My birthday is a mere 14 days away, but more importantly everyone’s favorite seasonal wheat beer will be available in 29 days. That’s right, Oberon season begins on March 30th.
The best place to celebrate this holiday is to get down to Sidetrack Bar & Grill on the 29th at the stroke of midnight(technically the 30th) for $2.95 25oz mugs until 1:00 AM and random giveaways. It’s a great time every year. If you’re in the area stop by and at least have a pint to help yourself forget some of the tragedies that happened this Winter. By tragedies, I mean snow. Not trying to get deep here. If you miss out on the opening night, no worries. Oberon pints will be $2.00 the entire day.
EP will be in attendance so if you’re planning on joining in let us know. I would promise a free round for any reader who shows up, but I simply can’t. My apologies for being poor. Don’t judge me.
Without question, one of my favorite places in the entire world is Sidetrack Bar & Grill. There has been a bar at this location since the mid- to late-1800s, with early incarnations catering to railroad workers. Frenchies is right next door, and is used as overflow for the Sidetrack crowd or private functions. The Sidetrack has high ceilings, a warm fireplace roaring in the winter months and an outside patio to enjoy in the summer time. Not only does this place have some of the best local beer on tap, the greatest happy hour in the world (half off liquor & $3.00 22 oz drafts 11pm-1am), it also has some of the best food in the area. Pretty much anything you order here is absolutely delicious. While I usually stick with the gorgonzola tenderloin and fried clams on the side or their incredible sweet potato fries, the Sidetrack is known for the world famous burger. When I say that their burger is world famous, I don’t mean it like Tio’s wet burrito. This world famous menu item is actually known outside of Ypsilanti, and is easily one of the best burgers I have ever had.
Sidetrack was listed in GQ Magazine for grilling up one of the best burgers in the nation. Included in the magazine’s listing of “The 20 Hamburgers You Must Eat Before You Die,” and also mentioned on Oprah. Who can argue with Oprah? Sidetrack keeps its to-die-for burger status by using only fresh ground beef that’s delivered daily and by cooking each mouth-watering burger fresh to order. You also get your burger the way you like it with options including 9 types of cheese (including goat cheese), grilled onions, portabella mushroom and grilled onions. My favorite is the goat cheese and grilled onions. Oh, did I mention this burger only runs you $5.50?
If you’re ever in the Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor, The Sidetrack Bar & Grill is a must stop. I’ve never met a single person with a negative thing to say about this place. It will be one of the things I miss most if I have ever had to move out of the area. There’s nothing better than sitting outside on the patio drinking a tall Bell’s Oberon and enjoying a burger in the summer. I’m getting a little emotional here.
Last night the girlfriend and I headed over to Sidetrack Bar & Grill , which I like to call God’ s gift to Ypsilanti, for a beer and mini-burger tasting. They had five pairings of beer and a selected food item. This is the first one of these they’ve had but rumor has it that they might be planning on holding them either monthly or bimonthly. If they had these things weekly I would be there. In fact, if they had them every day I would probably be there at least 5 out of 7 days. Great beer, all of it local, food, and music.
Thanks to whoever organized the write-up for this. A lot of this information about the beers came from that.
There was a bluegrass band playing live music the entire time. In fact, we were there about an hour after the tasting ended and everyone had filed out and the band was still playing.
The first pairing was Full Circle Kolsch from New Holland Brew Co in Holland, MI with “Spread The Love”. Spread The Love was a spread made with Gorgonzola cheese, apricots and bacon with pieces of pita bread. Kolsch was a very light beer and was very different than any other German beer I have had in the past. I have come to associate German beer with bitterness(not a bad thing), but Kolsch was definitly a light, soft beer. Not a beer I would normally drink, but a nice pairing to begin the evening. The spread was absolutely delicious. I love Gorgonzola cheese. The mixture of the sweet from the apricots with the smokiness of the bacon made this a very enjoyable dish.
The second pairing was Olde Number 22 from Arbor Brew Company in Ann Arbor, MI with a Sidetrack mini burger topped with roasted red pepper and feta. Olde Number 22 is an Alt which was brewed in German brewpubs as a reward to loyal regulars. At a time when German brews were priced according to alcohol content, brewpubs would brew a secret alt that was richer, maltier, and higher in gravity. They served it unadvertised at the regular alt price exclusively to the regulars who new to asked for it. Number 22 was a very dark but drinkable ale. The finish was very clean and it went very well with the mini burger, which is always fantastic.
The third pairing, which was my favorite was Two Hearted IPA from Bell’s Brewery in Kalamazoo and a handmade black bean mini-burger topped with Oaxacan cheese, guacamole and salsa verde. I honestly feel like starting a campaign to force Sidetrack to add this to their regular menu. This was by far one of the best burgers I have ever eaten. Two Hearted is exactly what you would expect from any Bell’s. I have yet to taste a beer from them that I did not enjoy. As Bell’s puts it, Two Hearted is “well suited for Hemingway-esque trips to the Upper Peninsula. It has a large amount of hops which gives it a nice spice and went very nicely with the spicy black bean burger.
The fourth pairing was Smoked Stout from Dark Horse Brewing Company in Marshall, MI with Sidetrack’s mini burger topped with blue cheese, caramelized onion and bacon. This was quite the heavy pairing. Dark Horse’s Smoked Stout is brewed with all malted barley and peat malt(smoked malt). This beer is incredibly full bodied with chocolate, roasted barley flavors, and a smokey finish that almost resembles BBQ. I enjoyed this pairing but was beginning to get pretty damn full. The BBQ pork quesadilla I got before the tasting sure didn’t help. There was a representative from Dark Horse Brew Co. who talked to us before the pairing and explained how they make the beer.
The final course was Coco Loco Stout from Arcadia Brewing Company in Battle Creek, MI with shortcake topped with fresh strawberries, vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. Wow. I have never had Coco Loco, which is a milk stout, before this and I was very impressed. It is a combination of three different chocolate malts, cocoa nibs, and 63% cacao bittersweet chocolate. It has a very creamy quality almost like a milkshake, and went incredible with the strawberry shortcake.
All in all, I was VERY impressed with the entire evening. We had a great time learning about beer, sampling beers, and eating great food. If you are not on their mailing list, visit their website for a schedule of events, coupons, and other goodness.
Sidetrack Bar & Grill
56 East Cross Street
Ypsilanti, MI 48197
http://www.sidetrackbarandgrill.com/
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