I had an amazing time with my parents this weekend. They asked me if I wanted to go up north for Short’s 10th Anniversary Party, without even needing to think about it I knew I wanted to go. Short’s is probably the first Michigan Micro-Brew I ever had, and my parents introduced it to me pretty soon after I turned 21. Short’s had just started then, and they weren’t even selling bottles really downstate. I was pretty ecstatic when I saw the Huma Lupa Licious served at Ashley’s in Ann Arbor. Most of my friends hadn’t even heard of it, but I knew how delicious it was.

The event had a beer pre-sale at noon, but we didn’t really go to that. We arrived around 12:30 anyways, and the line was already like 4 blocks long. We were told ~500 people. We walked into the area that was to be the party, and saw Joe Short’s sweeping up the street. Talked to him a bit and got some pictures before we headed to Moka to eat lunch where we met some of our Hawk’s Eye neighbors. While we were outside my parents saw the owners and we had a nice chat with them, before going in and enjoying some food with our friends. I was sent out around 1:45 to stand in line, and it’s a good thing I was. We were right near the start of the line and it was growing pretty quickly. We waited an hour to get in at the open time of 3:00 PM.

There were 99 beers on tap through the event. It was pretty epic. A good number of them I had tried already, so I went for the untasted ones that appealed to me. I ended up drinking (in order): Anniversary Ale 2014 from the Firkin, Stache Bender, Bourbon Woodcutter, Imperial Ginger in the Rye, Soft Parade, and ended with a Imperial Peaches and Cream.

The bands that were playing were fantastic. My favorite was Don Julin & Billy Strings, the bluegrass music was exceptional but you could tell how skilled both of them were on stage. My favorite was when they would both play the same passage but a fourth or a fifth apart, it was perfectly synced. My mom and I ended up buying their CD. Another band, the Ragbirds had a violinist, so I have some bias for them. She was very good and I really should look into doing something similarly fun with Pat.

Don Julin & Billy Strings

Steppin’ In It Ragbirds Deen Ween and the Brown Outs Joe delivered a great State of the Brewery address with some humor and interesting facts mixed in.

I managed to hunt down Scott Newman-Bale and get a picture with him again after 2 years, as well as Joe’s wife Leah. They named their son Elmer! It’s great. I even saw a couple people from Cask fest that made it up – Ken and his brother Nick. We left around 10, but I had been drinking for a good amount that day. I told Ken I’d see him next week at Cask Fest where we could repeat our experience today!

It’s really hard to describe the experience. It was just a lot of fun with my parents, and our Hawk’s Eye neighbors. Sue was my drinking buddy all night, and we made a night of it! On our way out Sunday, I picked up a Growler of the Anniversary Ale 2014 (they had sold out of the bottles) and 2 6-packs of the Stache Bender. Hoping the next major bash will be even more successful!

-Evilmanta