What better way to get things rolling again is with a beer from Short’s Brewing. Joe Short is a guy not much older than us who makes incredible beers and seems to love trying new things.

Here we have Short’s Black Cherry Porter. Not sure if I’ve seen this at one of the Michigan Brewer’s Guild Festivals or not, but this is certainly the first time I’ve found it in a bottle.

It pours with a slightly reddish hugh to it, and you see a tint of that red color in the lacing on the glass. Not a lot of head in the pour.

Definitely a chocolate nose here. There is a bit of cherry in the aroma too – like a dark chocolate covered cherry.

It has the nice roasty flavor you expect from a porter to start with, but the cherry provides almost a sourish note up front. It finishes smooth and dark. This is one of those porters where you actually taste the grain of the chocolate malt. Its a nice rich barley flavor.

As you settle into it, the cherry presents itself a bit more, but not in the way you expect. Its not as if there is a sweet cherry flavor, but there is definitely a presence of it. A bit of tartness.

All in all, this is a great porter if you want something a little off the beaten path, but nothing too unfamiliar.

6/10

I figured that if nothing else, I would grab a bottle of Arcadia Ale’s Sky High Rye. Its affordable, delicious, and at 6% abv, isn’t going to be that big a deal. A nice nightcap.

I wasn’t expecting to find something I’ve never seen before. That I haven’t even HEARD OF before.

So imagine my surprise when I see two beers from Saugatuck Brewing Company. A Michigan brewery I’ve never seen? Interesting…

So I picked up a bottle of Saugatuck Singapore IPA. I figure a Michigan IPA is a good thing, and it was only $6.39 for the bomber, so why not?

A pleasant surprise to say the least.

It begins with an aroma right out of the bottle – like you would expect, a nice hop presence in the nose. Some citrus and flowers. Once its in the glass, you even notice some pale malt there.

There’s a little bit of sticky head, leaving a serious lacing on the glass.

Its pretty bitter on the back of your tongue, but well balanced all in all, with some sweetness from the malt lingering up front.

The bottle reads like so:

“Named after the legendary Lake Michigan ghost town, this India Pale Ale is a well balanced blend of bitter & sweet that will not punish your palate.”

And from this Beer Nuts article from eTruth, it sounds like a place worth visiting too.

Not bad. It nice to find a new Michigan beer.

6/10

Had they included Rich’s Rye (my favorite Short’s beer), I would have been in heaven. Read more about it at MLive’s Kalamabrew.

Brian says if this beer was a chord, it would be a Cmaj7. Tuned down a half step. So a Bmaj7. I guess.

There is an aroma of dark, roasted barley right away, and I detect the rye right away, but I’m a rye junky. Rye beer, rye bread, rye whiskey…

Brian smells a bit of coffee, which is probably from the chocolate rye malt that’s all over it. Its pleasant, and a very easy sip.

Its also worth noting that this beer poured with almost no head, and what little there was disappeared immediately.

Brian loves the way it coats your tounge, like a good stout should. He thinks the most impressive part of it is its utilization of a rye malt in a dark beer. He’s not in love with this beer. It could be a little stouter. And he’s not so big on the aftertaste. It kind of tastes like he just smoked a whole bunch of cigarettes.

I, on the other hand, am really impressed with it. It has a wonderful grainy-ness to it that I love. The malt is roasty, and has some sweetness in there too, but mostly roast and rye. Which I love.

We both rate this a

7/10

You’re beautiful head, your sweet, floral aroma. These are only two reasons to love you.

A deep, rich color, and a nice, not too aggressive bitterness. A sweet malt flavor in the front, and a darker, roastier malt in the finish, hiding behind the bittering hops.

Brian and I both do enjoy ourselves some IPAs, and the Imperial IPA, when well-done, holds a special place in our hearts.

Hopmouth finds its way right into my heart, and makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. And not just from the alcohol – at 8% its not a light beer, but it isn’t going to kill me either.

This beer is one to make any hop-head happy, and is one of the best beers from a Michigan brewery that usually makes only modest English-style ales. A titan among mere mortals.

9/10

Ian!

You’re beautiful head, your sweet, floral aroma. These are only two reasons to love you.

A deep, rich color, and a nice, not too aggressive bitterness. A sweet malt flavor in the front, and a darker, roastier malt in the finish, hiding behind the bittering hops.

Brian and I both do enjoy ourselves some IPAs, and the Imperial IPA, when well-done, holds a special place in our hearts.

Hopmouth finds its way right into my heart, and makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. And not just from the alcohol – at 8% its not a light beer, but it isn’t going to kill me either.

This beer is one to make any hop-head happy, and is one of the best beers from a Michigan brewery that usually makes only modest English-style ales. A titan among mere mortals.

9/10

Ian!

Like most of their beers, Arcadia made this a pretty traditional English-style ale. For that reason, it shouldn’t be any surprise that it ties with Fuller’s London Porter as my favorite.

It pours with a little brownish head, that leaves a ring around the top of your glass. Its a wonderful dark brown color, and a sweet carmel malt in the nose, paired with a little bit of nuttiness.

There is a nice, roasty flavor to this beer, especially in the aftertaste, which I think is why I like it so much. A bit of dark chocolate – there’s a definite chocolate malt taste to this beer.

I love it – and for anyone looking for a great porter, I recommend this or the Fullers. You can’t really go wrong with either, and as for Michigan Porters, this is a no-brainer.

8/10

As a quick description, its a belgian stout.  As a long description, its a pleasant little belgian stout.  How can a stout be belgian, one might ask?  Well, it seems that its fermented by more conventional means as Jolly Pumpkin tends to do.  Its got a hint of sour to it, but otherwise its quite a delightful stout.  And the hint of sour really keeps it interesting.  I’m happy to give this the 6 it deserves.

Interestingly.  Let down, right?  Well, it is exactly what it says it is.  Its a smoked amber, with a hell of a lot of jalapeno.  All thats missing is the tartness that you come to associate with the very first taste of a good pepper.  This beer is by no means a session beer, or even really a more than once a year beer, unless paired properly with food.  However, this beer is definitely interesting.

It has a pretty standard Amber color, which you could guess by the name, I’m sure.  Pretty decent white head, which fades at a relatively normal rate.  And it smells a bit like bacon, as a smoked beer should.  But also like pepper.  A lot like pepper.  And a bit like malt, surprisingly.  As for the taste, the first thing you taste is the smoke.  The most common flavor people would associate is bacon.  Then, the jalapeno’s hit you like a ton of bricks.  Its hot, there’s no mistaking that, but not like tabasco.  Its got plenty of flavor, but its not gonna ruin your pallette forever.  I really liked it, strangely enough.  It was fun, and different, and I give it a 6.

Onward.  To Imperial Hatter.  Pretty respectable color.  A nice copper.  A lasting head.  Grassy, slightly citrusy scent to it.  Nothing overpowering, but it lingers, and is really quite nice.  To be honest, this might be one of the best examples I’ve got in recent memory as to what an IPA should smell like.  Now, how does it taste…  Well, it tastes like hops.  There is very little sweetness present, but there is the standard residual flavor.  Theres a good deal of hop flavor and bitterness to this without being absolutely mind blowing.  If this were considered a standard IPA, I’d give it a 10.  Seriously.  However, once you add that whole Imperial thing to it, you’ve put yourself into a new category…  And when you’ve got devil dancer, early hopslam, hop stoopid, and double trouble to live up to…  this beer is good.  In fact, its great. I’ll give it a happy 8.0.  Buy it.  Drink it.  Love it.