Winter Beer Fest review

Over the weekend was the Michigan Brewers Guild Winter Beer Fest out in Grand Rapids. While I do enjoy beer bunches, I was sorely disappointed this year. This year's Winter Beer Fest was terrible, horrible, and very bad. Not the beers, but the event. Basically, the venue was SO bad that it interfered and distracted from appreciating the beers...

It was a complete maze - the up-down-around-the-bend to find a booth was annoying. The narrow paths between areas made for congestion and a melee, not to mention icy slippery wooden decking. Some parts of it were blistering and freezing in the wind (i.e. central area near New Holland) compared to more inviting areas (i.e. upper deck near Arbor Brewing/Corner Brewery). Yes, I realize that it's a Winter beer fest, but it doesn't need to be a question of winter survival. There was no gathering space for friends to have a place to stand around and discuss the beers they had. (central or otherwise) It was shoulder-to-shoulder jostling all day. And lastly, there were just not enough bathrooms.

Lansing last year was, while more crowded, better. There was less space, but it was space you could move in. I know there was controversy over the move to Grand Rapids, and while I don't particularly mind the move, I do think that having a neutral city for beerfest (i.e. Lansing) makes more sense. But if it stays in GR next year, hopefully it will be at a different venue. If it is in the ballpark again, we probably won't go. Summer Beer Fest, however is a delight.

Along with the disappointment of the venue, back at the hotel, it seems the hotel room attempted murder upon me. A short nap with the heat on dehydrated the room so badly that I was raw and coughing uncontrollably. G and I had, as part of the grand plan, wanted to go to Founders to the Back Forty show after beer fest, so we struggled our way out in the cold, went to the show, and watched some barefoot neo-hippies twirl around while The Werks opened. Ran into Monica (of Monica and Kate - the Ann Arborites we recognized in the hotel lobby and ride-shared to the Fest) and she was kind enough to buy us a beer as a thank you for the ride. The bourbon-barrel-aged Kentucky Breakfast Stout is normally delicious, but it felt strange to my tongue that night, but the Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale was delicious. We only lasted halfway through the Back Forty set - it was just a long beery day, so we bailed and walked through the cold, and then through the warm skyway, and then back in the cold, where I feared for my survival in the hotel, but somehow managed to wake up alive and had a nice little Sunday drive back home (with a minor getting-slightly-lost diversion near Ada, MI).


So in the interest of posterity, I'll share my tasting notes below. Keep in mind that it was mid-beer jotting of notes while standing on slippery wood decking, or while walking, or while slightly buzzed from an afternoon of beer sampling. In the order of having tasted them, they were:

1. Schmohz Brewery Kiss My Scottish Arse Scotch Ale: Not a scotch ale. Bitter. Vile.
2. Schmohz Brewery Mad Tom's Porter: Tastes like their scotch ale. Crappy.
(Seems lie Schmohz went the way of Jolly Pumpkin - their beers all taste the same - like the same strain of yeast, which has a sour bitterness to it that I don't care for.)
4. Sherwood Brewing Leadbelly Oatmeal Stout: Lactose-y. Ashey. Good mouth-feel, but that's all.
5. Sherwood Brewing Alaskan Sister Wit: Bitter. Too heavy for a Wit.
6. North Peak Witley's Wheat: Too much like a Pilsner. Blech.
7. Copper Canyon Rye-PA: Solid IPA notion. Looong swervy skid in the later linger. Loooovely.
8. Grand Rapids Brewing Co. Tiramisu Stout: Nice sweet coffee nose. Unremarkable taste, but ok. Thin mouthfeel.
9. Michigan Brewing Co. Winter Warmer (Rye-PA): Nice malty smooth hop. Really quite good.
10. Michigan Brewing Co. Imperial IPA: Definitely imperial in the best way. Not ridiculous hop, but big and meaningful.
11. Michigan Brewing Co. Superior Stout: Smoky. OK. Rolls around a lot.
12. New Holland Cabin Fever Brown Ale: A bit coffee, malty, round.
13. New Holland Pilgrim's Dole Wheat Wine (2005): Makes me salivate at the end. Not too sweet. Delicious.
14. New Holland Red Tulip: Never did much for me. Wendy loves it. I really don't see what she sees in it.
15. The Hideout Chicago Typewriter Double Red: A bit bitter
16. The Hideout Smugglers Hazlenut Stout: Good nose, but distractingly thin mouthfeel.
17. The Hideout Midnight Oatmeal Stout: Smoky
18. Dragonmead Imperial Stout: Whisky kick at the end. Not sweet. Pretty good.
19. Arcadia Brewing Co. Hop Rocket Imperial IPA: hop flowery, nice. Not overbearing.
20. Arbor Brewing Co. HXL Double IPA: Damn that's good. Smells like barleywine, Drinks like IPA.
21. Arcadia Brewing Co. Cocoa Loco Chocolate Stout: Had it before. Usual thing. Fine. What you'd expect.
22. Dragonmead Imperial IPA: Not that Imperial.
23. Waldorff Brewpub Hopnoxxxious IPA: sucks
24. Waldorff Brewpub Bee Sting Honey Rye: sucks less
25. Waldorff Brewpub Old Woody Imperial Stout: sucks more
26. Black Lotus Generation X Porter: enh. [shrug]
27. Black Lotus The Gift Belgian Strong Ale: Nice. Very nice.
28. Black Lotus Hip Hops American Pale Ale: Super-dry hop
29. Grand Rapids Brewing Co. Barrel-Aged Barley Wine: Goooood. Scotchy (like the liquor, not the ale), which is nice.
30. Founders Porter: Dry. OK. Not that special.
31. Founders Black IPA: Black beer and IPA? Don't necessarily think that's a good thing.
32. Copper Canyon Big Time Barleywine: Wasn't sweet enough for me to identify it as a Barleywine.