3 Short's tales

Took advantage of our time in Michigan to try out some new offerings from Short's Brewing Company.

I love Short's beer. Sadly, it is really only available in Michigan (as far as I know). In fact, when we were living in MI, their beer was pretty much only available on draught in bars. Things have evolved, it seems, and you can now find bottles of Short's beer in a handful of spots in MI. Apparently, though, it is still produced in relatively small batches (hurray for craftmanship!) and the bottles fetch quite a price for traders online.

The brewery is based in Bellaire, MI and run by a former Western Michigan University student who discovered he was far more interested in crafting beer than studying (right on!). There are plenty of interesting details about the company on their website, but I'll give you the brief rundown here. They've been around since 2004 and started selling beer out of their Pub/Brewery in Bellaire. That location lacked space to bottle, so other than the beer they served, they sold kegs of beer to local restaurants/bars. Early business was a bit bumpy, but they stayed afloat and that led to my first encounter with their beer at the Red Mesa Grill in Boyne City, MI in 2007. In 2008, they bought a manufacturing building and after a year of work, they are now bottling six packs of both their annual and seasonal brews. With their jump to bottling, I ended up stumbling across some of their beer at the Main Party Store in Ann Arbor over the holidays.

One of the great things about Short's beer is that they aren't afraid to experiment and try bold new things. They have an annual line of beers that is quite good and represents many popular brewing styles. They also have a line of seasonals that range from your typical seasonals (winter stouts and the like) to some really weird stuff. For example, I spotted, but didn't try, their PB&J ale at the party store. Yep, that's right, peanut butter and jelly. Not sure about that one. Anyway, I did end up selecting 3 interesting brews (all seasonal) that I found unique and tasty. Some thoughts below.

• Good Humans dry hopped double brown ale - Pleasant dose of hops sets this brown ale apart. (Cascade?) Hoppy initial taste makes way for a more typical caramel brown ale flavor. Still manages to finish with another kick of hops. Quite different and yummy. (8/10)
• The Liberator double IPA - Wholy hoppiness! I like me some hops, but the first taste of this made me think I was in over my head. Fortunately, the hoppiness isn't overwhelming and by the third sip I was enjoying a pleasant mix of hops with a touch of citrus finish. Not my favorite IPA ever, but it is Short's... (7/10)
• The Mystery imperial oatmeal stout - Enough flavor to knock you over, this imperial stout is serious. Loads of chocolate flavor (and smell) with a touch of coffee at the finish. Quite good, but even one bottle was hard to finish. Perhaps a bit too much for my taste. (6/10)

The Liberator and The Mystery soon after their arrival in Halifax. The Good Humans brown was gone before we left MI (and before I was able to grab a picture).

Past due #4: Jolly Pumpkin Café and Brewery (Dec 29, 2009)

Made a quick stop at the Jolly Pumpkin Café and Brewery in Ann Arbor with Alyce.

Somehow in our super busy holiday visit in MI, we found time to wander into a new spot on Main St. in Ann Arbor: The Jolly Pumpkin Café and Brewery. Ron Jeffries and the Jolly Pumpkin folks have been brewing some unique beer for a while now out of their shop in neighboring Dexter, MI, and the new Main St. location represents a clear step forward for them. And it apparently isn't the only step they've taken, as they now also have a restaurant/brewery/distillery in Traverse City, MI and plan to replace their Dexter shop with a pub. Excellent!

After finding our way upstairs to the bar area, I mulled over the menu for a bit before deciding to ask about their cask special. Glad I did. As far as I can tell, I had a Jolly Pumpkin Bog Beast Porter, described as a blend of porters with a hint of cranberry (although I don't recall the name ever being mentioned by the server). It sounded delicious, and didn't disappoint (as detailed below). I love porter in cold weather, and this ended up being a precursor to the nice evening that lay ahead. While I was enjoying my porter, Alyce opted for a (n/a) berry mojito and we split their grilled flatbread with a trio of dips. I managed to grab a few sips of the mojito and can say it was pretty damn tasty. Tangy and flavorful; rich in lime juice, blackberries and a touch of basil. The flatbread and dips were also impressive. A large serving of walnut-red pepper, edamame and hummus dips accompanied a decent serving of warm flatbread. The edamame was true to the flavor, but nothing special; the hummus was nice and lemony, without much garlic; and the walnut-red pepper tasted quite peppery at first, but was cinnamon-y by the end. Combined with a fairly relaxed pub atmosphere, we came away impressed and very pleased with both our food and drinks. Certainly will be stopping in again next time we're in the area.

Our flatbread with dip trio, the (n/a) berry mojito, and my tasty porter. Note that I overexposed the picture in iPhoto to make the drinks visible.

As far as the beer is concerned, I would say that I generally enjoy and appreciate Jolly Pumpkin beers, but they're not usually my style. Most of what I've tried shows clear Belgian influence, with nice blends of fruit and spice. Sometimes just a bit too much fruit and spice for my taste. Their beers actually remind me a bit of my favorite French beer from the Brasserie Sainte-Colombe, just south of Rennes. If you can put two and two together, you've probably deduced that I had a hard time finding good beer in France. Yup, wine country. Anyway, I'll leave you with a brief description of the porter I tried, in case it's still around.

• Bog Beast Porter (cask) - Smooth and creamy, but not too heavy. Nice coffee and chocolate finish. Didn't really get much cranberry flavor, but it was quite good otherwise. (8/10)

Past due #3: Rockbottom Brewery (Dec 22, 2009)

Sampled a few beers and some food at the Rockbottom Brewery with the ultimate folks.

Tonight (note date in title) we headed over to the Rockbottom Brewery for some pre-holiday-break food and drinks with a few players from my fall ultimate league team. The pub is down in the basement beneath the bar/hangout named Your Father's Moustache in Halifax. It looks pretty new and has a cozy atmosphere, a bit like an upscale pub. Not a bad place for drinking some beer.

When we arrived, a few pitchers were already gracing the table and I didn't hesitate to jump on that. After a glass of the nut brown ale, we ordered up some food. I opted for a salsa panini with chicken, salsa and some veggies. Not bad. Came with sweet potato fries that weren't super crisp, but tasted pretty good to me. Pretty sure the sauce they served things with was mostly Open Pit BBQ sauce...yum (sarcasm). Alyce had a turkey burger and fries that she thought was just OK. With the food, a pitcher of the stout arrived, which was followed shortly thereafter by another of their IPA.

Overall, the beers were decent, but nothing special. A quality I found in all of them was drinkability. It isn't necessarily a good quality, but for me, it means the beer is easy to drink without overwhelming my tastebuds. I had 3 glasses without thinking about it, which would be unusual for the stronger beers I normally prefer. Here are my thoughts with links to ratebeer reviews.

• Nutbrown Ale - Fairly sweet, but not too much. Drinkable, in part because the flavors were pretty weak. In fact, quite a mild brown. (6/10)
• Stout - Not really a stout, but more of a strong brown ale. Pretty meh. Again, muted flavors. If they called this their Nutbrown, I'd probably give it +2 in my ratings. As a stout... (6/10)
• IPA - The waitress claimed this was very hoppy, and that got me excited. In reality, I'd call this more of a pale ale. Too weak. (6/10)

Past due #2: Clancy's Amber Ale (Dec 19, 2009)

Had a 12 ounce mug of Clancy's Amber Ale at The Maxwell's Plum in Halifax, NS.

Ugh, this wasn't pretty from the start. Attracted by the advertised 60 beers on tap, Alyce and I stumbled into The Maxwell's Plum to escape the cold and wind after checking out the Christmas tree in the Grand Parade downtown. Immediately after opening the door, my visions of an authentic English pub were shattered. It appears that although this place would like to call itself an authentic pub, it is more accurately described as a dimly lit, poorly decorated sports bar. The carpets reeked of stale beer, TVs adorned many of the walls and a brewtender sat upon nearly every table. Throw in a bunch of middle-aged men yelling across the tables at each other and you've basically got the scene.

Alright, now back to those brewtenders for a second (I'm only linking to that stupid site once). I'm willing to believe that serving beer in different types of glasses can affect the experience, and am confident that temperature is important for properly serving beer, but brewtenders are stupid. A tube full of ice with a tap on the bottom offers nothing. Does your pitcher of beer really get that warm sitting there? Do you feel like pouring your lager out of a pitcher just doesn't give you the same taste that the brewtender can impart? Is the pitcher too heavy? Are Canadians lazier than Americans? If you want draft beer, just get a pint from the bar and skip the $80 ice tube.

OK, now on to the beer (it doesn't get better, sorry), again with a link to the ratebeer review.

• Clancy's Amber Ale - Struck me as a typical Canadian beer, and that's not good. Very smooth, but bland. Basically it tasted like a watered down amber. Come to find out, Clancy's is the Moosehead "craft beer" line. Nice try, jerks. (3/10)

Past due #1: Sea Level Brewing (Dec 13, 2009)

NOTE: These past due posts are from before the blog's existence. They're recent, but a bit hazy in memory and thus will lack a bit of detail included in future posts.

Tried a sampler of some Sea Level Brewing beers at The Port Pub in Port Williams, NS.

The group consisted of four of their standard brews, a specialty beer and a seasonal. Overall, I wasn't terribly impressed. I wanted to be, as the location (riverside) and feel of the pub were great, but the beer was pretty mediocre. I suppose I should have known better when their guest book consistently mentioned great food, but had almost nothing about their beer. Some thoughts below (with links to the ratebeer reviews).

• Planters Pale Ale - Bit malty for my taste, lacking a nice hoppy finish that I've come to expect from American pale ales. (5/10)
  
  
• Blue Heron ESB - Best of the bunch. Nice balance with a clean finish. I'd drink this again if I found it. (8/10)
  
  
• Rojo Mojo Red Ale - Nothing memorable (literally, can't remember this one...). Not bad, but not good. (5/10)
  
  
• Port in the Storm Porter - Drinkable, but I prefer a finish with a bit more chocolate. Better than the bottle of it that I tried a few months back that had a foul sour milk aftertaste. (7/10)
  
  
• Crossing Muddy Waters Brown Ale - Nicely balanced and quite drinkable, but I felt the flavors were a bit muted. (6/10)
  
  
• Hoppy Holidaze Winter Ale - Seriously? This fruity, confused ale was barely drinkable. Yes, that's right. It was hard to finish a 4 ounce glass of it. Also, I don't enjoy names that are misleading...there was nothing 'hoppy' about this. (2/10)

Sadly this sampler wasn't nearly as good as it looked... At least the price was decent (less than $5).