By K.D. Norris
ken@wktv.org
Bell’s Brewery’s is “Goin’ Dark” as it honored veterans, active service military members and their families with a special beer release on Veterans Day, Monday, Nov. 11, as part of its Celebration Series of special releases.
Don’t know the term? Think what happens when you know something and tell only a select few others — like military secrets or a great new beer find.
Goin’ Dark is a 6.3 percent ABV Coffee Milk Stout brewed with bourbon barrel-aged coffee beans. The beer was conceived, written, brewed and packaged by a committee of more than 20 Bell’s employees who either served in the military, are currently enlisted or are military family members.
“Celebrating diversity has always been core to our company,” Larry Bell, founder and president of Bell’s Brewery, said in supplied material. “It’s an honor to recognize the men and women in our military as well as their families and extend that celebration to those who make that sacrifice.”
Goin’ Dark is the third release in Bell’s Celebration Series that highlights different groups within the company. Earlier this year, Bell’s employees brewed Unite Hibiscus Saison as part of International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day, and then Alliance Lemon Lager to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. And more celebration brews are being planned for 2020.
Goin’ Dark will be available on draft at the Bell’s Eccentric Café (355 E. Kalamazoo Ave. in downtown Kalamazoo), and 12-ounce bottles packaged in 6-packs are available at Bell’s General Store. (The group wanted to bottle the beer so it could be shared with family members when they return from deployment.)
As part of the event, Bell’s worked with Section Collection, a local nonprofit that provides direct support to veterans in need.
For more information, please visit bellsbeer.com.
Kent District Library’s KDaLe schedule includes local events
You got to love Kent District Library’s continuing efforts to get readers out of the book shelves and into local brew pubs with their KDaLe series of programs, and in the next few weeks there will be several local pub stops.
Tops on the schedule will be events at Wyoming’s own Two Guys Brewing and Kentwood’s Broad Leaf Local Beer in early December.
On Dec. 10, from 6-7 p.m., there will be a “behind the scenes” tour at Two Guys Brewing, 2356 Porter St. SW. Then, there will be a Dec. 11 KDaLe Kick Off fundraiser, for adults 21 and older, at Broad Leaf Local Beer, 2885 Lake Eastbrook Blvd, during regular hours from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Broad Leaf will donate a portion of all revenues to KDL on that day.
Other local KDaLe events include: Nov. 21 (and Dec. 19), 7-8 p.m., KDaLe Book Club (combine your love of books with your love of beer) at Osgood Brewing, 4051 Chicago Drive SW, Grandville; and Dec. 9, 7-8 p.m., KDaLe Book CLub at Thornapple Brewing Company, 6262 28th St SE, Cascade Township.
To learn more about KDaLe, visit kdl.org/kdale.
And speaking of dark beer for dark days …
New Holland Brewery’s Barrel Bash is coming back to their pubs Nov. 22 through Dec. 1. Over the course of 10 days, they will be rotating through 20-plus barrel-aged beers — “Some are ones you know and love, others are new beers that are not to be missed,” they say.
Among the planned releases are New Holland’s Cabin Fever Brown Ale (6.5 ABV), which actually came out on Nov. 1. (And none too soon given the winter weather we’ve been experiencing!) Also planned are releases of Ride Those Ponies Home pastry stout and You Serious, Clark? spiced stout.
Keep up on the releases by visiting newhollandbrew.com.
But spring is right around the corner (sort of)
Good news: The Michigan Brewers Guild recently announced a new rsing festival to be held on Saturday, May 16, 2020, from 1-6 p.m., in Traverse City’s Pit Spitters Park (333 Stadium Drive; US-31 South). Bad news: Tickets will not go on sale to the general public until March.
“Over the past 22 years, the Michigan Brewers Guild has prided itself on hosting the best beer festivals in the state,” Scott Graham, Guild Executive Director, said in supplied information. “We started with the Summer Beer Festival in 1998 and have grown over the years in terms of the number of events as well as participating breweries and attendees. Adding a festival in northern Michigan rounds out the geographical footprint for our events.”
In addition to this new festival, the Guild has announced its complete 2020 schedule of festivals – which include changing two events back to one-day festivals, including the local Michigan Winter Beer Festival, scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 22, at Fifth Third Ballpark in Comstock Park.
For more on each festival, including ticket on-sale dates for Enthusiast Members and the general public, visit MiBeer.com/events.
