To Malt in March: This Week's Beer Events and Socials
Powered by ambers, stouts and porters
Years ago, I wrote a story for an outlet called AskMen.com called “Why is there no spring seasonal beer?” That story focused on seeing brighter, floral, citrus and tart beers to celebrate the return of spring weather, but more recently (and especially this year) I think brewers are really coalescing around the embrace of malt in spring - specifically via Irish-style beers.
This is anecdotal, of course, but I have been seeing so many more Irish-style reds and dry Irish stouts on social feeds of late, supplemented by other porters and UK-related styles. Is this a one-off response to the “Split the G” trend, or will we see brewers taking March as a chance to delve into different grains before heading full force into light beers for summer?
I’d prefer the latter, of course - six to eight weeks of amber, porter and “lighter” stout drinking sounds good to me coming out of colder weather - but TBD. Obviously St. Patrick’s Day plays a big role in those styles re-emerging but I don’t see why they can’t be popular past this weekend’s festivities.
Speaking of festivities, there’s no way we could fit all of this weekend’s Irish-related shenanigans into a single email but we squeezed in all we found!
Reminder: Only Premium Subscribers are being sent Wednesday label updates via email. Lite Subscribers can click here to see this week’s fenugreek-laden, deathly romantic Pipeworks label.
This Friday / Starting Friday:
If you want to party at Guinness Open Gate Brewery Chicago for St. Pat’s this weekend, get tickets now. They are selling general admission and reserved table tickets for Friday PM, Saturday AM, Saturday PM, and Sunday All Day on Opentable. I can only imagine that it’s going to bet a big crazy, and they’re already looking festive.
Brother Chimp Brewing in North Aurora kicks off their weeklong 5 Year Anniversary Celebration today, and anyone with some old Chip Monk Brewing swag gets a special gift.
Revolution hosts a pre-C2E2 Texas Hold'em event at their taproom that they’re calling the Ante-Hero Poker Tournament.
In Grand Haven, Odd Side’s 15th Anniversary 90s Party kicks off tonight at 8pm; wearing your best flannel shirt is recommended.
Half Acre’s got some glassware to move - go buy a pint at the taproom and take home a 16oz glass all weekend long (or until they’re gone.)
Saturday:
Industry Ales has St. Pat’s activities all week long but on Saturday they’re hosting a parade party with a fun looking menu and (of course) some green beer. Shepherds Pie-rogis sound particularly interesting.
You can also grab a green beer or a Shamrock Margarita at Cruz Blanca when they open for their O’Bueno Bash party at 9am.
Celebrate MAR15 and the joys of Maris Otter malts at Phase Three with three barleywines on tap: Kentucky Hugs, Coconut Arabesque ‘23 and Strawberry Arabesque.
At Printers Row Brewing, their Stout & Porter Party kicks off at noon with five different stouts and porters.
On Tour is also hosting a St Patrick’s Day Saturday Bash with their Black Rose dry Irish stout and, as they put it, “obligatory green beer.”
Sunday:
March 16th: Take a Shield Fighting class at Eris Brewery & Ciderhouse.
If you happen to be near Short’s Brewing, they’re hosting a St. Praxtice Day “all-day drinkathon” at their Pub in Bellaire.
Next Week & Beyond:
March 22nd: LAGERLAND comes to City Built in Grand Rapids.
March 23rd: Head to Sturdy Shelter in Batavia for their first Book Fair & Brews event where you can meet and talk books with local authors. Cool!
March 23rd: Illuminated Beer Works hosts a screening of Magick Show, “a multi-part series diving deep into the history - and the Future! - of the Occult” with a discussion immediately following.
March 23rd: Turner Haus Brewery brings back their Adult Spelling Bee starting at 2pm. Can you beat their reigning 2x champ?
These Friday emails remain free and unrestricted thanks to the generous support of our Premium Subscribers, because we want to give you a reason (or three) to visit a local brewery or beer event each week.
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Foreign Exchange Brewing won an Untappd award, is great, but I’m specifically sharing this FB post because (per their comments) they’re just waiting for the state to issue their license and then they’ll be pretty much ready to open their Aurora taproom.
Old Irving’s game room is back open for service after a years-long COVID-induced storage-space conversation.
3 Sheeps has a nice, shiny, fresh new canning line.
The list of guest breweries at this year’s FFF Dark Lord Day is now available.
“Zwickel Lager on the Lukr Faucet. This Must Be Heaven...” No argument here, Off Color.
Marquette’s Barrel and Beam beer “isn’t going anywhere,” they say, but they are putting their building up for sale in the hopes of finding a partner “to help us renovate the unbelievably charming other side of our building” - which used to be a 15,000-square-foot supper club.
Very rare to see a non-lager pop up on draft at Goldfinger, but their new bisongrass saison collab with is/was is now available.
Dovetail has a whole bunch of new springtime beers coming out over the coming weeks, all being celebrated with a gravity keg tapping. Grab one on their patio.
Now open as of today: One Lake Brewing’s rooftop space! Weather permitting.
Job alert: Are you a bioinformatics scientist? Do you want to work with yeast? Omega Yeast is looking for you.
Pretty cool of Greyline Brewing to offer a food menu with new lower prices on just about everything.
There’s going to be lots of green beer photos this weekend but Garage Band Brewing has one of the most nuclear green beers I’ve ever seen - though this HOMES matcha-infused Japanese rice lager is a close second.
Speaking of HOMES, Tickets to this year’s NUCLEATE beer festival in June are now on sale.
Starving Artist Brewing in Ludington, on the other hand, says “Punish all who drink green beer!” Drink their Imperial Irish Red instead, apparently.
Premium Subscribers may remember seeing the light lager label from a small taco shack in northern Michigan called Happy’s Tacos that decided to start making lagers. Well, they’re out now.
Happy 10th birthday to Mikerphone Brewing.
I really love this short video from Brass Ring Brewing, which is an inspirational little ode to making great beer. “We are drinking with the Gods.”
Thank you all for being here! Have a great weekend. See y’all on Monday.
~Karl, a Guy Drinking an Irish red, a dry Stout, a good porter … you know, springtime stuff.