By Jacquelyn Gutc
Journal Register News Service

Craft breweries began springing up in Michigan only about 15 years ago, yet today there are more than 70 in the state. Ten are located in the county with most in southeast Oakland.

At Royal Oak Brewery, there are six or seven beers on tap at any time. The outdoor deck and a large, open atmosphere have made it one of the more popular settings in a competitive bar/restaurant scene in recent years.

http://www.dailytribune.com/stories/062208/loc_localn01.shtml

WEST BRANCH - If locally made wines or beers are your sort of thing, this loop’s for you.

Northeast Michigan adds a new recreational opportunity to its quiver this month - the Sunrise Side Wine and Hops Trail. On Saturday, area PBS television stations will introduce the tour on the “Great Getaways” travel show.

http://blog.mlive.com/bctimes/2008/06/new_sunrise_side_trail_feature.html

WASHINGTON — For some, the difference between wine with dinner and beer with dinner has been compared to jacket and tie required versus no shirt, no shoes, no problem.

Wine aficionados have long known proper combinations, what vintage from what year goes best with what fish or meat. Sommeliers are available to make educated recommendations to the inexperienced and bottles are opened tableside with a flourish and small ceremony.

Meanwhile, there is a stigma associated with beer and food.

A beer with a meal, many think, means the food is deep fried or should be served with globs of nacho cheese.

But it’s time to think beyond the burger and Bud.

Consider pan-seared sirloin tips in shiitake blue-cheese sauce with a glass of doppelbock or fish tacos with a frosty pint of American Pale Ale.

“People think that only wine goes with good food,” says Gene Muller, owner of the Flying Fish Brewery in Cherry Hill. “Fact is, beer is just as good, if not better.”

As the American craft brewing movement gains momentum and more and more consumers are turning away from corporate beers — like Budweiser and Coors — and towards local breweries and hand-crafted beers, folks in the community are looking to move into the kitchen.

Recently 48 microbreweries and brewpubs from around the country gathered at a convention hall in the nation’s capital to show off just how well beer can go with good food.

Dubbed “Savor, an American craft beer and food experience” sponsored by the Brewers Association — a nonprofit group based in Colorado devoted to professional brewers — the two-day event offered tastings and lectures on perfect parings for everything from seafood to the food most often associated with wine: cheese.

There are limitless options.

Maytag blue cheese was successfully paired with everything from barrel aged ale with an 11 percent alcohol content to a barley wine and a Belgium-style ale. Each brought out unique flavors in both the cheese and beer and created an experience worth savoring and worthy of repeating.

“You really can’t go wrong,” said Fred Bueltmann, of Michigan’s New Holland Brewing. “A stinky cheese, a powerful beer is a great mix.”

Rogue Brewing of Oregon, has teamed up with Chef Masaharu Morimoto, of television’s Iron Chef series to create a black ale brewed with three kinds of hops and produces nut overtones that goes along with a particularly sharp aged cheddar cheese.

Some brewers, like Travis Zeilstra of the Montana Brewing Company in Billings, began his career as a chef and when coming up with a new beer contemplates food parings at the same time.

His Stillwater Rye, a Belgian-style farmhouse ale spiced with coriander and bitter orange peel — a treat by itself — was paired with a carrot ginger curry soup. Zeilstra’s wheat beer was served alongside empanadas with mango salsa.

“It’s getting easier to say ‘put the can down and come try something different, something that tastes good’,” Zeilstra said.

Along with pouring suds into a glass along with a meal, some breweries are using beer as an ingredient as well.

Many of the breweries used stout to enhance the flavors of the burgers while others steamed Thai turkey and shiitake dumplings in a lager, like Sam Adams.

Charlie Papazian, president of the Brewers Association and a New Jersey native, said the time has come where “a bottle of beer belongs on a table as much as a bottle of wine.”

In 2007, the American craft beer industry grew 12 percent, producing more than 8 million barrels of beer generating $5.7 billion in revenue. And, while still considered small against brewing giants like Anheuser-Busch, SABMiller and Coors Brewing, the smaller brewers are slowly gaining ground.

“Over 20 years ago, there was a small corps of dedicated beer people who would get together for beer dinners,” said Papazian. “Now, to see that the American public considers that beer has a place on the table is heartwarming.”

The Brewers Association has a nearly complete list of common craft brew styles with suggested food, cheese and dessert parings at http://www.beertown.org/education/pdf/beer&food.pdf .

Ah yes, dessert. It’s possible to skip a port, or a Baileys, Brandy, Grand Marnier or limoncello and instead reach for an imperial stout, smoked porter, a Scottish ale or a wit beer.

New Belgium Brewing of Fort Collins, Colo., for example, paired their Mothership Wit, an organic brew based on a Belgium style white beer, with apple, blueberry and cherry cobblers.

“With well made beer,” says Peter Bouckaert, New Belgium’s brewmaster, “a chef can taste and dream and translate it into anything. It can become something beautiful.”

More than 2,100 people attended the Savor event last weekend, according to the Brewers Association.

Jesse Williams, brewer at The New Albanian Brewery in Indiana, and a man who embodies the maverick ways that can often be associated with craft beer said for drinkers and diners alike it is ultimately what a person thinks is best and works for their own palate.

“Wine has rules,” he said. “We are beer drinkers and we don’t have to follow the rules.”

John Holl may be reached at jholl@starledger.com or (908) 782-8326.

Brewery: Fletcher Street Brewing Company
City: Alpena
Phone: 989-356-2314
Website: www.fletcherstreetbrewing.com
Description: Monday - $2 off Growlers & refills; Tuesday - Trivia Night starts at 7 PM; Wednesday - Hog Heaven Smokehouse Wings; Thursday - Latin Dancing starts at 7 PM; Friday - Relay for Life Benefit Auction 7 PM
Tours: Please call to schedule
________________________________________
Brewery: Arcadia Brewing Company
City: Battle Creek
Phone: 269-963-9690
Website: www.arcadiabrewingcompany.com
Description: Tuesday May 13, 5-8pm Ask A Brewer Night Head Brewer and Assistant Head Brewer will be guest bartenders at TC’s @ Arcadia, answer patron’s questions regarding beer and brewing. Wednesday May 14, 7pm Pale Ale Vertical Tasting. Head Brewer will host a night of all things pale ale. Tasting of Arcadia Angler’s Ale, Arcadia India Pale Ale, Hopmouth Double IPA, Hop Rocket Imperial IPA. The price for the event is $12, including four ales and one arcadia ales pint glass. Thursday May 15, 7pm Vintage Imperial Stout Vertical Tasting. A night of vintage Arcadia ales hosted by Head Brewer. Discussion and tasting of 2005, 2006, 2007 vintage Arcadia Imperial Stouts. Price for the event is $20 and includes one arcadia ales goblet. Space for tastings is limited.

SPECIAL MEDIA EVENT: Monday, May 19 “Brewmaster for a Day” with VIP tour, lunch and “hands-on” bottling session. Contact Dianna Stampfler, dianna@promotemichigan.com, for details.

Tours: Monday May 12, 5-8pm Brewery Tour Night Tours of brewing facility given by Assistant Head Brewer. Happy Hour pints for participants.

________________________________________
Brewery: Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
City: Dexter
Phone: 734-426-4962
Website: www.jollypumpkin.com
Description: Jolly Pumpkin week at the HopCat in Grand Rapids, MI (www.hopcatgr.com) culminating in a brewers brunch Sunday, May 18th with none other than myself, Ron Jeffries. Also look for us at the World Beer Expo in Frankenmuth, MI May 16th and 17th!
Tours: Sorry, not this week.
________________________________________
Brewery: Fort Street Brewery
City: Lincoln Park
Phone: 313-389-9620
Website: www.fortstreetbeer.com
Description: Tours available Monday-Saturday. An Imperial Witbier released Thursday at 8 p.m.
Tours: Just Ask
________________________________________

The Brewers Association was established in 2005 by a merger of the Association of Brewers and the Brewers’ Association of America. The organization’s goal is to unify the combined 88-year history of service and to promote and protect the U.S. craft brewing community’s interests. For more information, visit www.beertown.org

Arbor Brewing Company in Ann Arbor
Corner Brewery in Ypsilanti
New Holland Brewing Company in Holland
Kuhnhenn Brewing Company in Warren
The Livery in Benton Harbor
Rochester Mills Beer Company in Rochester
Gil’s Market in Kalamazoo
Crunchy’s in East Lansing
Right Brain Brewery in Traverse City
Sherwood Brewing Company in Shelby Township
Atwater Block Brewery in Detroit
Discount Drinks of Wyandotte
Arcadia Brewing Company in Battle Creek
Royal Oak Brewery in Royal Oak
U Brew in Ypsilanti

This list will be updated as more outlets begin selling tickets.

Advance purchase is suggested as there will be a limited number of tickets available.

Tickets are also available at michiganbrewersguild.org or by calling 877 772 5425

http://www.mlive.com/kalamabrew/

Fragrant flowers, half-timbered windmills and friendly attitudes are just a few of the reasons travelers hit up Holland. But there’s another, just as kind, just as gentle land where wooden shoes and tulips rule: Holland, Michigan. Check in to the Dutch Colonial Inn B&B, which blends Midwestern hospitality with Old World atmosphere in a cozy house built in 1928. Amble through downtown where Dutch-accented shops flank the tree-lined streets and then settle in to the New Holland Brewing Co. for a few pints of Red Tulip Ale. In the end, you’ll be wearing clogs too.

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http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2008-05-05-europe-america-forbes_N.htm

“The Michigan Beer & Brat Festival has quickly become the event that marks the beginning of the summer season at Crystal Mountain,” says Brian Lawson, public relations & special events manager for Crystal Mountain. “This festival is a great opportunity to discover a countless number of fine lcoal brews and an extensive menu of specialty brats you’re only going to find in Michigan.”

Admission to the Michigan Beer & Brat Festival is $20 and includes a commemorative mug, as well as tickets for beer and brats and giant Bavarian pretzels. You must be 21 to enter. Live entertainment by Egon is also on the schedule.

“What better way to celebrate the start of the warm-weather season in Michigan than with a cool fresh hand-crafted beer,” says Scott Graham, Executive Director of the Michigan Brewers Guild. “Our partnerships with Michigan’s top tourist properties such as Crystal Mountain Resort not only give us a great venue to showcase some of the finest Michigan beers but it helps us reinforce the value of the state’s overall hospitality industry.”

For those looking to add to the holiday weekend experience, Crystal Mountain is offering a special lodging package that allows guests to add a few birdies (and maybe a couple bogies) to their beers and brats. The Birdies, Beers & Brats package includes two nights lodging, unlimited golf, two breakfasts and admission to the Michigan Beer & Brat Festival. Rates start at $279 per adult and are available May 23-25. For reservations, call 800-YOUR-MTN or for more information, log on to http://www.crystalmountain.com.

Scotty Karate is aptly named for a 9.75 percent beer that kicked most of its competitors last fall by winning a silver medal for Strong Scotch Ale at the Great American Beer Festival.

Its strength puts it into a category that traditionally was referred to as a “wee heavy,” essentially a Scottish barleywine.

Scotty Karate has a huge malt aroma and flavor, is hopped a bit more than you might find in beers from Scotland and its sweetness is more in line with McEwan’s Scotch Ale. But unlike that lighter beer from Scotland, which is so sweet I can barely make it through one, Scotty’s alcohol strength balances out the malt sugars.

The body is slightly syrupy from the malt, which gives a creamy mouthfeel more than a cloying one. Caramel, toffee and bread notes dominate the taste, with a medium carbonation that is just right for this type of beer. There is a slight smokiness in the aftertaste that is typical of the style — in this case, from hardwood smoked malt.

A homebrew club I once belonged to received an e-mail from a gentleman in Scotland who happened across a Scottish ale recipe on the club’s Web site. He admonished Americans who used smoked grain for the style, writing that any smokiness from ales made in Scotland is derived from the yeast strain. I have used the Scottish yeast variety in homebrew and it does impart a slight smokiness. However, I have also used smoked peat malt and been just as happy with the results. The world can accommodate both methods.

Dark Horse beers are currently only available in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Its distributor list can be found here: www.darkhorse|brewery.com/distributors_newfront.|asp.

I do have to mention the confusion over the use of the terms “Scottish” or “Scotch.” Some people argue that the beer style should only be called Scottish ale, since Scotch generally refers to whiskey. But Dark Horse’s own Web site uses both terms in its description of Scotty Karate, so there should be nothing wrong with using the term “Scotch Ale.” What is not debatable, however, is that you should never refer to a person from Scotland as Scotch.

Beer Man sez: Scotty Karate has a tasty kick.

TODD HAEFER of Scandinavia gets paid to drink beer and write it for Weekend. He can be reached at beerman@postcrescent.com.

http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080507/APC05/80507107

Posted by John Turk | Oakland Business Review May 01, 2008 01:07AM

Although the words “beer” and “geek” might not seem to go naturally together, Eric Briggeman, the newly chosen president of the Michigan Brewers Guild, says those two words are what define most employees in the brewing industry.

Briggeman said he has a library dedicated to the pursuit of beer knowledge, and subscribes to many national and statewide beer publications. He says many in the industry follow suit to keep up with the market.

Background
Education: Adams High School; 95 credits toward business degree at OU; some technical brewing classes
Family: Married; 5-year-old daughter; 2 chocolate labs, and 2 cats
Age: 36
Residence: Rochester Hills

Briggeman, aside from being the president of the MBG, has in the past been head brewer at Big Buck Brewery in Gaylord and is currently brewmaster at the Rochester Mills Beer Company in Rochester.

Briggeman said that the guild’s main goal is to promote and market Michigan-brewed beer. That’s why whenever he visits a bar or brew pub, the first question he asks is what kind of Michigan beer it has.

“A bulk of the breweries in Michigan formed when the Michigan Brewers Guild formed. I was active in volunteering from day one,” said Briggeman, who served on the MBG’s board as secretary for four years.

One of the MBG’s events, its Winter Beer Festival, used to be held in Lansing near the guild’s headquarters, and just this year moved to Grand Rapids, where it sold out.

Briggeman said that the recent change of venue obviously has not diminished interest in the event, which was held Feb. 23.

At the MBG festivals, “we take everything we make and use it for marketing Michigan beer,” said Briggeman. “For example, we recently expanded our Michigan beer brochure to about 16 pages of information about pairing beer with food, and things like how beer is made in general.”

The MBG also holds annual technical conferences for industry personnel, and will host its 11th annual Summer Beer Festival in Ypsilanti on the weekend of July 25.

“We have a $300,000 to $400,000 budget for the events,” Briggeman said. “And the Summer Festival usually totals 5,000 to 6,000 people each year.”

Along with handling festival planning and marketing, Briggeman has a large role in the upkeep of the MBG’s blog, “The Mash,” which is at www.mbgmash.org.

With his new position, Briggeman said, there is a little more added to his workload, but he enjoys having a hand in nonspecific marketing of Michigan independent breweries.

His schedule usually consists of board meetings that are up to two hours away, along with his full-time brewmaster career at Rochester Mills.

“It’s time-consuming, but I love it,” said Briggeman.

INSIGHTS

Best way to keep competitive edge: Keep an open mind; don’t rule out any possibility.

Personal hero: I admire a lot of people, but don’t think I have a “hero.”

How do you motivate people: Never give someone a job or task that I wouldn’t do myself.

How do you motivate yourself: I like to be busy. Hearing feedback from customers.

Three greatest passions: Beer/brewing, building trades, softball.

Most unique office decor: A 15-liter drinking vessel, or my beer bottle collection.

Favorite hobby: Going to concerts, live music.

JUDGMENT CALLS

Best business decision: Accepting my current job at Rochester Mills.

Worst business decision: I plead the Fifth.

Biggest management myth: If you’re the boss you have to be a (jerk).

What advice would you give to yourself 10 years ago? Have a plan, but be ready and willing to adapt. Hardly anything turns out the way you expect it to.

Words that best describe you: Passionate, hard-working.

CONFESSIONS

What keeps you up at night? Nothing.

Pet peeve:Bad grammar, especially on resumes.

Guilty pleasure: Anything sweet, but I don’t feel guilty about it.

First job: Worked in a local greenhouse.

First choice for a new career: I wouldn’t want one.

TREASURES

Favorite cause: Supporting the military service men and women.

Favorite book: Any beer-related book.

Favorite movies: “Old School,” “Major League,” “Star Wars,” “Blues Brothers.”

What’s on your iPod/car radio dial? Anything ’80s rock. I love the hair bands!

What do you do to recharge the batteries? My batteries don’t usually need it. If I’m tired I sleep.

Favorite restaurant: Quick - Taco Bell; sit down - Texas Roadhouse.

Wheels: Jeep Cherokee.

REPRINTED FROM:
http://blog.mlive.com/oak_business_review/2008/05/eric_briggeman_president_michi.html