Short's Expansion!

Its no secret that on this blog, that we LOVE Michigan beer! After all, whats not to love? I mean, some of my all time favorite beers come from The Wolverine State, among them, New Hollands Dragons Milk, Founders KBS and Devil Dancer, Bells Oberon, Acadia's Ship Wreck Porter, I could go on, and on and on. While the number of breweries in Mich is still relatively small, the quality of the brewers currently residing in the mitten are nothing short of great, in my humble opinion.



Brewed in Michigan!

One of the smaller, and dare I say "quirkier" brewers is Shorts Brewing, in Bellaire, MI. Set on Main St of this small, quaint, Rockwell-esque town, this brewery is small, but daring. One look at their list of beers, and you see beers ranging from a simple brown ale, or IPA, to a slightly more strange PB & J Stout, S' More Stout, Key Lime Pie Ale, and a host of many others most brewers haven't even imagined let alone having the temerity to actually brew, and sell!





My Father in Law leaving Shorts

 Shorts has been around since the early 2000's, started by Joe Short, and group of friends. With a goal to create unique and exciting beers for local consumption. They currently operate a little pub, that is quaint, comfortable, although, to the first timer slightly confusing, but still very fun. My In Laws are lucky enough to have a summer lake cottage just a few short miles from Bellaire and Shorts, on Intermediate Lake. I had the pleasure of stopping by Shorts last summer for some wonderful pizza, and a 5 beer sampler. While with every daring, risk taking venture, not everything is going to work, as is the case with some of Shorts brews. Some fall short of being even good, while others are an absolute grand slam!

My sampler consisted of 5 Beers...

My Shorts Sampler





Beer Czar enjoying a Cornholio!



Bananarama- a sweet, (almost too sweet) fruit beer, that I think was good to try one, glad I did, wouldn't get again

Saison du Shorts - a great, flavorful, refreshing take on a great summer style!

Cornoholio - A 7% abv Baltic Porter, while not the greatest version of this style I've had, it was a very good version, I would buy this again, for a cool, winter evening around the fire pit.



Mrs Czar, and my mother in law at Shorts



Mama’s Strawberry Milk - I'm normally not a fan of fruit beers,and this beer is a great example of why that is. WAY too sweet,tasted like a light ale, with strawberry syrup in it, not a fan!

Chocolate Wheat - a great, very chocolaty American Porter! I liked this one a lot, despite the huge chocolate presence, I normally find unpleasant, this one worked well!

Before heading to shorts, I had spent the afternoon with a six pack of their Nicey Spicy, a very pleasant, drinkable herb spiced brown ale. As well as thier famous Huma-Lumpa-Licious IPA, a great IPA.
Also, a few Christmas's, my in laws sent me a bottle of their Peaches and Cream, from their very popular 2007 Imperial Series. Now, I know I said I don't normally like fruit beers, but this one was awesome! Not a ton of fruit, but enough to be obvious as to what you were drinking. A well crafted beer.

Inside Shorts Pub

Now, why am I writing about all this after almost a year or more from enjoying them? Well, like so many other Brewers in the Great Lake State, Shorts is expanding, big time! Sadly, Shorts is all about Michigan, and doesn't distribute outside the state, so we will still have to rely on loving friends and family to send us our Shorts fix, or why not just head to Bellaire and spend a few hours enjoying the many many eccentric ales this brewery offers! Expansion is always good news, even for those of us unlucky enough to live outside the small reach of this great little brewery! Congrats to Shorts, and good luck, I hope to see soon!


Read all about Shorts expansion here....
Shorts Brewing's $2 million expansion...