Good Beer, and Good Beer News

As I write this, I'm feeling like dreck due to a head cold that hit late last night.  I had hoped to continue my stout reviews, but that will have to wait a few days.  A beer doesn't sound like the best idea right about now.

I did want to mention a couple of things, though.  First, I went out to dinner last night with a friend who was in town to visit his folks (he grew up here).  He wanted to go to Cottage Inn Restaurant.  We were pleasantly surprised to find two excellent craft beers on their "special" list.  One was Magic Hat's #9, a terrific beer from Vermont that my friend, Sean, tipped me off to.  Turns out it's not hard to get here -- in fact, I saw a six pack at Kroger the other day -- but finding it on tap was very nice.  Luckily, I was drinking it before my cold set in, though by the end of the evening I knew I was coming down with something.  I won't review it here other than to say it's got a nice combo of floral, bitter, and fruit flavors and was a joy to drink.  The brewery describes it as "not quite pale ale," and that was about right.

The other beer on tap was Bell's Best Brown, which is always delicious -- or at least it was supposed to be available.  My friend ordered a pint only to be told that they were still finishing up the last keg of Oberon.  Now, that didn't necessarily say much for its freshness, perhaps, but my friend was more than happy to have one last pint of Oberon before it disappears into hibernation.  I'm guessing the Best Brown will be tapped soon.  I'll admit that I never thought of Cottage Inn as a place to grab a craft beer, but I'm happy to have been proved wrong.

On a completely different note, I've been selected to be the Ann Arbor Craft Beer Examiner for the Detroit edition of Examiner.com.  Once my articles are up and running, I'll post more info here.  Some content will overlap with this blog, and some won't.  I will be continuing the Michigan stout series at both venues.  For Examiner.com, I'll write beer reviews, tip readers off to beer-related events, and get a chance to explore and write about Michigan's brewing community and rich craft beer offerings.  Please stop by and check it out.  And if you have any tips, please send them my way!