From Michigan Beer Buzz:

Saturday, Rob and I drove up to Milan to check out the progress on Original Gravity, one of MI’s newest breweries. As you can suspect Brad Sancho, the owner/ brewer, was extremely busy but he still took time out to show us around. Sorry, there are no pictures. Since it was just a pop in we felt that we might be bothering him too much already.

All the brewing equipment is in and brewing starts this week, hopefully Wednesday. Soon the four fermenters will be filled with a Porter, Amber, Bitter and a light Belgian Ale that he said really doesn’t fit into a style category. The interior is spacious with an industrial look befitting of a brewpub. The long L shaped bar is impressive with it’s oak top and brick base.  A favorite feature of mine is the outdoor beer garden. He put a lot of work into the building and it looks fantastic. And since it is on the good side of County Road (just kidding) it is officially a Monroe County Brewery. I’m still researching it but I believe it is the first Monroe County brewery  in 99 years.

This is the first I've heard of a new brewery opening in the area; you can guarantee I'll be there opening night!

EDIT: They also have a website up -- www.ogbrewing.com.

Walk w/ Phoebe Around the Lake - This weekend, while at my parent's to see America in concert, Cheryl and I decided to take Phoebe out for a walk at Camp Willson. We ended up making our way around Lake Mac-O-Chee. The walk was pretty enjoyable, but Phoebe required a bath by the time we made it home as she was covered in mud. While on our hike, we took a few pictures, which I've posted to my account.


This Saturday, Kelly, Jared, Cheryl, and I are heading downtown to see the Toledo Mud Hens take on the Durham Bulls as their season begins. It is an evening game so it'll be cold outside, but hopefully the rain stays out of the area. I've also somehow been convinced to participate in a 5k run that morning on the UT campus. I'm not quite sure what to expect... all I'm hoping is that I make it to the finish line in one piece so that I can enjoy some ballpark food and a beer or two.

I've said it before, but one thing I really look forward to when snowboarding ends is the arrival of Bell's Brewery (out of Kalamazoo, MI) Oberon Ale on the store shelves. This year, I didn't have to wait too long as it was officially released this past Monday. I found a very large display at the local Anderson's and proceeded to buy a box of four six-packs. Since they were warm, I had to wait until after work today to open one up, but they're just as tasty as I remember. If you ever get a chance to try a pint, I'd highly recommend picking some up for yourself!

Easter Weekend at Mad River Mountain - It's hard to believe, but the 2007-2008 snowboard season is finally wrapping up here in Ohio. After extending their season an extra two weeks, Mad River Mountain officially closed their slopes earlier tonight. This season saw an above-average amount of snow and the reappearance of a halfpipe, now located where the tubing runs were before the 2006 expansion. While the pipe was a welcome addition, I'm really hoping they make it a little wider next season as it felt a little cramped compared to some of the others I was in this year.

Heading down the flat rail in the Zero G terrain park; a great way to end the season!

Before heading down to Bellefontaine Saturday morning, I spent Thursday night and Friday over at Brian & Trisha's house to catch the first round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. By the end of Friday night, we had quite a group gathered and enjoyed various snack foods prepared by Trisha (the jalapeño popper dip was my personal favorite). The next couple weeks will be busy as well: back home next weekend to see America in concert with my parents (and hopefully stopping at the new Sonic in Urbana along the way), and then I'm heading to a Mud Hens game opening weekend against the Durham Bulls with Cheryl, Jared, and Kelly.

Also, I just found out that Bell's Oberon Ale is heading back to store shelves starting tomorrow (March 24)! I can't wait to pick up a six-pack as soon as I can; while I hate to see winter come to an end, it always feels good to crack open one of these at the end of a long day.

I just found out that Bellefontaine-native Louie Vito won another Chevy U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix event earlier today at Killington, VT. With the win, Louie also moved to 1st place in the overall standings to take the 2007-2008 title. Below is an excerpt from the official press release... hopefully this means even more wins in '08-'09!

KILLINGTON, Vermont (March 16) - U.S. Snowboarding's Louie Vito (Columbus, OH/Sandy, UT) and Kelly Clark (West Dover, VT) were rocking the pipe hard to win the halfpipe competition as well as the overall season titles at the Killington stop of the Chevy U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix Sunday.

Vito threw down an ultra sick front 10, cab 10, front 9, back 9, front 7 to seal the deal on the day's victory as well as a Chevy Avalanche, which is the sweet ride awarded to the overall tour champions.

"I'm stoked on the truck. I got beat out of the tie breaker last year so I guess I had to wait a year to get it but now I have a fresh looking Avalanche and it feels good to get it," Vito said. "I just wanted to handle it on my first run. I'm happy. It was a good tour and a good season and now I can chill and enjoy the rest of the winter."

Greg Bretz (Mammoth Lakes, CA) a soon to be snowboarding legend in his own right, took second in the event with one crucial element - his board - broken.

"In practice I kind of broke my board a little bit. In the first run, I broke it a little more and dropping in on my second run my board was almost broken through to the core," Bretz said.

Even with the major break, Bretz managed to throw down a hot front 9, back 9, air to fakey, cab 7, front 10 that fired up the crowd.

Michigan Snowboard Weekend 2008 - The end of the season has finally arrived, marked by a journey up to Petoskey, Michigan, with dad to enjoy one last weekend on the snow. While resorts here in Ohio have been able to extend their season by a week now (and maybe more), both Boyne Highlands and Nub's Nob are still sitting on significant base amounts. The snow was pretty good for March, a little hard, and we had a great time Friday night and all-day Saturday on the snow. Below are two of my favorite pictures from the trip. Now comes the long wait until the next season begins...

Coming off of a banked-corner on the boardercross course at Nub's Nob.



Looking up the superpipe in quiet reflection on a great snowboarding
season, sadly coming to an end. Then again, there's always next year...

As much as I hate to say it, this weekend at Boyne will almost certainly bring the 2007-2008 snowboarding season to a close. Tomorrow, I'm going into work a little early (after grabbing a Beaner's -- I will never refer to it as Biggby -- coffee of course) so that we can get on the road around noon and get to Petoskey in plenty of time for some night boarding at Boyne Highlands. We'll be spending most (if not all) of Saturday at Nub's Nob, a place we've only experienced at night with limited access to the terrain.

In an event that brings back memories of my college days, Brian invited me over to watch the first round of the NCAA basketball tournament. I'll get there Thursday evening and plan on watching games pretty much all of Friday, hopefully getting to Winking Lizard at some point for food and beers. If everything works out (and I'm not too hungover), there might be another fun stop on my way home, but I'll leave that surprise for later.

If you haven't had a chance to check out Nine Inch Nails newest CD, Ghosts I-IV, I highly recommend doing so. It is a completely instrumental piece with 36 tracks and has become a regular on my headphones at work whenever I run out of podcasts to listen to. It's available exclusively online for the moment, either directly from the artist, or via the Amazon store.

2008 Glass City Beer Fest - Friday night, Cheryl and I made our way downtown to the Erie Street Market for the 2nd Annual Glass City Beer Fest. This was a charitable event supporting the Hemophilia Foundation and The Arc of Lucas County. Beers from 25 different breweries were available, and each ticket bought 12 3-4oz tastings. The best of the night had to be the Breakfast Stout (Imperial Stout) from Founder's Brewery out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Below is my official tasting order for the night, with my top three italicized:

#1 - Hoppin Frog - Hoppin to Heaven IPA
#2 - New Holland Brewery - Dragon's Milk (Oak Aged Stout)
#3 - Bell's Brewery - Third Coast Beer (Light Pale)
#4 - Magic Hat - #9 (Apricot Pale Ale)
#5 - Goose Island Brewery - Matilda (Belgian Style Ale)
#6 - Founder's Brewery - Breakfast Stout (Imperial Stout)
#7 - Jolly Pumpkin Brewery - Oro D Calaboza (Golden Ale)
#8 - Bear Republic - Red Rocket (Amber)
#9 - Barrelhouse Brewery - Cumberland Pale Ale
#10 - Ommegang - Hennepin (Saison)
#11 - Avery Brewing - Kaiser (Marzen)
#12 - Stone - Pale Ale
#13 - Maumee Bay Brewing Company - Steam (California Common) <-- AWFUL taste!

On an totally separate note, I just wanted to send my congratulations to Ryan and Renee who had a baby boy, Braden, this week. I hope to stop down there soon and see the newest addition to their family.

Snowshoe 2008 - This past weekend, my family made our way across Ohio and into the heart of West Virginia for a weekend of snowboarding at the Snowshoe Mountain resort. I've said it before and I'll say it again: it doesn't get much better on the east coast than Snowshoe. We've gone there three times now, and every time it snows a lot. They didn't have their halfpipe built this year, but all-in-all it was a pretty fun trip.


This Friday is the 2nd annual Glass City Beer Fest in downtown Toledo. Cheryl and I will be attending once again this year, with all proceeds going to benefit the Northwest Ohio Hemophilia Foundation and The Arc of Lucas County. Also, dad surprised me with news that we will be heading to Boyne the following weekend in what will likely be the last time on snow for the season, so I have that to look forward to as well.