Your Desert Island Beer

I hope that everyone out there had a very Merry Christmas and are enjoying a day of relaxation before we all get into the rest of the holiday season. On Christmas Eve, when I said we were done with the 12 Brewers of Christmas segment, just like the infamous Arnold Schwarzenegger quote from Commando, “I lied”.

I am not posting a new interview, but to end each interview for the segment. I asked everyone the same question, it was a light hearted but very tricky question. To be honest I had a hard time answering the question myself, but I think I came up with the answer also. That question was “If you were stranded on a desert island with an unlimited supply of one beer and one beer only to drink for the rest of your life, what beer would you choose?”

Each brewer had various different answers, some chose beers that they brewed, some chose domestic mass produced beers, and others picked Michigan brewed beers from various breweries. Without further ado, the beers that the 12 Brewers of Christmas chose for their desert island beer are as follows:

Deven Sills (Arctic Circle Brewing Company, Chesterfield, MI)- Green Eyed Bandit (Arctic Circle Brewing Company, Chesterfield, MI)

Rob Henry (Mahalo Aleworks, Maui, HI)- Heineken (Heineken Brouwerijen B.V., Amsterdam, Holland)

Lee Streeter (Looking Glass Brewing Company, Dewitt, MI)- Arrogant Bastard Ale (Stone Brewing, Escondido, CA)

Chris Coburn, Eli Green (Stumblebum Beer Co, Troy, MI)- Chris Coburn- Lager of the Lakes, Eli Green- Two Hearted Ale (Bell’s Brewery, Kalamazoo, MI)

Kyle Gierada (Dog and Pony Show Brewing Company, Oak Park, MI)- Mango Coconut Cinnamon Sour (Dog and Pony Show Brewing Company, Oak Park, MI)

Ryan Kavanagh (Heights Brewing Company, Farmington, MI)- Busch (St. Louis, MO)

KJ Rowan (BAD Brewing Company, Mason, MI)- Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Chico, CA)

Gordon Davignon (Cadillac Straits Brewing Company, Madison Heights, MI)- Bluegrass Hero-Kentucky Common (Cadillac Straits Brewing Company, Madison Heights, MI)

Jef Smith (Loaded Dice Brewery, Troy, MI)- Miller High Life (Milwaukee, WI)

Broderic Bender (Four Leaf Brewing, Clare, MI)- Altbier (Four Leaf Brewing)

Tim Deglopper (Arbor Brewing Company, Plymouth, MI)- Reef Life (Leatherback Brewing Company, St. Croix United States Virgin Islands)

Ryan Lamb (Bearded Lamb Brewing Company, Plymouth, MI)- Edmund Fitzgerald Porter (Great Lakes Brewing Company, Cleveland, OH)

Out of the beers that our brewers chose, if I had to pick out of their beers it would be one of these three, Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. and Lager of the Lakes. I would probably give the nod to Edmund Fitzgerald if someone put a gun to my head to choose.

Since I don’t have to choose out of those though, I will choose one from a Michigan Brewery, and it is definitely a seasonal beer, but I get an unlimited supply so who cares? I would have to go with the Festbier from Drafting Table Brewing Company out of Wixom, MI. I buy a lot of this every year when it comes out. A couple of close runner-ups from the state of Michigan would have to be Bell’s Black Note Stout, just don’t know if I could drink an 11 to 12 percent beer all the time, and Blueberry Lemonade Gose (Witchs’ Hat Brewing Company South Lyon, MI).

Then there are a couple of out of state options that I would have a hard time deciding between but it would have to be one of these three beers, Allagash White (Allagash Brewing Company, Portland, ME), Focal Banger (Alchemist Brewing Company, Stowe, VT) and Slow Pour Pils (Bierstadt Lagerhaus, Denver, CO). Any of these beers would be an excellent option to drink for the rest of my life.

I would like to take this opportunity again to thank all of the brewers that took part in the 12 Brewers of Christmas interviews for this page. Each and every one of you helped to make this segment the most fun that I have had so far putting together a project for this page. I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge of your profession and the breweries that each of you represent. So Deven Sills, Rob Henry, Lee Streeter, Chris Coburn, Eli Green, Kyle Gierada, Ryan Kavanagh, KJ Rowan, Gordon Davignon, Jef Smith, Broderic Bender, Tim Deglopper, and Ryan Lamb, thank you very much for sharing your time and expertise with me during our interviews. I salute all of you, Cheers!

Unlike Tuesday where I said we were done, we now are officially done with the 12 Brewers of Christmas segment on the page. It is time to find out your guys answer to the question, what beer would you choose as your desert island beer? Leave the name of the beer and the brewery it is from in the comments section of this post. I am looking forward to seeing all of you beer lovers’ selections. Prost!