WAB 4th Annual Winter Brews Beer Tasting

To make the Winter season just a little more bearable around the Detroit Metro area, Scottie and I discovered the WAB Annual Winter Beer Tasting event back in December 2008.  We attended what was their 2nd Annual event so it was still in start-up mode located in the garage-like first floor room inside the WAB (Woodward Avenue Brewers) brewpub.  Despite the chilliness of the room, we really enjoyed the opportunity to sample a slew unique and seasonal beers even if they were Belgiums and not brewed in Michigan.

In 2009, we were fearful that the WAB had given up on the event until we saw an advertisement for it in the month of February.  Thrilled that the event had moved to a much warmer and spacious venue at The Loving Touch, Scottie and I promptly picked up our tickets.  Since we were a little more seasoned  with the event, we were able to invite out Dan, Melissa, and Steve to join us and they made the event even more memorable for us!  It was also nice to see that while the WAB still put the event on, they also offered to donate a portion of the proceeds to a local school, the JFK Elementary School.

This year, the event returned to The Loving Touch but in January.  I suppose I have to give the WAB some credit on choosing different Winter months to host this event.  Of course, we jumped on the tickets and convinced Tommy and Regina to join us this time around since Dan, Melissa, and Steve have all moved away.  So sad.  There's a nice preview of the event here.

The 4th Annual Winter Brews Beer Tasting fell on a Saturday this year during NFL play-offs so Scottie and I opted to spend the late afternoon over at Rosie O'Grady's also in Ferndale within walking distance from the WAB.  We parked it there for a few hours, watched the Seahawks, devoured some pizza, and then headed over to the WAB for the evening entertainment.

This year's setup was similar to last year's but much more polished.  The WAB definitely had their act together, so I guess the 4th time is a charm for these things.  They brought in one unique vendor that I remember who made beer ice cream.  In retrospect, should have taken a few pictures for my pal, Des, because the name of the brewer/ice cream connoisseur.  I also noticed that they continued their theme of donating some proceeds to a local charity, which this year benefited the Southeast Michigan Group of the Sierra Club

As far as the beers go, it seemed like this year's listed expanded greatly from year's past simply because they opened up the tasting to sample all their draught beers which included some WAB drafts, Bell's Winter White, Short's Huma-Lupa-Licious, Guinness Stout, etc.  We slacked a little this year with our notes and I think they were actually lost during the ride home (by our DD, thanks Tommy!).   But here's the list of beer's at the event and our ratings as far as I can remember and my photo album from the event.

Brewery	Beer Sampled	Scottie	Lindsay
Ayinger Brewery (Germany)	Celebrator
J.K.'s Orchard (Flushing, MI)	Solstice Hard Cider
Victory Brewing Company (PA)	Yakima Glory
Big Sky Brewing Company (MT)	Powder Hound
Short's Brewing Company (Bellaire, MI)	Cup-a-Joe
Gouden Het Anker (Belgium)	Carolus Noel
Brouwerij De Musketiers (Belgium)	Troubadour Magma
Arcadia Ales (Battle Creek, MI)	London Porter
Dark Horse Brewing Company (Marshall, MI)	Tres Blueberry Stout
Stone Brewing Co. (CA)	Sublimely Self-Righteours
Bell's Brewery (Comstock, MI)	Batch 10,000
Harpoon Brewery (Boston)	Winter Warmer
New Holland Brewing Co. (Holland, MI)	Raison D'Etre"/a>
Shmaltz Brewing Company, Series 8-14 (NYC)	Good Humans
Short's Brewing Company (Bellaire, MI)	Huma-Lupa-Liciuos
Woodward Avenue Brewers (MI)	Blonde
Woodward Avenue Brewers (MI)	Raspberry Blonde
Woodward Avenue Brewers (MI)	Ruby Lager
Woodward Avenue Brewers (MI)	Porter
Bell's Brewery (Comstock, MI)	Winter White
Pilsner Urquell (Czech Republic)	Winter White
Lefebvre Brewery (Beligum)	Blanche de Bruxelles
Lindeman's (Belgium)	Framboise
Guinness (Ireland)	Stout