time.

A RIDE HOME  Now I know nobody reading this would be dumb enough to spend all day at a BEER festival and think that driving home was a stellar idea, but seriously, have a ride home lined up.  We’d recommend being dropped off too, so you don’t have to pay for parking or worrying about having to come back for your car.  Winter Beer Fest is a huge deal, and the cops know it.  Even if you think you’re okay to drive, just, just don’t.  It’s safer for everybody.

This year’s Beer Fest should be spectacular, with more breweries and beer than ever before.  We look forward to this every year, and now that’s coming up so quickly, we just can’t wait!  Michigan beer drinkers are some of the most awesome people we’ve ever had the pleasure of hanging out with, so while you’re there, talk to people and make some new friends!

This week is Grand Rapids Beer Week, so get out there and drink some great craft beer in preparation for the grand finale, the Michigan Brewers Guild Winter Beer Festival!

Did we forget something?  Let us know in the comments!

As some of you may remember, the tickets for this event sold out in just 13 hours.  That’s a lot of enthusiasm! For what ever reason you don’t have tickets, like us on our Facebook page and you will be entered in a drawing for two free tickets (also see previous article on free tickets). If you still don’t have tickets after our drawing, grab a beer and start making calls to your friends and make plans to hang out that Saturday at a local brewery or restaurant.  This may also be a great time to hang out with those wine folks by suggesting places like Cascade Winery/Jaden James Brewery or Hudsonville Winery/Pike 51 Brewery which serve both beer and wine.  Beer Fest, hanging with friends or just staying home Saturday, February 23, just enjoy a Michigan Craft Beer!

Who’s the master, you might say?  Who’s the meanest?  Who’s the prettiest?  Who’s the baddest mofo lowdown around this town?  Keweenaw Widow Maker, that’s who.

As we’ve addressed in some other articles, canned beer has a stigma, much like B movies.  This beer is the ultimate B movie of the craft beer world; looks cheap and low quality on the outside (Harsh to canned beer much? -Rob), but full of some of the most amazingness you’ll ever experience on the inside.

The movie has none of what you see here.

Like any B movie, it’s a giant bait and switch.  Once poured out of the can, this beer is darker than Emperor Palpatine’s soul; yet it’s as light in your mouth as a pale ale.  It doesn’t have much of a smell, very mild malty, so you think that it would be weak and wimpy, but the flavor is robust and fantastic.  The taste is wonderfully consistent, it’s creamy and smooth like a top shelf milk stout, yet balanced and light like a fine brown ale.  It has a slight hint of sarsaparilla and smoke, with no bitterness.

This is a go to beer if there ever was one.  It’s flexible enough to pair with just about any food, and easy enough to drink that you can hand this to your lite-beer drinking friend.  Drink it anywhere anytime, with anybody, for any reason.

I know what you’re thinking.  You’re thinking “But wait, B movies are only good because they’re so bad!”  You’re right.  But this is a beer.  And it’s awesome.  Question it?  Answer to this man’s Converse:

“The secret awaits eyes unclouded by ambition. . .”

Oh, by the way, this is the amazing beer in question:

Is that a submarine or some kind of sci-fi golf bag she’s carrying?

And in closing. . . extra points for knowing the Shogun’s name.

Please. You think they think of anybody other than me? I’m the only smuggler they’ll ever need.

Hideout Brewing Company is a great microbrewery in the northeast corner of Grand Rapids.  They make a good range of craft beers, and draw inspiration from the 1920′s Prohibition Era.  The Smuggler’s Hazelnut Stout is named for the old bootleggers that used to smuggle beer in and out of the cities.

This is a deep dark black hole of a stout that just beckons you to taste the dark side, while a light tan foam cap completes the classic stout look.  This looks bold, daring, but fear not, it’s much tamer than it first appears.

It smells of good rich coffee with a slight hazelnut tinge to it.  First drink reveals a very very light feel in your mouth, this beer is very easy to drink.  The hazelnut flavor isn’t overbearing, and the coffee aroma continues on into a coffee flavor, complimented by smooth malt taste.  The beer overall is so smooth, you may find yourself drinking it faster than you would have thought a manly looking stout like this would be consumed.

Smooth. Manly. Han Solo.

At 5.5% ABV it’s not going to kill you to drink a few though.  The finish on this beer is fantastic, there’s no unnecessarily long linger of any particular flavor, it ends cleanly and simply, leaving you ready for another drink.  If you’re like us, we don’t think about hazelnut particularly often (Nutella aside, that’s not hazelnut, that’s heaven mixed with chocolate in spread form).  Real men drink their coffee black, as you no doubt know, so things like hazelnut creamers never grace our pantries.

I know, right!?

Moreover, there are a lot of people that are just flat out turned away by hazelnut’s distinctive aroma (I’ve heard it compared to sweaty socks, wtf?) Finding it done to such a balanced degree in this stout, it definitely left us wondering why more breweries don’t use hazelnut flavor.

All in all, this is definitely a stout to try.  It’s smooth enough with no roasted bite that if you’re new to the stout world, this one wouldn’t be a huge turn off; and to the seasoned stout-ers, the well blended hazelnut flavor is a refreshing change from your garden variety malty stout.  If you see it somewhere, grab a pint or two.  If you’re lucky and can catch it on nitro, don’t pass it up, it’ll definitely put a smile on your face.

Hopefully not one like this

Now that the Super Bowl is finished, let’s turn our attention to something even more important:
The Michigan Brewers Guild Winter Beer Festival!

Great googly moogly the Beer Festival is THIS WEEKEND!

Tickets for this event sold out in a mindbogglingly quick time, and now if you’re out a ticket, you may think you’re out of luck.
Scalpers got you down? We’re here to kick them in the crotch. Twice face value for some beer fest tickets? UP YOURS SCALPERS!

We’ve got two tickets to give away for FREE. What’s the catch? Simple: like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter.

TOMORROW (that’s Tuesday the 19th for the calendarily-challenged) we’ll be randomly picking three lucky people from our Twitter and Facebook friends to give a ticket to.

We love beer, more importantly, we love MI CRAFT BEER, and we think that just because some renobs bought out a boatload of tickets before honest beer loving folk could get some, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be able to join us in Beer City USA’s premier craft beer event.
Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, maybe even check out our website (spoiler alert: our reviews and events are awesome).
We’ll post the three lucky winners on Tuesday the 19th, and contact them through the wonders of social media.

Prost!

http://www.facebook.com/tuesdaynightsbeer
http://twitter.com/2sdaynights

Triomphe

Triomphe is a Belgian style IPA that is a year round mainstay of Vivant’s. We love Belgian IPAs for their typical balancing of two of our favorite tastes: IPA hops and Belgian citrus-y wheat. When first sipping the beer you experience the sweet Belgian that almost reminds us of mandarin oranges. It is also mellowed by a wheat flavor. These sweet and mellow flavors are then exchanged for the hoppy sensations of a good IPA. This is a wonderful combination of flavors that makes us think of the endearing hair style that ran rampant in the 80′s: The mullet. This beer is like a mullet, but in reverse. A Belgian party up front with the hop business of IPA’s out back (Perfect match for a black Trans-Am with a gold screaming chicken on the hood.-Jer).

In summation, we really like this beer and feel it is a good choice almost anytime of year. It is full of flavors and personality, and makes you want to drink more and more, like a good session beer. We say buy it.

Burt Reynolds. That is all.

The tasting will be held on January 15, 2013 from 7 to 9 PM at the brewery/winery located at 4665 Broadmoor Grand Rapids, MI 49512.  Here is a link to the website : http://jadenjamesbrewery.com/ with more detailed directions, a list of current beverages on tap and a picture of hops (It’s true. Trust me, I’m a doctor. – Andy).  The ticket will cost just $20 in advance and $25 at the door.  To purchase your tickets or ask any questions, email us at theguys@tuesdaynightsbeer.com .  See you there!

Lazy Lemon Wheat

Russian Stout

Pumpkin Ale

Zeus

IPA

Black IPA

3 Ciders (regular, blackberry, peach)

We took advantage of the sampling boards they have available and were able to try them all. While all of the selections were good, there were a few standouts. Most notable for me and several others was the Black IPA. If you’re an IPA fan you probably already know that a Black IPA is usually a roll of the dice, and you never know if the brewer got it right or if you’ll be let down. . . they nailed it. Chris shared a story while we sipped his deliciously dark and hoppy brew: it turns out that reps from Stone Brewing were in Grand Rapids on some business and stopped by Jaden James to get the scoop. Chris offered up a Black IPA and received some worthy praise from the reps.

Of course Chris tells the story much better than we do, and there ’s plenty more where that came from. Ask how Bob and Rose met and hired Chris, or why the brewery is named Jaden James; and even if you don’t get a sample of the Pumpkin Ale be sure to ask how he made it different from any other brewer (hint: it involves actual pumpkin pies. . . oh yes).

Check them out :

http://jadenjamesbrewery.com/index.html
http://www.facebook.com/jjbrewery