When: Saturday, December 8th

Where: Dark Horse Brewing Company’s Production Facility (Marshall, MI)

More info to come!!!!  Keep checking back!!!!

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Thursday night

I was gonna check us into our flight on-line but sine the Northwest / Delta merger I haven’t updated my new sky miles account and there was no time for updating because I was 45min from the airport and my flight was leaving in 90min. I swear to Christ I ALMOST miss every flight, every time I fly. However, I’ve only missed 2 in my entire life and I fly kind of a lot, so that’s a good track record if you ask me.

So we made it to Boston in no time, thanks to flight aids I slept most of the way. Once we got to our hotel we met up with our friend and Lansing Distributor Mike Lasher Jr. And hit the town, well kinda. We walked a couple blocks to some loud sports bar but they had some decent beers so we stayed. The beers were going down great but we were annoyed so off we were to a new bar. As it turns out there is a great bar/restaurant right next to the hotel. The Legal Test Kitchen or something like that. They had this Baltic Porter on tap that was an import from Poland or somewhere like that (getting fuzzy). Anyway, it was dynamite so I had a couple of those. But after the shot of Jameson whiskey with “3 ice cubes” that Wiggs ordered up I was wasted. I had to leave. In the meantime we noticed a bunch of guys at the end of the bar that were in town for the beer event. As I staggered out of the bar I made sure Wiggs was gonna go buy them a round since they shouted out “Dark Horse!” when they saw our shirts. It turns out that Wiggs and Mike hung out with these guys for a while. They said there was one guy who downed two Baltic Porters and totally wiped out smacking his face on the bar on the way to the floor. They said “he just fell over”, I saw this guy 2 days later and it looked like someone beat the shit out of this guy, his face was black and blue.

Friday Morning

I woke up just in time to make it almost all the way into the bathroom before I threw up all over. I was so sick for like an hour until “dry heaves” allowed me to go back to sleep until 1pm. The day was shot for me I was really hung over.

It was night of the barrels and I could hardly stand to be there. I left early, Wiggs and Mike tore it up and stayed out real late partying with the locals till the wee hours of the morning.

Saturday

This is a long day with 2 sessions and lots of people. Overall it was a really good time. I tasted all the beers from Russian River and several other random breweries, all good. After being on my feet from 10a.m. until 10p.m. I was ready to die so I went back to the hotel. If Wiggs or Mike could remember what they did from 10-4am I’d have them write this. While I was sleeping Wiggs crashed through the door at 4am waking me up to tell me about the night like a little girl who had so much fun at the prom. “oh the Haverhill guys are the coolest, bla, bla, bla.” He wouldn’t shut up and let me sleep. Then he decides its 4:20 and he’s insisting that I wake up to smoke with him. I did not.

Sunday

This was supposed to be our day off to see the city but we ended up retracing the foot steps that Wiggs laid the night before, for bloody Mary’s. Then we met up for the BA brunch and stayed all day. I went back to the hotel and I was gonna meet Wiggs in a couple hours for dinner. We met at the historic Union Oyster House just like every year. Only this time instead of quite Russ or Aaron I had Wiggs so I knew sitting at the oyster bar (where they shuck right in front of you) would be fun. Only problem Wiggs showed up kinda bombed. The bar upstairs served us a pint each while we waited for spots to open up at the oyster bar. We sat down at the oyster bar and Wiggs made some joke to “Jimmy” the surly local oyster shucker. Well Jimmy was in a bad mood and as soon as we finished our pints jimmy says “you guys are shot aff” what? We replied, “shot aff, no more beer for you, you’ve had enough” we couldn’t believe it! What BS we just sat down and Wiggs wasn’t out of control or anything, just made a joke (about jimmy being there since the joint opened) This guy Jimmy was just in dickhead mode. So there we sat, eating oysters with no beer! Well, while all this is going on 2 guys (locals) come in and sit down next to us. They are brothers who haven’t seen each other in a while and they’re excited. The one guy and Wiggs are laughing and carrying on kinda loud and I saw this coming. This other guy goes to order a beer and Jimmy’s side kick behind the bar, Freddy, says to this guy “you’re shot aff” “For what!” the guy says pissed. Freddy says he looks like he’s had too many. This guys says in the coolest east coast accent “hey Freddie why don’t we go outside and talk about this” little Freddie was shaking. Then Jimmy comes back to the bar and confirms we’re all “shot aff”. The brother who was pissed says, “hey Freddie you little fuck, look who you just shot aff” and flashed a Boston detective cop badge. His brother calmed him down and we left. We split 3 dozen oysters and could have gone for more if we had beer.

Monday

Woke up late and got to the airport while people were boarding the plane, but we made it. Our draft box that we checked is still M.I.A., good job Delta.

Now I’m not being a baby when I say this was the coldest I’ve ever been at a fest, at least winter fest you’re prepared for it. I’d say it was about 40-45f with rain and heavy wind. I had 2 jackets on and was freezing. I’d see people walking around trying to look comfortable and cool in long sleeve tee’s and shorts, ha. So by the end of the festival people were just plain out getting hammered. I ran into a couple people who were handing out pot rice crispy treats, and a lot of people I know were eating them. The fest needless to say had a real cool vibe nearing the end. What fun, I’ve never been to a fest were you get a healthy thc dose, this and Pink Floyd made for a very slow ride home. All the other Dark Horse crew went out partying, and I just remembered Wigg’s still has my  company credit card. oh god…

Dexter chillin’ in Chicago

I went to the Microfest in downtown Chicago this weekend. It was held at the Millennium Park Grill at Millennium Park. It was rainy and cold but there was a huge line to get in to the free beer festival (entry was free with 8 sample tickets) despite the weather. How cool would that be if you were in Chicago on vacation walking around and stumbled onto a free beer festival!  It was a lot of fun talking with so many different people from all over. I met this couple from Arkansas who were into good beer and knew D.H. and the other breweries that were there. I haven’t drank at a festival while pouring in a little while but I was in the mood this day. My friend Kristen who lives in Chicago came out with her friend Catherine (both hot) and helped me pour for a while. We ran out of beer 2hrs before the festival was over so it was the usual routine of more drinking and good times.

The hardest part of the weekend was my new puppy, Dexter. I bought him a couple weeks ago for my son and wasn’t really thinking about the reality of owning a dog. My son Corgan didn’t want to go to Chicago with me and went to a friends for the weekend. I didn’t want to leave my dog in a strange kennel all weekend, as Dexter is only 7weeks old. Aaron was going to puppy sit but he had his 5-year anniversary party with his wheel club and backbone of the DH Nation, The Speedshifters. I couldn’t ask him to make time out of such an eventful day for my dog so I took him with me. I found a hotel that allowed dogs but charged a $100 fee for a pet…ouch. I couldn’t really afford this but figured I’d do my best to get “around” the fee. When I pulled up I left the dog and everything else in my car with the valet. I went and checked into the hotel and the girl at the front desk asked me about DH beer (logo on my coat) so of course I told her I’d hook her up with some samples. After I was checked in (without the pet fee) I went down and unloaded 6 cases of beer, dog crate, luggage, etc onto a cart. The bellman took this to my room for me while I walked Dexter around the city. An hour later when I came back the front desk was really busy so she didn’t see me with my puppy going to my room. I brought some sample down to her later and talked about beer for a while. I figured the next day none of the other staff would have a clue if the dog was “checked in” or not and I wouldn’t get hassled. I swear I must have walked the dog through the lobby to go outside 10 times and no one said a word. After the fest when I was good and toasted I took the dog out again and walked him for a good hour. When I came back to the hotel the girl was working the desk and I had to do a drunken stealth puppy sneak across the lobby and to the elevators. Believe it or not I made it! It was really exciting! And then I got to my door and realized I locked the damn key in the room! It was all over; I had no choice but to introduce Dexter to the girl at the desk while I got a new key. Luckily Dexter is the most handsome dog around and she fell in love with him and played with him in the lobby. The next morning while checking out, there was no pet fee on the invoice, beer samples rule!

Mike=1 Hotel=0

The next morning I was up and at the airport by 6:00a.m. I cant tell you the last time I was up that early. I flew into Minneapolis and good ol’ Joe picked me up from the airport and took me to my hotel. He had a lot of setting up to do for the festival so I hit the town on my own. I went to a couple accounts on foot and via a taxi. I found a moped/Harley rental shop; next time I’m getting a bike. It’s cheaper than renting a car and much better than walking! The Autumn Brew Review festival was really cool. I did a deal called the “pedal pub “, it had a driver who steered the pub on wheels while everyone else peddled their asses off. While we were moving chef Hai and I were behind the bar trying to serve food and beer for a pairing dinner. It was bumpy and slow as we crawled down the streets of MN leaving a trail of spilled beer in our wake. Half way through the festival I took a break and went down next to the river and talked with this old black dude whom was cat fishing. I hung out with him for a while talking fishing, I got him blown out and headed back to the booth. After the festival it was the same old after party so I didn’t stay long. I was able to fly stand by and got on an early flight home Sunday afternoon. I was gonna write how cool the cabbies are in MN until my ride to the airport. I was talking with this cabbie that was from Afghanistan about his culture and I thought he was really cool. Then, he turned up his radio with a Muslim prayer, I asked him if he was Muslim and he said, “yes” with a weird grin. Then…the dick pulls up to the airport and gets out his bible “I want you to read this for me”, I said “no thanks”, then he said he “wasn’t trying to convert me he just wanted me to understand who Allah is” I said “absolutely not and I don’t give a shit!” he actually kept trying to get me to read it. Needless to say he threw away his tip in that instant. I’m still pissed about it! I should have walked away without paying at all. Who does that?

Clutch

Rock stars and even porn stars get tired of their jobs, it just happens. No matter how cool the job might be it will eventually turn to “work”.  The same thing happens to us in the world of beer, it gets very routine with long hours this time of year. But then…something totally kick ass happens and pulls you right out of the shit house.

Just the other week I got to see one of my favorite bands CLUTCH for free in Chicago! And from the VIP area of all fucking spots! Kuma’s Corners  is a metal bar with awesome burgers and great beers on tap, the even have fucking Jack on tap, how cool is that? Anyway, they had their 10th anniversary party. They had free bands out in the street with servers walking around the crowd giving away huge ass brats! There were hundreds of people out in the streets and hanging from their balconies, the neighborhood was on fire. Being able to attend such a special event makes all of the hard work and summer madness worth while. Kuma’s fucking rocks!

S.S. ROD

After years of really hard work Aaron decided we needed some type of reward, so he bought a boat. Actually he nearly got it for free from his dad’s friend. It’s perfect to get out on the lake and brain storm ideas or to drink large quantities of crooked tree for quality control purposes. I forgot the brand of our Rod but its a 1974ish 24ft fishing boat with a small cabin that’s just big enough to do bad things in. We have a couple of down riggers, a sweet gps/fish finder, and enough lures to fish for a week. Rod’s top speed is about 17mph but runs like a tramp so we feel nice and safe going way off shore.

Mike & ROD

The maiden voyage was the day after Crawfish Boil at the brewery, so needless to say we were all moving pretty slow. With our heads pounding we had to finish painting Rod and setting up all of the gear. We didn’t get out of the driveway until mid afternoon but as we headed west our hangovers were fading fast. We were about a half hour from the brewery when Rod blew a trailer tire on the side of 94. Aaron and his dad (Wacky) took off trying to find an odd sized trailer tire on a Sunday afternoon. Three of us stayed behind waiting for 3 hours on the side of the highway. The three who stayed behind were Me, Chef Kyle from Red Mesa Grill in T.C., and our good friend Ryan from the Dark Horse Nation.

Kyle & Aaron

We didn’t get to South Haven until dark so we had to wait until morning until we could put Rod into the slip, it was hard. Once Aaron finished working on the motor and Kyle (master fisherman) finished the rigging of the lines we were off to get drunk and catch some fish!

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