The Week I Drank Cider Instead of Beer

An FYI blog by: Dayna Tran (COO & Brewery Captain of Eternity)

Your taste palate is affected by so many things. It can be affected by the food or drink you had up to 24 hours ahead of time! I knew this, but found out again the hard way last week.

Fall is a great time in Michigan for apple picking, corn mazes, and cider and donuts. It seems like most Michiganders like to have the excuse to enjoy cider and donuts in the fall because, well, it’s just that time of year!

For our family, the first sign of fall is Mom making spiced cider in the kitchen. And this year I got a special delivery of it to the bar! I used to dread fall because it meant “Back to School” (Ugh!). But now, I am finally starting to appreciate the colors, the smells, the tastes of fall and was enjoying a lot of hot cider throughout the day (Thanks, Mom!).

Here’s the thing though, last week I just wasn't in the mood for beer. At first I thought I was in a weird mood, but Mike and I started talking about it and realized it was because of my excessive cider consumption! The sweet, tart flavors of the cider were sticking around on my palate and it didn’t matter what beer I tried, hoppy, sweet, Belgian, English, it all tasted “off”. The only thing that sounded good was an Oktoberfest with a splash of spiced cider in it! (I know it sounds crazy, but it is amazing!)

The moral of the story is to be aware that sometimes you may taste a beer and it will seem “off”. Most people will think it just isn’t a good beer and not want to try it again. Don’t be like most people. Think about it and maybe you had some cider earlier that day, maybe you had spicy Indian food for lunch, maybe you have been eating donuts because your co-worker brought a bunch in to celebrate Friday. Your palate isn’t the same as mine, and you may be affected by different foods, so I am curious, am I the only one who has had this change of palate before? Let me know in the comments!

I am totally going to stand up from my computer to get some hot cider. I’m so cold…

Hello fall in Michigan!

Cider and beer. Sometimes a good combination. Seriously. Depends on your palate!

1 Year Anniversary Party Recap

We had a great time last Saturday! So many barrel aged beers to try, so little time. Great food from Hickory BBQ, and great music from Otter River, The Two Hearted, and Watson Street Loft! We will be bringing Bourbon Barrel Aged Barley Rancher Scotch Ale to the Michigan Beer Festival in Detroit this October. Look for it there!

We have a few bits of barrel aged beer left, so watch for it on tap here and at other events! We are so thankful to all of our family and staff that worked so hard to make this party a huge success. We are also excited to have such awesome customers and friends to attend our party!

Our next big party we are looking forward to is our Back to the Future party October 21, 2015. This is no joke; that is the actual date Marty and Doc went to in the future! If you wear Western, 50s, 80s, or a “futuristic” costume to the party you will get a mini “re-hydrated” pizza bite (while supplies last)! Wearing your jeans inside-out is fashionable in the "future"! We will be using this party as a fundraiser for the Howell Opera House, so we encourage you to come “Save the Opera House”! By dressing up, 10% of your bill will go to Save the Opera House! You can also look for Doc Brown's Lightning Smoked Brown on tap that night too! 

More details will pop up on our Facebook event page! Tell us you are “going” with this link: 

https://www.facebook.com/events/1644315505824116/

In the mean time, check out these awesome pictures of the 1 year anniversary party!

Getting ready!

The doors are open!

Hickory BBQ is ready!

Sarah is ready in the tent!

And so is Mike...

1 Year!

#1YearOfEternity

Bands getting ready!

For 1 year I was stranded at Eternity Brewing with only one goal, survive...

And all I got was this lousy t-shirt

Party!

Jenga!

Beautiful day to be outside!

Otter River with The Two Hearted!

Red Eternity shirts behind the bar!

The Two Hearted

Watson Street Loft closed out the night!

1 Year Of Eternity

For 1 year I was stranded at Eternity Brewing with only one goal, survive.

We are coming up one our 1 year anniversary party this Saturday, but today is our actual 1 year anniversary. Some of you may remember the day we opened. (And you probably remember it better than we do because it was quite a whirlwind for us.) We were reminiscing last night about that day. Laughing about it and trying to prepare ourselves for Saturday!

The time has blown by. I think we have been running on adrenalin this whole time.

They say the first year is the hardest. It has been full of late nights, early mornings, and more emails, more phone calls, and more paperwork than we could have ever prepared for. We are still standing though. And we are looking forward to the future. We have a lot of hard work still ahead as we start our distribution program and work on ideas and suggestions that have been generated by us, our team, or our lovely customers.  

All of this would not be possible without you. We love being a part of this community and we have many new friends because of it. We have almost 400 mug club members, and we still meet new smiling faces every day! You are a blessing to us, and we hope, in some small way, to be a blessing to you.

1 year of Eternity. Cheers to many more!

https://youtu.be/2m8JIH_ctIs

(This is our awesome You Tube video created by Troy Hinds for our 1 year celebration party!)

Saturday Sept. 26

5 Barrel Aged Beer Releases!

Bourbon Barrel Aged Snake Staff Stout 6%

Bourbon Barrel Aged Teeko Coffee Stout 6%

Bourbon Barrel Aged Barley Rancher Scotch Ale 8%

Bourbon Barrel Aged Noble Throne 10%

Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Complication 11%

First 100 people through the door get a FREE goodie bag!
3 different bands playing through the night! Otter River, The Two Hearted, and Watson Street Loft!
Food catered by Hickory BBQ 4-8pm!

Melon Ale Name Change: A Letter of Explanation

Dear Friends,

Every year in August, downtown Howell is filled with 20,000 people enjoying the all sorts of different festivities all because of a large round fruit. Years ago through careful trial and error August P Schmitt perfected a new hybrid muskmelon that soon became known country wide as our beloved Howell Melon. To honor the 55th year of this festival we have made a brand new melon beer.

We received a call from another brewery’s attorney the other day requesting that we change the name of our Melon FestivAle to avoid receiving a Cease and Desist Order. The name we chose for the melon ale we made in celebration of Howell’s Melon Festival was very close to this other brewery’s name for their melon beer. We did not do this on purpose, nor did we even realize this other beer name existed at the time of naming our product.

We always take a lot of time and consideration with all of our beer names. They all have some kind of meaning behind them and we are always very careful to make sure we don’t step on anybody’s toes. We understand that they need to protect their trademark, and thus, we will change the name of Melon FestivAle to… (drumroll please…)

Howell’s Hoopla Melon Ale!

We are excited to celebrate Howell’s Melon Festival with many activities at the brewery and by adding Howell’s Hoopla Melon Ale to our list! We will release Howell’s Hoopla Melon Ale the day before the melon fest on Thursday August 13^th. 

In celebration of Howell's Melon Festival, we have a Band and BBQ Festival planned for Friday August 14^th! Hickory BBQ will be here from 4-8pm and The Two Hearted are playing from 7:30-10:30! 

We have a Euchre Tournament scheduled for Saturday August 15^th 7-9pm! There is no cost to play, just come have fun being a Michigander! 

Awesome picture of merchandise from the Melon Festival website:

 http://www.howellmelonfestival.com/merchandise-1/

Summer Beer Fest Re-Cap

As members of the Michigan Brewers Guild, we get to participate in their festivals. The Summer Beer Fest in Ypsilanti is very popular and gaining attendance to the point of selling out on BOTH Friday and Saturday this year!

This was our first Summer Beer Fest and we had a lot of fun working on fun beers to bring and getting creative. It was great to hear that our beer was enjoyed by many people. We made a top 20 list, a top 5 list, and we got an "Experimental Beer" award for our Deep Fried Twinkie Ale!

We had a lot of fun making our "Arrow" beer - For 5 Years I was Stranded on an Island with Only One Goal - Survive, an imperial IPA with tropical fruits. We even got an award from the Michigan Brewers Guild for the longest name at Summer Beer Fest 2015 (and possibly ever)! The name of the beer is a quote from Arrow, the TV show on the CW about the comic book hero. We love the show, and the tropical characteristics of the IPA made us think of the island where Green Arrow learns how to survive!

We just wanted to share all of the coverage we got over the weekend at the festival. Enjoy!

Howell Microbrewery Quotes ‘Arrow’ In Name Of Limited Edition Festival Beer 

(For 5 Years...IPA with Tropical Fruit)

http://cwdetroit.cbslocal.com/…/howell-microbrewery-quotes…/

Eternity made this blogger's list + Picture in blog 

(For 5 Years... IPA with Tropical Fruit)

http://www.lifeinmichigan.com/michigan-2015-summer-beer-fe…/

Top 5 from the Michigan Summer Beer Festival (Divas in a Pom Tree - Belgian Tripel with Pomegranate)
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/entertainment/dining/first-draft/2015/07/25/top-5-michigan-summer-beer-festival/30657233/

Michigan Beer Dude Top 10 Beers to try at Summer Beerfest (Deep Fried Twinkie Ale wins Experimental Award)
Radio Show (end of show): https://www.spreaker.com/…/michigan-summer-beer-fest-2015-t…
Blog Post: http://imabeerhound.com/…/summer-beerfest-is-here-and-mi-be…
Slideshow: http://www.mlive.com/…/top_10_beers_you_must_try_at_m.html#0

20 Beers You Should Try At Michigan Brewer's Guild Summer Beerfest (For 5 Years... IPA with Tropical Fruit @ #8)
http://www.imabeerhound.com/…/20-beers-you-should-try-at-su…

33 BEERS TO SAMPLE AT THE 2015 MBG SUMMER BEER FESTIVAL (Deep Fried Twinkie Ale)
http://www.michiganbeerguy.com/ypsi2015/

21 Funny Michigan Beer Names From The 2015 Summer Beer Festival In Ypsilanti (For 5 Years... IPA with Tropical Fruit)
http://cwdetroit.cbslocal.com/…/funny-michigan-beer-names-…/

If anyone wants to try For 5 Years I Was Stranded on an Island with Only One Goal - Survive or have more, we will be releasing it on August 8th for our Superhero Fun-raiser for LACASA! Wear a superhero shirt or costume and 10% of your bill will be donated to support LACASA! Nerd out with us, it's OK, we get it!

Bourbon Barrel Aged Barley Rancher Scotch Ale - (Say that three times fast!)

Once bourbon has finished aging and has been emptied out of its previous home, the barrels themselves need a new home since distilleries only use new barrels to age their bourbon. Breweries age all kinds of beers in these once used bourbon barrels.

Last November at Eternity we began our adventure down this avenue. Five different beers: Imperial Complication, Teeko Coffee Stout, Snake Staff Stout, Barley Rancher Scotch Ale, and Noble Throne Imperial Stout were put into our first barrels. We are releasing our first one to the public for our Christmas Eve in July party: Bourbon Barrel Barley Rancher Scotch Ale. The smooth, malty flavors of our Barley Rancher Scotch Ale have transformed into a warming bourbon, smooth vanilla, and slight oak flavor profile leaving you with the impression it must be Christmas.

Don’t miss your chance to try this delicious treat this Friday, July 24^th! We will also have Barlow’s BBQ in from 5-9 and The Two Hearted playing 7:30-10:30! Merry Christmas in July!

Night Glow Black Lager - A Toast to The Michigan Challenge Balloonfest

The last weekend in June brings around a 32 year old annual tradition in Howell. The Michigan Challenge Balloonfest was founded in 1984 as a competition for hot air balloonists. They try to drop a marker onto a target from the air, aiming for as close to center as possible. This year air shows are being incorporated into the event, adding to the traditional carnival, craft show, and kite stunt shows! This is accompanied by a balloon glow at night in which the balloons fill the whole launch field and get lit up from the propane’s flame. 

To celebrate our town’s tradition we made a new special brew: Night Glow Black Lager! Black Lagers get their dark color from dark malts and other grains used in the brewing process. It isn’t a heavy drink like its color might suggest, but rather a light, crisp flavor. With a touch of sweetness and caramel flavors it’s a great addition to our summer line up of beers!