Beer-cation, day two

We got the sampler, which began with: • The GT Golden. Our server described it as a “beginners beer” and she was right. It would be nice for someone new to craft beer or for someone like my dad, who has drank Pabst and Budweiser (and before that, Schiltz and Stroh’s) his whole life. It wasn’t bad, but it was definitely weak tasting, although it had a nice dry finish to it. • The big winner was the current seasonal beer, which was a honey orange trippel. Often, I shy away from trippels because they have a harsher taste. This beer did not. The honey and orange flavors made it smooth and easy drinking. • I found the Red and the Bitter to be meh, as they say, but I liked the Oatmeal Stout, which wasn’t as heavy as some stouts are but still had the distinct stout taste. • I also liked the Belgina White Cap which had a nice fruity finish. • My top pick is the Brown Ale, which was excellent—malty and smooth and one of the better brown ales that I’ve had.

The funkiest thing that happened though was that we saw two folks whom we recognized from the Corner Brewery Mug Club. We see them all the time but had never said hello so, given that we ran into them four hours from home, I went and introduced myself. That was very cool!

Jeff and I then walked along the beach. When the Revolution comes, this boat will be ours.

Do you like it? You can come and party on it!

For dinner, we went to North Peak, which is owned by the same conglomerate that owns Grizzly Peak, the Blue Tractor and Café Habana (the latter two restaurants, not surprisingly, are also in Traverse City). The beer was essentially the same as what you can drink at Grizzly Peak with one exception—there was no diacetyl taste. This taste is hard to describe, but you will likely taste it in Grizzly Peak beers. Some people like the taste, some hate it, some are indifferent. I fall somewhere between the last two categories, depending on my mood. Otherwise, the experience was pretty much exactly the same as when we go to dinner at Grizzly Peak--which is good because I love my GP.

From there, we walked into the warehouse district of Traverse City and, in a nondescript little building, we found Right Brain Brewing Company. Right Brain brews beers like Asparagus Ale, Beet Wheat and Smoked Cream Corn Ale. If names like these do not appeal to you, don’t you fret—Right Brain has plenty of others to enjoy, such as a Pale Ale and an ESB.

Let me begin by saying that these clever brews worried me. I fretted that perhaps RB was so intent on being clever that they didn’t necessarily brew the best possible beer. The best analogy I can think of are those teachers—not me—who get so enamored with Power Point that they add sound effects and little dancing peanuts and fun graphics but don’t bother to add any real content. (I actually hate Power Points as teaching tools, but that’s another issue). In other words—style over substance.

Fortunately, I needn’t have worried. Jeff and I enjoyed: • Black Bikini Toasted Coconut Chocolate Porter—tasted like a Mounds bar (you know, sometimes you feel like a nut…sometimes you don’t), which is awesome given that it also had alcohol in it • Cherry Festive Ale—made with local cherries, toasted almond and vanilla, this was a smooth, fruity ale. I don’t know if the local cherries made a difference, but the beer somehow tasted fresher to me.... • Fragilistic Raspberry—this extra pale ale was “laid down” on local raspberries. The nose is fantastic—you feel like you are in a raspberry patch. But with beer. • Will Power Pale Ale—typical pale ale, very easy drinking. • Posh Porter—ack! The name made me think of the Spice Girls. Fortunately, the beer made me forget that thought. This chocolate porter had raspberries in it, which only enhanced the flavor. • Scarborough Fair Spiced Ale—speaking of spice, this beer has the four seasons from the song in it. To me, it tasted like my Thanksgiving stuffing, but Jeff liked it a lot. • Copper Grasshopper ESB—smooth and malty extra special bitter. Nice dry finish. • Cherry Vanilla Cream—this beer just looked cool…a nice creamy head, rich red color and a smooth, creamy taste. • Barleywine—I only had a sip of Jeff’s—it’s 14% ABV—but I read on the beverage board that it is made with local honey and syrup. I am not a barleywine fan, so all I could taste was alcohol but Jeff loved it.

The bar itself was funky. There were some charmingly mismatched couches in the back and a table surrounded by old barbershop chairs. They had a selection of games including a game called Brewmaster where, sure enough, you played brewmaster. I won! I won! (This bears repeating as I rarely win any game other than Monopoly or Scrabble).

Here is the mug club wall:

For some reason, the games table sported a kids’ book that I picked up and read to Jeff. It had a cute story about a duck getting caught in a rainstorm and this turned out to be prophetic because when we left, we got caught in a rainstorm. And by “rainstorm”, I mean sheets and sheets of pouring down rain with absolutely no breaks to allow good, honest special education teachers to run to their cars. Jeff was a little tipsy by then but I was the driver so I was sober; therefore, Jeff really didn’t seem to mind the rain whereas I didn’t love it so much, mainly because I was driving in an unfamiliar area in the very dark of night. But you know what? I would go back to Right Brain under almost any conditions—typhoon, snowstorm, plague of locusts because the beer is just that good.

Upcoming beers:

Next up—Jolly Pumpkin in Traverse City, Short’s and the Rubber Ducky Parade.

Patti Smith enjoys both being a special education teacher and drinking craft beer. There is no causality between the two.