The scene: a suburban living room in 1998.
The decor: hardwood floors, a floral couch, generic art on the walls, an entertainment system stuffed with a large television, a stereo, and a few VHS tapes.
A girl, about 13 years old, reclines on a chair with her ear to the portable landline phone (a landline. You guys?!) laughs at something said by the person on the other end. And on the other end? A DJ from the local Detroit-area rock radio station, WKAK 97.1.
Nearly every day after school, I’d come home, put on the radio, and call my friend. We chatted about my day, about music, and he’d always play my requested songs. Yeah, this sounds a little weird, but nothing ever crossed the line. Only one short year later, 97.1 changed formats and my after school chats with the radio DJ were abruptly cut short.
These days, 97.1 exists as sports talk radio, and, it turns out, in a beer form, too! Ellison Brewing Co, of East Lansing, has collaborated with the station to make a double dry-hopped hazy pale ale as well as a lager. I had to taste their concoction and see if it would fill me with any warm nostalgia for my after school friend.
The beer poured a bright and sunny orange-yellow that almost matched the color of the can it’s in. A light, fruity aroma was mirrored by a slightly sweet flavor. There was a fruit I just couldn’t identify though. Orange? Banana? Orange and banana? Despite how lovely the beer looked in a glass, I found it just a little hard to finish. I was unprepared for how tropical it tasted.
I suppose my memories of chatting with a way-older-than-me radio DJ will have to be all that I carry with me about 97.1. The tropical flavors of 97.1 The Ticket Hazy Pale Ale were just too distracting for me, but I’m sure there’s someone out there who loves the station in its current format, and who will feel that this beer represents everything they love about it.
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