Folks, it's been too long since I hollered at you - my apologies. But it's for a very good reason: I've been too busy guiding brew tours to write about brew tours! From Eastern Market to Oak Park, from Corktown to Ferndale, Michigan Brew Tours has been traversing southeast Michigan, hosting tours, tastings, and private events.
April brought about our new Oak Park Beer Crawl, a tour that would have been impossible just a few years ago; Oak Park law didn't allow establishments to serve beer by the glass until 2013, ending a six-decade-long ban. With new breweries Dog & Pony Show and Unexpected Craft, and beer-focused bistros like Oak Park Social leading the way, Oak Park has now become a destination for craft beer drinkers.
April also introduced to Michigan Brew Tours' new favorite brew tourists: the book club! These lovely ladies from the west side sure know how to have fun! A private tour that included River's Edge, Witch's Hat, Third Monk, and Drafting Table helped celebrate one of their birthdays, and quite the celebration was had. Such a great time was had that we reunited a few weeks later to celebrate another birthday. Can't wait for the next book club birthday!
April proved to be a fun month for private tours, as we took a fun family of beer lovers on a walking tour of Ann Arbor, sampling the wares of Jolly Pumpkin, Grizzly Peak, Bløm Meadworks, and Blue Tractor. We had a lovely spring day, perfect weather for a Ann Arbor crawl. Our guests got a special behind-the-scenes tour of Bløm Meadworks from one of the owners, Lauren Bloom. Big thanks to Lauren!
Private beer tastings were popular this spring, including a lovely outdoor tasting in Royal Oak with a focus on American craft beer from outside of Michigan, a private tasting of World Beer Styles held at Dragonmead Brewery in Warren, and an American Beer Styles tasting hosted at One Eyed Betty's in Ferndale. Good times in an intimate setting with great beer; what more can you ask for?
Our return to public tours in Ferndale was a big success with our The Best of Ferndale Beer and Mead Tour, featuring beers from Urbanrest and Ferndale Project, and mead & cider from B. Nektar. This lovely group came out to sample beer & mead and have a blast and they succeeded on all points.
Michigan Brew Tours' "The Best of Detroit" Brewery Tour has continued to be our bestseller, with a pair of sellouts over the last few weeks. It's been SO popular that we've had to rename it "The Best of Detroit: Classics" Brewery Tour. Why? So we could offer a new "The Best of Detroit: REMIX" Brewery Tour, visiting four new venues that Michigan Brew Tours has NEVER brought guests to before. Watch for this brand new Motor City tour!
Well, that about wraps it up for now. We've got a few new things in the works in terms of tours, tastings, and maybe some Halloween shenanigans, so watch this website and our social media for updates and new events.
Cheers!