Harvest Beer Festival

I had a lot of fun at the first Harvest Beer Fest… as Dea A mentions (since she was a part of my crew), the company was a big part of the festive nature of the occasion. The weather was drizzle-​y and gray, but hey, we’re Midwesterners, and we persevere. Also, we like our beer, thankyouverymuch.
Perhaps next year the brewers could take over one of the actual sheds at the market? That’s actually what I’d at first presumed they might do – though that would also involve displacing regular market vendors unless they adjusted the day/​time.
Still, for the first year, I thought it was a lot of fun. The set-​up could use tweaking, but the showing of Michigan brewers was impressive! I know that there were a lot of the same folks involved in the Ypsi event, but I was happy to use my tokens to try out some new seasonals (as Dea mentions, lots of pumpkin, my fave was the Monster Mash from Black Lotus).
And… maybe it was just me, or maybe the staff was feeling generous because we were «all in it together» in the cold. I could swear, though, that the pours here were far more free-​flowing than at the Summer Beer Fest!

«The Guild» (as in, the Michigan Brewers Guild) decided to be a little adventurous and extend the beer loving festivities into the cold cold autumn of Southeast Michigan.
When Big Al said that there would be tents and they would have sides — I assumed BIG ASS tent with sides on ALL FOUR sides. I was wrong. It was ass cold. It rained, there was wind, and it was hella cold — but people were smiling and drinking beer as if this horrific weather was all just a bad dream. It would go away if we kept drinking, right?
It was a great idea in theory. But came up short mainly due to the weather and the lack of really good rain coverage. Yeah, I’m a wuss. I can’t help it. I wish they had the festival in one of the sheds they use for Eastern Market — and not just a few random tents protecting the brewers and not so much the drinkers! It would’ve been nice to have some of those giant heating towers and some more tent action for the rest of us. But hey, drinkers can’t be choosers?
As usual, the beer aficiados are a great crowd. Mariah C, V and Big Al made up the Unilocal crew — and we ran into a few Unilocal stragglers that were decidedly «too cool» to join us (just kidding… maybe). A great selection of brewskies (a lotta pumpkin, ESB, stouts and good old fashioned ales).
A few notables:
From Original Gravity, the gold medal winner for most original beer: 18 proof pepper smoker (tastes about what it says, smokey, woodsey, peppery, more like a hot sauce than a beer). Can’t say I loved it, but definitely admired them for doing so crazy!
Dark Horse, gold medal for best chick friendly non-​chick beer: raspberry ale (not sweet! really tart and delicious)
Kuhnhenn, gold medal for quickest way to forgetting half of the festival: simcoe silly (and boy, does it make you silly!)
OK all beers after Kuhnhenn’s simcoe silly I do NOT remember. Wow, really gotta save this beer for last next summer!
Love the guild! Love the IDEA of a harvest beer festival — and it wasn’t a TOTAL fail. We all did have a great time, we drank good beer, and shared a lot of laughs. Just next time — dearest guild — please bring some heat!