I am putting this out there now so you are aware and can plan accordingly. Jon and I need to get back and ride some sweet OHIO Ray's goodness. It's been 3 or 4 years! And, what has also been 3 years too long is drinking oh so delicious "Alberta Clipper" brew from Great Lakes Brewery. It's a tasty dark chocolate raspberry porter beer. BEST either of us have ever had (though we are in the process of making our first raspberry porter home brew -- it's fermenting now and was made in memory of the Alberta Clipper). You wonder how good it could have been if I actually remember it. Well, there was a fine line between appreciating its succulence and being overly happy... I musta achieved that tight rope walk with success! A tad o' headache but no other after-effects.
I emailed Great Lakes and they plan to brew the Clipper with an anticipated kegging date sometime in February. They had it for the women's weekend when we were there, and that was mid-February. I want to avoid the women's weekend in Ohio which is Valentine's Day weekend. So far, it's me and Jon, and Krud and Meggles. The preferred weekend to go is Friday Feb. 7th - Sunday Feb. 10th, but it depends whether the Clipper is on tap yet. If it's not on tap by the 7th, we will head there on the 21st. It's an 8-hour drive. We may start the drive on Thursday night and get 4 or 5 hours out and hotel it then get up and drive the rest Friday morning so we can ride Friday afternoon and all day Saturday. We will probably not ride on Sunday but rather start our drive back home Sunday morning.
You may wonder why we're going to drive 8 hours when we can drive 3 1/2 and hit the MKE Ray's. Well, it's better in Ohio! It's awesome to have the MKE Ray's, but you have to experience the Ohio venue. It's larger and the obstacles are different. Heck, the cross county loop is amazing and much longer than the MKE one. Makes sense -- bigger facility.
So, there's the plan thus far. The more the merrier! Stay tuned for more details as Great Lakes reveals their Alberta Clipper tapping schedule!
And Bishes, I plan to go to MKE Rays for the Women's Weekend March 7th. Mark your calendar!