Michigan Football: The Beer Drinking Man’s Guide to the Michigan State Game
Anyone who thought at the beginning of the season that Michigan football would be favored against Michigan State (and favored by seven no less!) was either lying or dumb. The Spartans came into the season a top five team that was carrying the flag for Big Ten Bruise ’em Up Football.
Michigan Wolverines
Even more so than Ohio State, Michigan State has been the rival that has embarrassed Michigan thoroughly over the past few years. It wasn’t just that the Wolverines were losing, it was the way in which they were losing.
.
. Those games were baby seal clubbing style beatdowns.
Devin Gardner was never the same after the 2013 contest in which it almost seemed like his offensive line actually hated him as much as Jay Gruden hates RGIII. For God’s sake, Dave Brandon sacrificed a home game against the Spartans during realignment, setting up away games against MSU and Ohio State last year.
To top everything off though, was the apology. Sticking a railroad stake in an opponent’s field is a weird idea, but nothing that a head coach should publicly apologize for. Especially after the Spartans ate Michigan’s lunch during the game AND Mark Dantonio mocked the school and coach Hoke after the game. Peak softness.
Things look a little different now, and I’m guessing that no matter what happens on Saturday, there won’t be any apologies after the game coming from Jim Harbaugh.
That was a long preamble for a beer piece, but context is important here.
It’s going to be a cloudy, possibly rainy day in Ann Arbor with a high of 50 degrees and a low of 29. Given the 3:30 p.m. ET start, that means it’ll probably be somewhere in the 40’s during the game itself.
This game is an occasion the likes of which Ann Arbor hasn’t seen in a while, and given the weather, Saturday calls for a robust, aggressive celebration beer. The nod this week goes to Arbor Brewing Company’s 20th Anniversary Sour Barleywine.
Oct 3, 2015; College Park, MD, USA; Michigan Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh during pregame warm up for the game against the Maryland Terrapins at Byrd Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports
Ann Arbor pride!
Considering the fact that this is the only game against a team from the state of Michigan on the schedule, we can’t just lord Michigan’s beer superiority over an out-of0state squad. Thus, we’ll stay close to home. Like really close to home. Like East Washington St. and S Forth St. close.
Arbor Brewing has a good—if not great—permanent selection of beers, but their rotating and celebration collection of beers is consistently outstanding. The 20th anniversary may just be the best beer they’ve ever crafted. Nothing but the best for this game.
A word of warning before we get too far: At 8.3 alcohol by volume, this beer may be dangerous to anxiety-drink. Normally that wouldn’t be a concern, but something tells me this game is going to produce a hell of a lot of anxiety if it’s close. If there’s one thing I learned from the 2013 OSU game, it’s that close, back-and-forth games with hated rivals can make a six pack disappear from right under your nose.
It’s a sour barleywine beer, so it has a lot going on. It’s easy to mistake for a particularly hoppy IPA at first. 20th boasts a whopping 95 IBUs, which is a measurement of how bitter a beer is, essentially. To put that in perspective, Bell’s Two Hearted Ale has an IBU count somewhere around 60. That said, the bitterness doesn’t overwhelm the flavor: it’s surprisingly floral and bright for a sour, which doesn’t offset the bitterness so much as it compliments it. The flavor combination makes a lot of sense.
Then things get weird. Good-weird, that is. Because it’s a relatively rarely seen barleywine sour, the barley takes over. There’s not quite enough floral or citrusy notes to make the transition from sour to barleywine awkward, which is quite an accomplishment. A sweeter, earthy flavor profile wipes the tartness off your palate, and you’ll understand why I would recommend this beer on a cold, cloudy day.
The sweetness and earthiness come in about equal measure until it reminds you that it’s a sour at the very tail end of the aftertaste. Not many beers like this can leave you feeling like your tongue is clean after you sip it. This beer is complex from start to finish.
Probably like Saturday’s game.
This beer is the pride of Ann Arbor, and trust me, East Lansing doesn’t have anything like this it can boast about. Win, lose, or draw, this is the perfect beer to get you through the game and into the night.