Beer Fest: Drink in the fun
3/4/2010Duke of Wellington meets Pere Jacques and Elliot Ness to discuss Small Craft Warning.
Sofie and Matilda contemplate Raison D'Etre with Brother Thelonious and Brother Benedict.
So named are some of the 80 craft beers featured at tomorrow's fourth annual Glass City Beer Fest, 7 to 11 p.m. in the Erie Street Market's Civic Center Promenade.
Admission ($25 in advance at The Andersons; $20 for military, police, firefighters; $30 at the door), will buy 12 tickets, which will provide a dozen three-ounce tastings (the equivalent of three beers). Abstainers can redeem tickets for nonacoholic beverages and packaged snacks.
Live music - classic rock and splashes of reggae and country - will be provided by high-energy 56DAZE band.
Among the ales at this 21-and-older-event will be blueberry, sparkling, nut brown, Conway's Irish, Red Seal, Audacious Apricot, Spring Fling Pale, Imperial White, Barleywine, and #9 Not Quite Pale.
There will be several India Pale Ale (IPA) offerings. Originally brewed in England in the 1700s, IPAs have a light amber to copper color, a hop flavor, and medium to high alcohol content.
Also poured will be Belgians, pilsners, lagers, stouts, wheats, German bocks, reds, and porter beers.
Two hard ciders - an apple drink growing in popularity - will make an appearance: Amber and Granny Smith; both are gluten free and made by Woodchuck Draft Cider's Green Mountain Cidery in Vermont.
Love a good name? How about Old Leg Humper by Thirsty Dog, or Holy Sheet by a brewer called Heavy Seas that also makes Loose Cannon.
Among the 24 brewers are some local operations: Maumee Bay Brewing with five beers and Granite City Food & Brewery, also with five. From Cleveland, Great Lakes Brewing brings its Commodore Perry, Edmund Fitzgerald, and three more beers.
Food can be purchased from vendors City BBQ and Original Gino's Pizza.
Hosts are the Arc of Lucas County and the Northwest Ohio Hemophilia Foundation, teaming up to generate some funds and to throw a good party on a weekend between Mardi Gras and Easter.
The event came to be after Carla Wells attended a micro-brew fest in Ypsilanti several years ago and suggested it to the board of the Northwest Ohio Hemophilia Foundation, of which she's the executive director. The foundation serves people with blood disorders such as von Willebrand disease and hemophilia.
She's friends with Kay Bennett, executive director of the local Arc, serving people who have intellectual and developmental disabilities.
"Neither agency had enough capacity to do it on our own," said Bennett.
It's grown annually, and last year, the two groups shared $18,000.
Advance tickets ($25; $20 for military, police, firefighters) can be purchased at service counters at The Andersons' stores through tomorrow. At the door, tickets will be $30. Participants must be 21. The event will be from 7 to 11 p.m. tomorrow in the Erie Street Market, 237 South Erie St. Information: 419-291-5882.
Contact Tahree Lane at: tlane@theblade.com
or 419-724-6075.