Beer Fest Journal

I just returned from a fantastic trip to Grand Rapids and back and here is the break down of my first trip to Winter Beer Fest. As you are all aware Reggie and myself have become staples in the Michigan Brewery world through our acoustic and electric performances at Bell's Brewery, Rochester Mills, Black Lotus, Short's Brewery, twice a month shows at Kuhnhenn's and now Liberty Street in Old Village. Exposure to exceptional beers has been a nice side effect of doing gigs not to mention the appreciation for top I have largely acquired from the "bloom" days and from hanging out with MJK. Beer, more to the point, high quality beer has not just been an excuse to get wrecked or attain a pronounced beer gut. I have attained a great appreciation for the science involved in brewing, the various flavors of beers, the strategy in which these brew masters wield their new brews, and most important of all the tight knit community that is The Michigan Brewers Guild. I appreciate the parallel between the various bands and musicians in this town that still jump up on each others stages every weekend and the encouragement these brew masters constantly give each other. I would say having lived in their world a lot more lately that the appreciation for various styles is even greater in the brewing scene, there seems to be a genuine interest in watching fellow breweries succeed because it is furthering the art and influence of micro brewing. This is comparable to us wanting live music to take more of a role in Detroit so that all of the working musicians in town can benefit. Much like a band staying busy in the gigging world, a successful brewery is likely taking an opportunities (or beer drinkers) away from somebody else, and there is only so much pie to go around. I witnessed a lot of mutual respect and a lot of disdain from certain breweries, mostly directed at Kuhnhenn's and Short's because they are clearly the big fish on this scene.

Saturday, 7:00 a.m.

I arrived at Kbrew (Tim Horton's steaming hot coffee in hand) to find a rather lively and enthusiastic crew waiting to head to Grand Rapids in the Kuhnhenn's contracted bus. The Kuhnhenn Brothers very generously acquired comp beer fest tix for Reg and myself, and paid our gas toll as well. We were responsible for hotel and any extra food along the way. Beer was on the bus, at the festival, and pretty much everywhere!!! We have brought the Kbrew to the attention of all of our family and friends and aided in their exponential rise in popularity. They have provided us an every other week venue, many great times and a fantastic friendship has forged between band and brewery. I knew the brothers, Bret & Eric, Eric Sr., a couple of the bar tenders, 6 paying travelers and Mary (who I've been mistaking for Momma Kuhnhenn for years, much like everybody else.) The bus was owned by Father and Son Bus Co., and there was a driver in training on board. Both the paying customers and the drivers will play prominent roles in the next chapter. The bus itself was a very large tour bus, greyhound style, that had many various couches and scattered seats for comfort and chilling out. The front was standard rows of seats then as you went to the back gave way to a more chaotic lounge environment. The starting total of passengers was 14 with 3 Father & Son employees. This would vary greatly for the rest of the beer fest tour.

7:30 a.m. Departure

The bus was loaded with passengers and an enormous amount of kegs, equipment, and promotional materials. I found the parallel between the Kuhnhenn bros. promotional tactics and The After Party's quite entertaining as none of the menus and Kuhnhenn merch ever left the bus. Departure time was set for 7pm but as members of the KGB (Kuhnhenn's Brewers Guild) were still assembling kegerators and spouts this process held up our leaving. This small delay would later prove costly as time became a factor. Beer Fest started at 11am for members of the Guild, and then opened to the general public at Noon. Ideally, we would arrive in Grand Rapids no later than 10:30. At the last minute Eric Kuhnhenn decided to venture out separately with fellow pourer Kelly and the big Kbrew beer stand. This would prove to be an excellent decision later on.

8:30 a.m. Euchre Time

Reg and I were wedged in the back on a cushion next to the bathroom and 6 people we didn't know who were starting their own beer fest with vigor. Being half asleep from playing "Fishbones" the night before and nowhere near as social as Reg I bailed to the other side of the bus pretty quickly. Thankfully I stumbled into a Euchre game in which the other Nick on the bus had no real interest in playing. Partnering with my new friend Josh we were smoked for 3 games until we figured out how to frustrate our opponents and came back 3-3. That's when things got interesting...

10:30 a.m. Breakdown
The bus started to chug a little a few miles north of Lansing. Then half way between Lansing and Grand Rapids the bus stalled out and we pulled off to the side of the road. The expressions on everybody's faces were pretty grim to say the least. The Father & Son began checking out all vital systems to get the show back on the road and it turned out Josh was a diesel engine specialist. I'm not even going to attempt translating the mechanical speak that was filtering it's way to the back of the bus, in short one of the batteries had given out and it was going to take an hour or so of battery charging to get back up and running. The diesel engine specialist was highly skeptical of this happening anytime soon and hopped on the first car away from the bus. They had some buddies going to beerfest and bailed. The biggest concern at this point was getting the beer to beer fest. In Grand Rapids Eric was sitting there with a beer stand, some boards and markers and no beer. Bad scene. Eric turned around to head back towards the bus, but the problem was the beer and equipment was stored on the freeway side of the bus where traffic was whizzing by waiting to take out anybody crazy enough to get on the road.

More to follow...