Behind the Mitten

John Gonzalez and Amy Sherman of MLive and the radio show Behind the Mitten talk to Paul Starr of I'm a Beer Hound and Ryan Engemann of Brewery Vivant while at Hopcat East Lansing.

They talk about beers at Hopcat, as well as Lansing Beer Fest, which is June 18 (1-6 p.m. at REO Town).

More info on Lansing Beer Fest:
http://www.lansingbeerfest.com/

More on BTM:
https://www.facebook.com/behindthemitten?fref=ts

John Gonzalez and Amy Sherman of MLive host the podcast and radio show Behind the Mitten. On this weekend's show they broadcast from Hopcat in East Lansing where they talk with some friends, including Paul Starr of I'm a Beer Hound. They also catch up on what's happening at New Holland Brewery and its expansion into Grand Rapids.

Show Notes:

Segment 1:
John and Amy talk to Paul Starr, and they also run into Ryan Engemann of Brewery Vivant, who happened to be at Hopcat. They talk about some cool events, including "explorer" classes at the Public Museum of Grand Rapids. Classes will be held June 21, July 19 and Aug. 16. They're titled "Science of Beer," ''Science of Flavor" and "Yeast Science/Wild Fermentations," respectively. Each class includes general admission to the museum — as well as three beer samples.
More info on The Public Museum:
http://www.grpm.org/
More on Brewery Vivant:
http://www.breweryferment.com/

Segment 2: (10:01)
John and Amy catch up with Joel Peterson of New Holland Brewery, as well as Chef Dale Beaubien, who talk about the expansion in Grand Rapids later this fall.
More on the expansion from MLive: http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2014/10/rockford_new_holland.html
More info on New Holland:
http://newhollandbrew.com/

Segment 3: (18:31)
John and Amy catch up with New Holland's Pub on 8th Street Head Pub Brewer, Steve “Bert” Berthel, who is passionate about supporting Michigan agriculture as it pertains to the brewing industry. Right now he brews his beers with 100 percent Michigan products. He announces on the show that starting at the Summer Beer Festival in Ypsilanti that New Holland will feature Pub on 8th's beers, which are only available exclusively in Holland.

Segment 4: (29:00)
John and Amy get back with Paul Starr of I'm a Beer Hound and Ryan Engemann of Brewery Vivant to talk about some beers on tap at Hopcat East Lansing. They also talk about Lansing Beer Fest, which is June 18 (1-6 p.m. at REO Town).
More info on Lansing Beer Fest:
http://www.lansingbeerfest.com/
They also feature BEER OF THE WEEK.

More on BTM:
https://www.facebook.com/behindthemitten?fref=ts

John Gonzalez and Amy Sherman of MLive and Behind the Mitten take you behind the scenes to the relationship between Superior Foods and Mackinac Island. They also run down their searches for Michigan's Best with MLive, and Beer of the Week from Gravel Bottom Brewery in Ada.

Here are the Show Notes:

Segment 1:
John and Amy catch up on what they did over the Memorial Day weekend. John talks about his trip to Duck Lake State Park in Muskegon and Dog & Suds in Montague.

Segment 2: (Listen at 10:05)
After a fun promo from Tim Hygh of Mackinac Island, we talk to Marty Booher, who helped put together Mackinac Island's partnership with Superior Foods and its "Simply Superior" products. In 2016, the partnership features Mackinac Island's Lobster Mac and Cheese.
More on Superior Foods:
http://superiorfoods.co/

Segment 3: (Listen at 18:49)
It's Tim Hygh of Mackinac Island. More on Mackinac Island:
https://www.facebook.com/mackinacislandtourismbureau/?fref=ts

Segment 4: (Listen 29:18)
John and Amy talk about how they started working together on Michigan's Best for MLive, and run down some big events taking place in June, and BEER of the WEEK. The beer is from Gravel Bottom Brewery.

More on BTM:
https://www.facebook.com/behindthemitten?fref=ts

Amy Sherman and John Gonzalez of MLive and Behind the Mitten run down some events taking place this month (June, 2016) in Michigan.

They also reveal:

BEER OF THE WEEK:
"Nooky," a pale ale from Gravel Bottom Brewing in Ada, located just east of Grand Rapids. Amy says "this beer is a nice pale ale, yellow gold in color, that comes in at a pleasant 40 IBU's (international bittering units). Not too hoppy, an easy drinking pale that features nice pine and a bit of citrus from the Michigan-grown Cascade hops." Gravel Bottom has been open for about three years, and owner Matt Michiels started, like many, as a home brewer. The brewery includes a home brew supply store right next door as well.

Brewer Nick Roelofs explained that normally West Coast grown Cascade's are very piney. The rich soil here in Michigan "just gives them this nice citrus quality that you don't get from West Coast hops".

MLive story and video:
http://www.mlive.com/beer/2016/06/michigan_beer_of_the_week_june.html

Statewide Events in June:
http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2016/06/summer_begins_30_things_to_do.html#0

More on Behind the Mitten:
https://www.facebook.com/behindthemitten?fref=ts

John Gonzalez and Amy Sherman of MLive and Behind the Mitten interview Tim Hygh, executive director of the Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau. They discuss the Simply Superior products with Superior Foods, and they also talk about the Lilac Festival, which runs through June 12, 2016.

More on Mackinac Island:
https://www.facebook.com/mackinacislandtourismbureau/?fref=ts

More on BTM:
https://www.facebook.com/behindthemitten?fref=ts

John Gonzalez and Amy Sherman of MLive and Behind the Mitten interview Marty Booher, who helped put together Mackinac Island's partnership with Superior Foods and its "Simply Superior" products. In 2016, the partnership features Mackinac Island's Lobster Mac and Cheese.

At the end of this segment, Ben Darcie of Experience Beer talks about this week's Beer Tasting class (8 p.m. June 6) at Harmony Hall in Grand Rapids. More info: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ExperienceBeer/

More on Superior Foods:
http://superiorfoods.co/

More on Mackinac Island:
https://www.facebook.com/mackinacislandtourismbureau/?fref=ts

More on BTM:
https://www.facebook.com/behindthemitten?fref=ts

John Gonzalez of MLive and the Behind the Mitten interview country singer Kari Lynch, who performs tonight (7 p.m., June 2, 2016) at the Rockford Brewing Company. Kari is an up-and-coming singer/songwriter living in Nashville. She is originally from Clare, Michigan.

This interview aired on June 2, 2016. John and Amy filled in for Neal Dionne on West Michigan Live on WOOD Radio (1300-AM and 106.9-FM).

More on Kari Lynch:
http://karilynch.com/

More on Behind the Mitten:
https://www.facebook.com/behindthemitten?fref=ts

John Gonzalez and Amy Sherman of Behind the Mitten recorded two segments of this weekend's show at Short's Brewery in Bellaire. The other two segments were recorded at FireKeepers Casino in Battle Creek and at New Holland Brewery.

Segment 1:
Interview with Rachel Krino, Assistant Director of Bellaire Chamber of Commerce
More at: http://www.bellairechamber.com

Segment 2: (Listen at 10:22)
John and Amy interview Alison Babb of Empire Malting Co. at New Holland Brewing.
More info at http://empiremalting.com/

Segment 3: (Listen at 19:22)
An interview with Jim Wise of FireKeepers Casino Hotel in Battle Creek.
More info at http://www.firekeeperscasino.com/

Segment 4: (Listen at 29:38)
An interview with Bridgett Beckwith of Short's Brewery in Bellaire.
More info: https://www.shortsbrewing.com/

BEER of the WEEK:
Nicie -- an American Wheat Ale brewed with orange zest, lemon zest, coriander, and a hint of peppercorn. Orange-gold in color and light in body, Nicie is infused with the scents and flavors of fresh citrus. The subtle taste of coriander and spice of peppercorn makes this ale both refreshing and complex.

More on BTM:
https://www.facebook.com/behindthemitten?fref=ts

John Gonzalez and Amy Sherman of Behind the Mitten interview Alison Babb of Empire Malting Co. while at New Holland Brewery. This was recorded as a podcast in March of 2016, and aired May 28, 2016.

More on Empire Malting:
http://empiremalting.com/index.php/about-us/

More on Behind the Mitten:
https://www.facebook.com/behindthemitten?fref=ts

John Gonzalez and Amy Sherman of Behind the Mitten interview Jim Wise of FireKeepers Casino. This segment aired May 28, 2016.

More on FireKeepers:
http://www.firekeeperscasino.com/

More on Behind the Mitten:
https://www.facebook.com/behindthemitten?fref=ts