Michigan Craft Beer Night

As part of Chicago Craft Beer Week, The Bavarian Lodge in Lisle, IL hosted Michigan Craft Beer Night.  The list of what was brought in special made there already outstanding bottle & tap selections off-the-charts.  Just look…

1. Founders KBS
2. Founders Double Trouble
3. Founders Imperial Stout
4. Founders Breakfast Stout
5. Founders Old Curmudgeon
6. Founders Cerise
7. Bell’s Batch 9000
8. Bell’s Hopslam
9. New Holland Envious
10. New Holland El Mole Ocho
11. Dark Horse Fore Smoked Stout
12. Dark Horse Double Crooked Tree
13. Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere
14. Jolly Pumpkin E.S. Bam

The ride after work to get there was filled with lots of traffic, with the hot sun beating down, I thought I would try the Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere, a farmhouse ale that was so refreshing as I cooled off at the bar it made me want to order another, but with so many beers to sample, the night was going to be too short.  This was sweet but had a whole bunch of different fruit flavors, I couldn’t pick anyone out, it was also very sparkling juice like carbonated.  8/10.

Next up I had a Founder’s KBS, which I have previously rated, just wanted to note it was slightly better on tap and out of the snifter, again letting it warm up as you drink, changes the flavor noticeably I think.  KBS was the most popular drink I noticed on the night, I would hear it ordered every few minutes at least.

Next I tried Founders Curmudgeon, an amber/honey colored ale, this has a lot going on, slight bitter but slight fruity sweetness, an interesting beer I’ll be trying again. 9/10.

After two big ABV beers (KBS 11.5% & Curmudgeon 9.8%) I decided to dial it back to try the alternate Bam Biere, the Jolly Pumpkin E.S. Bam.  I didn’t think it was as good as the regular, but it’s not a bad beer by any means.  7/10 sounds about right for this hoppier/more floral version of the regular.

It was during my E.S. Bam, that I also ordered some food.  I had the Pub burger, just for the pretzel roll bun alone.  It did not disappoint.  The burger was so huge, I only ate half, which doesn’t normally happen.  Burger was a nice 8/10.  I will be coming back to sample their more traditional German food as they offered some very good sounding food.  Check out their menu.

To change up the samplings, I went for Founder’s Double Trouble IPA, it boasted 86 IBU’s from its double IPA base of hops.  This had a decent lingering aftertaste that was good and still managed a little sweet in between its bitterness, 9/10.

I wanted to continue alternating sweet and bitter, so stayed with Founder’s Cerise, a fruit beer that smelled very fruity and tasted fruity, but wasn’t overly sweet, I can probably only have one of these, a little too fruity for me, 8/10.

That was my last beer of the night, but I have one more review to post, complements of Mr. Kevin Roethle, Dark Horse Fore Smoked Stout:

Flavor Wheel and Note page part of 33 Beers Journal, purchased from 33Beers.com

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