Bad News for Michigan Beer Lovers..

Cherry Trees near Traverse City

As many (or at least some of you know) my wife is from Traverse City, MI. I have been lucky enough to spend a fair amount of time there, however anyone that has spent anymore then 12 minutes in Traverse City will know that the city is synonymous with cherry's. Cherry Capital of the world in fact. Even their airport is called "Cherry Capital Airport". Well, this spring was not very kind to the cherry harvest it seems. A warmer then usual spring, followed by some frost reeked some havoc on the crop. Making for a much lower then normal yield this fall.

Why am I bringing this up on a beer blog? Well, Bells Brewery, from Kalamazoo brews their seasonal Cherry Stout using Montmorency Cherry Juice, that comes from the Traverse City area. As a result of the crop, there will be no Cherry Stout brewed by Bells this fall. There is a small number of 2011 batch kegs that find its way into the market on a limit basis.

The next batch of Cherry Stout is planned to be brewed next fall.

You can read the release from Bells here.

I would like to add a little prospective however. while this is really a mere minor inconvenience to us beer lovers, this is truly awful news for the farmers and their family's. Lets hope that this doesn't effect them too greatly, and hope next year is a real banner crop for them, to not only allow us a great beer we enjoy, but more importantly for these hard working folks to be able to maintain their lifestyle.

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...

Beer Heaven Right Here On Earth

~Beer Czar Note~ A few weeks ago, I posted a link from Draft Magazines list of top 100 Beer bars in America. If you recall, I mentioned I was sending my intrepid Beer Czar contributing writer, Uncle Gary out to write up one of the bars mentioned, Hopcat, in Grand Rapids Mich. Well, here it is folks!!!



Beer Heaven Right Here On Earth
By Gary Morrison

Beautiful view of the bar at Hopcat!

A person who has trouble making up his mind will have a tough time deciding on which beer to drink on his or her first visit to HopCat.

Taps at Hopcat

Voted the third best beer bar in the world by Beer Advocate, HopCat in Grand Rapids, Michigan has 48 handpull taps behind the bar and another 200 to 300 beers in bottles. Those beers comprise an array of Michigan and regional craft brews, global beers, and a large selection of Belgians. Also included is a range of HopCat’s own beer brewed on premises. Looking at the beer menu then becomes a matter of choosing what you will drink at the moment while in the back of you mind planning what you will drink on your next visit. And that is part of the grand plan of HopCat manager and chief beer geek Steve Smith.

Just a few of the many...

“I’m on the lookout for beer,” Smith says. “My job is researching beer and planning events featuring beer. When it comes to beer, we want to stay ahead of the curve.”

HopCat has a heavy rotation of beer, Smith says. You can walk into the bar with friends at the beginning of the week and have a particular selection and then come back later in the week with a different group and have a different selection.

They rotate at least twelve taps a week, Smith says. That means he has to update his beer menu twice a week.

“With a heavy rotation, I can keep the beer fresh,” he says. “But I also do some aging. I have some stronger styles in barrels such as barley wines, sour ales, and imperials that I’ll pull out for festivals.”

For those times your not in the mood for a beer, HopCat has a full bar offering cocktails and wines. All of that, plus the beer, pairs well with HopCat’s dynamite food menu. For times you’re not interested in a craft or global beer, Smith also offer American and Euro lagers beers as well.

“That style will never go away,” he says referring to the Euros. “A lot of people will come in for those as well as use a lighter beer to cleanse out their pallet before venturing to another bolder tasting beer.”

With all of the possible beers to stock, Smith relies on social media such as Facebook and Twitter and beer websites like Beer Advocate to see what is trending. Once he decides what to carry, he relies on a network of eight different distributors for delivery.

Becky Hall

That suits customers like Becky Hall just fine. She drops into HopCat once or twice a week because she likes the selection of porters and stouts.

“I love the variety of porters and stouts,” she said. “At other places, the beer is all the same. I can come here and have a large selection to choose from.”

Dick Terpstra

Long time customer Dick Terpstra likes the ambiance and friendly service just as much as beer. He doesn’t have any favorite beer because he likes them all.

“It’s hard to have a favorite,” said Terpstra, a regular customer since HopCat opened four years ago. “I love the selection; there are a lot of choices.”

Shelby Williams

Bartender Shelby Williams has worked at HopCat since it opened. She cannot count how many beers she has served in that time, but can tell of the trends she has seen from behind the bar.

“Besides our beers from around the country, people want to drink local beers,” she says. “There are so many beers. I serve a lot of IPAs, but in the winter, people like their stouts.”
 
 
 
 
 
My thanks to Uncle Gary! Gary is the older brother of my father, Don. He resides in Grand Rapids Michigan with his wife Linda. Gary is a writer (working on finishing a book) and Power lifter. If you are interested in WWII History, and/or Theater, please check out my Uncle's Website Morrison-TG and check out his info on his one man show "Hi, I'm Ernie Pyle", or even check out a show that may be near you!!!