It has been quite a while, so I figured that tonight is a great night for another edition of Steve After Dark. For those of you that aren’t aware, today is a Michigan Beer Holiday. It is Oberon Day here in Michigan, this is not just arguably our most recognizable beer brand in all of Michigan but Oberon Day is a rite of passage for most Michiganders in the craft beer world.
Admittedly I don’t drink Oberon on a consistent basis these days, there are much better beers out there than Oberon that we are producing in the state of Michigan. I do still have an immense love for Oberon since it brought me into the Michigan Craft Beer scene almost 20 years ago. Even though Bell’s Brewery is not a Michigan owned company anymore and I don’t drink Oberon like I used to 20 years ago, this beer will always hold a special place in my heart.
At the time I was a broke ass college student at Michigan State University in the Summer of 2005 when I turned 21. I worked 2 full time jobs while attending MSU and every two weeks on payday, I used to walk to the MSU Federal Credit Union to cash my paychecks. When I chased my paychecks, I left the Credit Union with a fistful of cash, my headphones and my homework for the weekend. I would walk 10 feet to the West and walk into The Peanut Barrel and sit down to do my studying and some drinking while I waited to make plans for the evening.
I used to just drink light beer whether it was a Bud Light, Miller Lite or Killian’s and then usually finish it up with a couple of Long Island Iced Teas to get the weekend started right. One day I was feeling a little froggy and asked my bartender, what is that beer that everyone is drinking that has an orange in it? He responded with, it is a beer from Bell’s, which is a local brewery out of Kalamazoo, it is a wheat beer called Oberon. I said what the hell, let me try one of those but leave the orange out of my beer.
I was immediately hooked, anytime I went to The Peanut Barrel for the rest of that summer an Oberon was waiting for me in my seat before I even sat down the rest of that summer, no orange. Then one day in September I walked in expecting an Oberon to be waiting in my usual seat, the bartender informed me that it was seasonal and that it wouldn’t be back until March. I was crushed and all I wanted was more of that beer that tasted different than anything else I was familiar with that was called beer.
Luckily, my bartender informed me that they had a different option on tap from Bell’s for the winter season, Two Hearted Ale, so I ordered one of those. If it was half as good as Oberon, I think I would be able to survive until March. I was elated when this beer was possibly even better than Oberon. I went about my routine of eating Burgers (which The Peanut Barrel still makes the best burgers in all of East Lansing, I will fight people that argue Crunchy’s or Lou and Harry’s makes a better burger), listening to music and doing homework for the next 2 years, every other Friday. I would alternate between Two Hearted and Oberon depending on the season, I even eventually stopped drinking the Long Island’s at the end of the night so that I could have more beer.
Then after I graduated, I worked Friday nights and had a decent paying job. As a result I switched my normal beer day to Tuesday’s and it became a weekly occurrence instead of bi-weekly for the next 3 years. Tuesday night always started at The Peanut Barrel with copious amounts of Oberon or Two Hearted, then I would move on to my friends places or the other bars in the area and most of the time, I wished I was still drinking good beer instead of the swill my friends would drink.
Technically the first brewery I visited on my journey of visiting breweries across the State of Michigan was Harper’s Brewpub, but to be fair, no one went there because the beer was awesome, they went there because the beer was cheap and they had a dance floor. After my introduction to Oberon and Two Hearted, I made sure that the next time I went to Kalamazoo that I wanted to visit the Bell’s Brewery and drink these beers directly from the source.
The second brewery I visited to get to my total of 466 thus far, ended up being Bell’s Brewery. On this trip, I became aware that they had all sorts of wonderful creations that tasted like nothing I had ever had before. I worked through the list, Bell’s Porter, Kalamazoo Stout, Lager OF The Lakes (I will never call it by its new name), Bell’s Winter Ale and many more. This trip to Bell’s is when I absolutely became obsessed with the Michigan Craft Beer Scene and began to actively seek out Craft Beer and the Breweries that make them. I have since been back to Bell’s dozens of times for a multitude of events including but not limited to All Stouts Day, Eccentric Day, Oberon Day and many more.
Now we will fast forward to today. Crystal and I went to Maverick’s in Canton for Oberon Day and I drank what might possibly be my only Oberon of the year. As I mentioned before there is so much better beer out there these days, but if I go somewhere where the options are lacking, I may have another Oberon or two this summer. It was just as good as I remember when my bartender at The Peanut Barrel poured me an Oberon and took my Craft Beer virginity 20 years ago.
With the weather outside today, it may not seem like summer and warm weather is coming but trust me it is. Oberon Day is one of the signs that summer is right around the corner and since this beer holds a special place in my heart, I figured it was worth doing a write-up on. Without my first sip of Oberon, maybe I would have gone down a different path in life. Maybe I would be a used car salesman from Duluth, Minnesota with a bunch of kids instead of the beer drinking, beer traveling, rockstar bartender that knows all about Michigan beer that stands in front of you today. So for that, Oberon, this is your day and I will always proudly celebrate it. Let’s all raise a glass and toast Oberon for converting so many Michiganders to the craft beer world over the past few decades. Cheers!
#cheers #beer #brewery #bellsbrewery #craftbeer #brewerylife #michiganbeer #michigan #drinklocal #beerlovers #oberon #michiganstateuniversity
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