It’s a Short’s Beer Marathon!

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10/4/2010: Short’s Brewing is one of the many reasons why Michigan is my favorite beer state, and I plan on paying homage to them by drinking 13 of their beers for the next 13 days. Short’s is one of my favorite breweries because they think outside the box with beers like Key Lime Pie, PB&J, Black Licorice Lager, Smoked Apple, Smore’s Stout etc. If I ever were to open a brewery I would certaintly try to break down conventional beer barriers much like Short’s does.

I acquired all these bottles through various trades over the last few months, and was holding out until I got 14 different bottles for two full weeks, but I am running out of days to fit these in. Although if you have a Short’s beer not pictured above, and feel like sending it to me by all means please do! haha.

Special Thanks to Andy, Doug, and Erik for helping me get my hands on all these great brews. Stay Tuned!

Beer 163/365 – Short’s Bellaire Brown

Style: American Brown Ale

ABV: 5.2%

Purchased at: Siciliano’s Market – Grand Rapids MI

What makes this beer different: Very drinkable brown ale

Will I be drinking this again: Shorts needs to start distributing to PA damnit.

Grade: B+

4/20/2010: Why doesn’t Short’s distribute out of Michigan?? Does the brewer just want to remain a small humble brewery, lack of funds, lack of desire to distribute farther? Regardless they should at least send beer to Ohio so I can head over the border to grab a bunch whenever I want.

Bellaire Brown actually doesn’t have a lot of smell at all. Honestly I am not the best for smelling because my sinus’ are terrible, but regardless I am just getting a bit of sweet malt smell. The flavor is a good bit lighter than I thought it would be, mostly sweet caramel with a little bit of chocolate going on. A little bit of hops going on too. Overall I like brown ales to be a bit sweeter and malty, but this is a good lighter brown ale. Good flavor, just needs a bit more.

Picture of the day: The first illegal immigrants.

Beer 124/365 – Shorts PB & J

Style: Fruit/Vegetable Beer

Purchased at: Given to me by loyal reader Andy from Detroit

What makes this beer different: Lots of sour fruit flavor

Will I be drinking this again: Hoping the other ones I have are not infected like this one

Grade: B-

3/12/2010: I might have been more excited to try this beer over any other beer previous to this one in my 365 mission. Very hard to find so I was surprised that Andy was able to find this one for me. Especially since Short’s does not distribute out of Michigan (as far as I know). Thanks again Andy!

From what I understand Shorts PB&J is half Uber Goober, and half Soft Parade. I have tried both so knew somewhat what to expect. Unfortunately I am pretty sure this one is infected. The smell was spot on with PB&J… lots of strawberry/raspberry smell, with a little bit of peanut. A Lot of carbonation going on here.The taste was very very sour. A lot of strawberry/raspberry flavor, with no peanut hints to be found. Oddly enough the head itself tastes a good bit like peanut, but not the liquid. The reason I think this might be infected is it was rumored that many of the PB&J’s were, and secondly I had the Soft Parade and it was not nearly this sour. Once I was halfway finished with the beer, I added about a half shot of Castries Peanut Rum Creme to the mix. Now THIS is what I expected this beer to taste like. I urge anyone who has some Short’s PB&J that they think might be infected, to run out and grab some of this creme rum to add to it. I still have two bottles left so I am hoping one of those is “clean.”

Picture of the day: Not so much funny but very creepy…Hitler without a beard.

Beer 113/365 – Short’s Brew Good Humans

Style: American Brown Ale

Purchased at: Siciliano’s Market – Grand Rapids MI

What makes this beer different: A war between hops and sweet

Will I be drinking this again: If it was readily accessible hell yes

Grade: A-

3/1/2010: I recently picked up a light box for super super cheap from meritline.com, figured it would be fun to mess with for taking beer pictures. So the next dozen or so pictures will probably be with a plain white background until I get sick of the light box haha.

Onto the beer. Its a damn shame short’s doesn’t distribute farther because they make some really good beer. The beer starts of very hoppy for a brown ale, but with some malt in the background. Midway through it was pretty even with malt/hops, and by the end the sweet malt completely took over. It was a war between sweet malt and citrus hops, with malt coming out on top. The difference in taste between the first and last tastes were huge. If I would have took those two sips seperately I would have thought it was a completely different beer. There was also some traces of brown sugar and coffee. The mouthfeel was very syrupy, almost too syrupy for me. That says a lot since I like sweet beer. Overall a very original flavor for a brown ale, just wish it wasn’t SO sweet at the end.

Picture of the day: This isn’t so much funny, but something from my childhood. Anyone remember Ecto-Cooler?

Beer 89/365 – Short’s Cup a Joe

Style: Imperial Stout

Purchased at: Sicliano’s Market _ Grand Rapids MI

What makes this beer different: Actually tastes like a coffee with creme

Will I be drinking this again: Hopefully yes, they don’t distribute far outside of MI

Grade: A

2/05/2010: Picked up a mixed 6 pack of all Short’s stuff back in early January on my brewery tour. Honestly never really heard of much of them other than the PB&J beer they make, which they had JUST ran out two days beforehand. Bastards.

Cup a Joe really is the closest thing to a coffee w/creme in beer form. Check out the head on this thing, foamy as hell. Smell is straight coffee with some lactose smell. The taste is AMAZING. Lots of smooth roasted coffee, with some lactose in the mix to give it the creme flavor. Super well balanced between the two, and I like how the coffee taste was strong but not bitter like some other coffee stouts. Mouthfeel a bit heavier than an average stout, but not too thick. I really wish I would have picked up a few more of these. It might almost be worth the 4 hour drive to go back up and pick up some more.

Funny Picture of the day: Bastard must have broke into my house and stole my clothes. I was wondering where that thing went.

Beer 57/365 – Shorts Brew The Soft Parade

Style: Fruit / Vegatable beer

Purchased at: Siciliano’s Market – Grand Rapids MI

What makes this beer different: Like a Red Fruit Salad

Will I be drinking this again: Possibly

Grade: B+

1/04/2010: Not sure the label of this beer is a reflection of the brewmasters desire to be somewhere more sunny, but I am going to assume so because Michigan is cold and snowy as hell. Okay its not like that all the time but damn it was bitter cold when I was there, and laying on a beach in chair in the sun sounded like a good idea at the time.

So I really had no idea what style of beer this was before I bought it. I made it a mission to buy every shorts beer I could get a hold of when I was in MI. Not that I am against fruit beers, but I don’t go out of my way to drink them. Overall I was pleasantly surprised with this one being that fruit beer isn’t my favorite. Clean fresh cut berry smell, and the taste was similar; strong strawberry taste with a raspberry/blackberry tinge (I think that might be the first time in my life I typed Raz-Berry, who knew it had a silent P in the middle). The berries were not overpowering but you without a doubt know they are there. The mouthfeel was medium and almost felt like a sparkling wine cooler when I wasn’t paying attention. The over carbonation is what knocked this one down a few pegs for me. Not bad for my first sample of Short’s!