Click the image for more information about Rat Fest.

The Sons of Liberty recently received the following email from Arbor Brewing Co. regarding ticket sales for Rat Fest. In short there are still close to 200 tickets available and the future of Rat Fest is highly dependent on Arbor being able to sell all the ticket they have available. I think many of us would agree that this is a great event for our home brew community and we would like to see it continue to thrive and grow. So with one week left we need to do all we can to get the word out and help make this year’s Rat Fest a success.

Hello Home Brew Clubs!

We have a big opportunity available to everyone. As of today, only 137 tickets have been purchased to the 2016 festival. In order for this event to continue and be scheduled for future years, our goal of 350 tickets sold must be achieved. This where you can jump in…

Attached is a copy of our press release with all the info needed for promoting Rat Fest. We are asking that all homebrew clubs participate in this effort by sharing the press release, or whatever version you prefer, of the event details so that we are able to hit our ticket sales mark and continue this festival.

There is only a week left!

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Arbor Brewing PressRelease PDF

Thanks,

Nicole Bednarski

Events Manager

Arbor Brewing Company Microbrewery

(Corner Brewery LLC)

720 Norris St

Ypsilanti, MI. 48198

 

 

Northville Winery and Brewing Co.

On Monday, December 7th we held our monthly club meeting at the Northville Winery and Brewing Company, Robb Nelson was a great host and answered several of our club members questions. The Northville Winery originated in 1982 in the Parmenter’s Cider Mill,  Rob and Carina Nelson (Robb’s parent’s) started making their own product almost 10 years ago and they have been expanding and building on their success ever since.

The Northville Winery started making their own wine in the 1990’s followed by Hard Cider in 2006 and opened the microbrewery in 2014. All the grapes and apples are brought in from the West side of Michigan with all the pressing done in the cider mill and fermenting and bottling in the winery building. Every bottle is filled and labeled by hand. The winery produces several alcoholic wines, hard ciders, beer and will be adding a small distillery soon!

You could really tell that Robb is extremely passionate about what he does and many of us were blown away that there was so much to know about making cider. Robb shared that the acidity of the fruit can really impact the flavor and fermentability of the cider. Sweeter desert apples like Honey Crisp or Gala are sweeter so tend to be more fermentable whereas early harvest apples and Jonathan variety apples tend to be more acidic with lower fermentable sugars which results in them having longer term stability once bottled. The first hard cider that Robb produced is what is now called Rockin’ Cock Hard Cider and is still one of his favorites and one of their best sellers.

Beer and Cider flight

We were able to sample several of the ciders such as Rockin’ Cock, Half Nelson (hopped cider), Crimson Dew and Blue River. Also two of the beer offerings that Robb has made which included Rock Me Hopadeus IPA and Stout Stout Let it All Out.

Even though the beer offering right now is small they will be expanding that in the future but The Northville Winery and Brewing Co. has so much more to offer as far as wine and cider that it’s well worth the trip to check it out. You can find out more at their website, http://www.thenorthvillewinery.com and you can see more photos from out club meeting in our photo gallery.