Colorado and Workout Recap

I spent all of last week in beautiful Snowmass, Colorado!

I was there for a science conference and had so much fun. I had never been to Colorado before and it was incredible.

There was beer,

hiking,

and new science friends.

Between all of the mountain excursions, there was plenty of science.

I learned so much and got plenty of great ideas on directions to take my projects. The entire conference was the essence of 'work hard, play hard.'

And that we did.

On the last day of the conference, I got a chance to go out to the Maroon Bells, one of the most photographed places in Colorado. It was stunning.

I also saw a yellow-bellied marmot. Cute!

But I'll be honest, the altitude KILLED me! I only ran twice when I was there and was gasping for breath after just 0.10 of a mile on the first day. My pace dropped and it was rough. I could feel myself getting used to it after a while but still, yikes!

(shout out to my DM girls!!)

Now that I'm back in Michigan, prelim studying is taking top priority. But I have an exciting announcement to make later this week regarding my next race! For now, this week I'll be tackling the first week of this.

And thankfully, I'm back at sea-level!

Have you ever been to Colorado?

Michigan Summer Beer Festival!

Last Saturday I went to the annual Michigan Summer Beer Festival.

It was AWESOME.

The festival was held in Riverside Park in Ypsilanti. It was sooo incredibly hot that day-- about 95-- but we took the city bus there and immediately dove in.

The festival ran from 1-6pm and we definitely got our money's worth. After getting past check-in, we received 15 wooden drink tokens, a tasting cup, and a map and checklist of all of the breweries featured.

With over 450 different Michigan brews available, we definitely had our work cut out for us! We started with a Batch 9,000 from Bell's Brewery.

This beer was super rich and roasty-- NOT the best way to start out a hot day of drinking! So I immediately retreated to my good ol New Holland Brewery with an Old Farmhouse Mad Hatter. Refreshing!

Later we hit up the "back forty" area of the park which held the Short's brewery table. It was there I fell in love with Short's Strawberry Short's Cake.

The beer was fruity but not too sweet and oh so crisp. True love.

I felt myself gravitating towards the fruit beers all day long because it was so hot! The beer festival did a great job of providing water taps all over the park and I made sure to hydrate as much as possible.

We ran into SO many grad student friends! It was a packed event and everywhere I turned I knew someone.

By the end of the festival, we were all hot, sweaty and tipsy. I had an insane amount of fun and definitely will be coming back next year.

I did pretty well too-- I managed to hit up New Holland, Short's, Founder's, Right Brain, Dark Horse, Crooked Tree, Bell's, Brewery Vivant, Hopcat, Arcadia, and more breweries!

Michigan truly is the great beer state. :)

Arbor Brewing Company IPA Tasting

Last night I had the fortune of attending Ann Arbor Brewing Company's IPA tasting event. It was in a word, perfect.

ABC is a great brew pub and restaurant located right in downtown Ann Arbor, just 4 blocks from my house. When some fellow grad student friends suggested checking out the IPA tasting this month, I was all game.

The tasting ran from 7 to 9pm, but people started lining up at 6:30! We grabbed our tickets and hopped into line.

Upon entering, we were greeted with rooms full of different styles of IPAs, all microbrews, ranging from the local ABC brews to other breweries across Michigan and the US. For $25, you get unlimited tasting of all of the beers and a free appetizer bar! We quickly began tasting and taking notes on all of the great IPAs.

After the first round of drinks, we loaded up at the appetizer bar. The fare was great: veggies, cheese, periogies, fresh hot pretzels and lots of meat-friendly options too. The food was key to keeping our alcohol levels low-- especially at an IPA event!

Later, we went into the cellar where the strongest and hoppiest beers were being poured. I got to try some totally wacky sweet IPAs (ew) and of course had a few tasters of my favorite high-gravity, Bell's Hopslam. It's in the cellar where we began to get the most inebriated :)

The best part of the whole night though were the awesome pourers behind the beers! They were all super friendly, had great stories and loved talking about beer. Everyone's favorite pourer is Roger, he tells incredible stories AND is a microbiologist to boot! When Dave told him I was a microbiology student, Roger let me come behind the pouring table for a photo!

Sadly, our 2 hours went by so quickly! I have to say that the beer I was feeling the most last night was New Holland's Imperial Mad Hatter. Not surprising, as I love New Holland, but I was won over by the imperial blend!

The night ended with more joking with the pourers, a raffle, and general revelry. I had a blast and ended up running into so many grad student friends! I can't wait to go back next month.

Have you ever been to a beer tasting?