Great American Brew Trail: I'm gonna be famous!

OK not really, but my friend Amy Sherman is (the one who did the Valentine’s Dinner cooking class, and most of the cooking classes at the CSA last summer)! She’s the host, and we got to attend the taping at Saugatuck Brewing on Sunday. I’m not sure if DH and I were in any of the background shots, but they did take a photo of our table.

The series will air on PBS and feature breweries (and their food!) in the Great Lakes area. For more information about the series, go to www.GreatAmericanBrewTrail.com.

So what was it like being part of Michigan history?

sign — We arrived right on time, and were warned that it was a taping session, so the menu would be limited and we might be asked to move around. We were A-OK with that!

They had a partial mash system up front, but we guessed they do most of their brewing out back.

I loved our waitress' earrings. DH said they were made out of tokens used at the Winter Beer Fest.

We both ordered samplers of six beers each. I'll give the tasting notes in a bit. We were a little confused because she got our samplers mixed up, so we kind of had to figure out which beers were which.

This is kind of a bad photo. It's of the band. We were just about to start on our samplers when they said we had to go watch the band as they would be videotaping it. So we carried our samplers (nice they had the handle, eh?) to the band room and waited. And waited. And waited some more. I think they shot some, but we were getting hungry and feeling our samplers.

Just as we sat down and put our order in, after most of the people had returned to the dining area, they said we had to go because they really were going to tape the band now. We were starving and didn't go. Shhhh. We did, however, have a tasty spinach artichoke dip appetizer which was really greasy but really flavorful.

DH ordered the chicken wrap, he said it was good.

I had the vegetarian pasta, and it was awesome! Red peppers, capers, artichokes . . . I'm going to try to recreate it at home one of these days.

None of the beers really struck my fancy, so I ordered a rose'. Turns out it was from Fenn Valley. Super sweet, but not fake-sweet.

We couldn't resist getting dessert, even though strawberries are totally not in season. Surprisingly they had actual flavor.

Throughout, this guy took requests and had a nice bluesy-feel to him. It was a very relaxing Sunday afternoon.

So, how did the beer fare?

Nothing super outstanding, unfortunately. If you like Bud Light, go for the light blonde. The nut brown was good, definitely nutty. the IPA had good hops flavor and aroma (something that seems to be lacking in a lot of beers that cater to the “brewpub” crowd). The cider was very sweet, nothing objectionable. The Nutmeg Stout was odd. When it was cold, I really liked it. But then it began to warm, and I tasted licorice. Finally, at room temperature, you could taste the nutmeg.

If you’d like to attend the next one, or hear more bout upcoming events, make sure to become a fan of the Great American Brew Trail on FaceBook!

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