Beer Week taps into Detroit

This week is the second annual Detroit Beer Week.

Organizers Jon Piepenbrok and Jason Peltier of the business Liquid Table expect this year’s event will be more intensive than last year’s starter event, which was done with no official funding and little publicity.

This year’s event has received more publicity, especially in part to Piepenbrok and Peltier’s connection to the Michigan Brewer’s Guild.

The week’s festivities began on October 16 with Tap: Detroit at St. Andrew’s Hall. Tap: Detroit was centered on tasting stations from eight local restaurants that included dishes paired with local beers.

Part of the proceeds from the night went to both the Pints for Prostates campaign and GiveForward: Team Tara, which is helping a local woman in her fight against colon cancer.

Other events that have already occurred include a whiskey and beer night at Ye Olde Tap Room, Slows Bar-B Q happy hour featuring brews from Bell’s and Tuesday night’s beer dinner at Cliff Bell’s, which featured Kuhnhenn Brewing Co. and Dragonmead Microbrewery. Both Kuhnhenn and Dragonmead are located in Warren.

This week, several events will take place in honor of Detroit Beer Week. On Thursday, Oct. 21, cyclist Bil Lusa will lead the BIKE-toberfest bicycle tour of breweries and historic brewery buildings in Detroit.

The tour leaves from Detroit Beer Company and will include stops at Traffic Jam & Snug, Motor City Brewing, Eastern Market and Atwater Block Brewery. The tour starts at 5:30 p.m.

Following the bicycle brewery tour, Motor City Wines is hosting a beer vs. wine cheese pairing event from 7 – 10 p.m.  Grand Trunk Pub is also hosting a brewing night with New Holland Brewing Co. from 8 p.m. – 2 a.m. Thursday evening as well.

A Foxtown and Park Avenue pub crawl is scheduled for Oct. 22 from 7 p.m. – 2 a.m. The pub crawl will include Park Bar, Cliff Bells, Rub BBQ Pub, Hard Luck Lounge, State Bar, Hockeytown Café, The Town Pump Tavern and Centaur. A $10 wristband, available at any stop, waives any cover charges for the night and entitles the wearer to food and drink specials at each stop.

Detroit Beer Week leads up to Eastern Market’s second annual Detroit Fall Beer Festival, which takes place from 1 – 6 p.m. at Eastern Market. The Detroit Fall Beer Festival is hosting 40 different Michigan breweries, who in total will offer samples of over 200 different beers.

Tickets are $35 in advance and available at local bars including Rochester Mills in downtown Rochester, Royal Oak Brewery in Royal Oak and Copper Canyon Brewery in Southfield. If tickets remain, they will be sold at the gate of the event for $40.

Each ticket includes 15 tokens, each of which is redeemable for a 3 ounce sample of beer.  Tickets for designated drivers are $5. The Official Detroit Fall Beer Festival after party, hosted by the organizers of Detroit Beer Week, is from 6 p.m. – midnight at  Atwater Block Brewery.

The final event of Detroit Beer Week is Sunday “Bloody Mary” Sunday at 3rd Street Bar. In what the organizers call the “ultimate Bloody Mary bar,” bartenders will create signature Bloody Mary drinks with Michigan-made vodka, as well as some combinations involving Michigan beers as well.

For information on any of the events, visit facebook.com/detroitbeerweek.