Bell's Eccentric Cafe: My Kind of Place

Last weekend I had the pleasure of visiting Kalamazoo to visit my cousin for her birthday. Lucky for me, my cousins agreed to go to Bell's with me. I was very excited because I've never really experienced one of the "big beers" breweries. The place was actually called Bell's Eccentric Cafe. There was a brewery/bar on the inside, a beer garden on the outside, and a store attached. We went on a Saturday afternoon, and it was surprisingly packed. There were people in there eating, doing beer tasting, and even touring the actual brewing area (something I'm bummed I did not get to do). The place was a lot different than I expected it to be. The decor was rather interesting. The walls were covered with old beer advertisements,strange looking tribal masks, tattered flags, and even some really cool license plates. There were large stained glass windows with beer bottles built into them. Pretty cool looking, just not what I was expecting.

Inside of Bell's Eccentric Cafe

License plates on the walls

On to the beer tasting: we each ordered a flight of six different beers. They had about 20 or more to choose from (including a sangria made with beer and a mead), so the three of us all got a different variety. I went with all of the lighter ones, because that's just my style. The trays used to serve them were in the shape of Michigan - you either got an upper peninsula or a lower peninsula...I got an upper. I thought it was a very nice touch. It definitely showed off Bell's Michigan pride. :)

All of the beer choices

My upper peninsula :)

The beers I tasted were (in order):
Winter White - a Belguin style white ale (which is one of my all-time favorites)
Oberon - a wheat ale with fruity flavors (the beer that turned me onto Bell's in the first place)
Hopslam - a double India Pale Ale with a very high ABV of 10% (this one even costs a dollar extra to taste it)
Lager of the Lakes - a light, crisp pilsner
Experimental 2011 - part of the "experimental hops series" and only available at the brewery in Kalamazoo (kinda neat I got to try it)
Third Coast Beer - American pale ale with floral and herbal aromas

The funny thing is that ended up being the order I liked them, too. Probably because I picked the ones I knew I liked first and then just randomly picked ones that sounded good at the end. I just HAD to have the Winter White since it's one of my favorites and only offered in winter, making it very hard to find these days.

After we finished our beer and lunch, which was great by the way,  we headed over to the general store. There, they had all sorts of fun things like pint glasses, t-shirts, sweatshirts, bumper stickers, six packs of cold beer, and a whole slew of beer making supplies. Pretty cool if you ask me!! I opted to only purchase a pint glass as a souvenir of my fun that day.

All in all, I would say this place was a very fun time. Great food, great beer, and great atmosphere. I would love to go back in the summer and spend some time outside in the beer garden because it looked really nice. Unfortunately the weather wasn't so great for us that day. If you are ever in the Kalamazoo area, I recommend stopping in there, it's definitely a neat place to see! I'm very happy my cousin took me there (thanks Kristen!!)

Check out some info on Bell's Eccentric Cafe here.

Tell me, what is your favorite Bell's beer??

Top Notch Brews

Two days ago, The Brewers Association released its annual list of top 50 craft beers in the U.S., based on 2011 beer sales volume. Of the top 50 overall brewing companies, 36 are small and independent craft brewing companies.

Congrats to Bell's Brewery and Founders Brewing Company for representing Michigan in the top 50!

Lucky for me, I'm going to visit Bell's Brewery for my first time this weekend.

You can check out the article and full list of companies here.
 
Also check out:
Bell's Brewery
Founders Brewing Company
The Brewers Association

Betty Knows Her Beer

I'm new at this whole blogging thing, so bear with me while I figure it out. :)

That said, let's talk about beer. It's a known fact that craft beer has become very popular in the state of Michigan recently, mainly in the metro Detroit area. As I've become a little older, I've grown to love a great craft beer. They are so much easier to find these days, with breweries all over the place, and great places that don't actually brew any beer, but serve mass amounts of it, like the new spot in Ferndale, One-Eyed Betty's. One-Eyed Betty's first opened up in February 2012 and has been a VERY popular hot-spot ever since. I remember trying to go there on a random Tuesday for dinner and there being about a 30 minute wait just to get in. That's how popular this place has become in just a few short months. I think the main reason is, people LOVE their craft beer. They also love the fact that they finally have a place to go sit and enjoy it that's not the typical brewery type setting. This place really supports Michigan beer and serves up beer from Arcadia Ales, Atwater Brewery, Bell's Brewery, Founders Brewing Company, Kuhnhenn Brewing Company, Motor City Brewing Works, New Holland Brewing, and Short's Brewing Company, just to name a few!! One-Eyed Betty's has 44 beers on tap, 74 beers in a bottle, and even a couple in the can. And this beer list is always growing and changing. You can find their current beer list right here. I've noticed they've taken out one of my favorites, Bell's Winter White, for their new seasonal, Bell's Oberon. I'm glad I got to have a few Winter White's there while it lasted. Besides beer, Betty's has a great menu including breakfast (they even do brunch on the weekends), lunch, dinner, and dessert items. A favorite among my friends is the beer cheese soup. I highly recommend you check it out. If tons of great beer and food isn't enough to get you in the door, maybe their pinball machines and live music is. they even have special events, like beer dinner parings, featuring brews from Michigan. Hopefully you've had the chance to check out this little gem for yourself, but if you haven't yet, here is some info for you:

One-Eyed Betty's Website
One-Eyed Betty's Facebook
One-Eyed Betty's Twitter

A few beers on tap at Betty's

Go check it out. If you love beer like I do, you will love One-Eyed Betty's! Located at 175 West Troy Street in Downtown Ferndale.