Beer God's Week 2012 at Eli Cannon's Tap Room

In just a few short days Eli Cannon's Tap Room will kick off their highly anticipated summer celebration of all things beer: Beer God's Week. Last year was a success- good weather, great beer, and great food. This year the primary organizer (and bar manager) JD Crandall is looking to make the week even better with a heightened focus on a variety of high-quality craft beers. Beer God's week starts the evening of 8/6 with events taking place every night until the luau on 8/6. Tickets are $35 in advance, $40 the day of, available at the bar.

Loosely following the format from last year, the Beer God's week will kick off with a beer fest on Monday featuring beer such from Brooklyn, Thomas Hooker, Stone, Oskar Blues, Southern Tier, Narragansett, Blue Point, and many more breweries. During the fest you can wander to your heart's content around the back of Eli Cannon's, taking in the great ambiance while talking to the various brewery representatives, and (obviously) drinking tons of great beer. For a good view of the beer fest, check out Jere Adametz's photographs taken at last year's event.

On Tuesday the event is the Dogfish Days of Summer. This is a mega tap-takeover that showcases the line up of Dogfish Head brews. There will be 20+ beers on tap including the hard to find Faithful and Positive Contact. This Delaware-based brewery has been brewing up high-quality beer since 1995 and runs everything from ultra-hoppy IPAs to smooth and fruity Belgian-style ales. No one should miss the opportunity to taste some of Dogfish Head's rare beers on tap, as a chance like this doesn't come along often.

Speaking of rare chances, Wednesday night will be a real treat for beer lovers. Called "Are You Firkin Kidding Me!?!" this event will focus completely on casked beer. This is beer that is packaged not in kegs or bottles, but wooden casks. The outcome of this is a warmer beer that (like a scotch) takes on some of the complex texture of the wood that houses it. There will be a few casks available including two from Relic (a great up-and-coming-brewery- featured here by me): their Houdstooth and Clockwork. Also available will be Blue Point Rastafarye and Thornbridge Kipling Pale Ale. Whether you are a beer pro or novice, no craft beer fan's experience will be complete without trying a few pints from a cask.

Thursday night will be the Bartender Challenge Night. This is a night to try new and delicious beverages served up by your favorite Eli Cannon's barkeeps. Besides an opportunity to taste genius from the bar, bartenders from the past will also make an appearance to serve you booze. This event combines the riotous excitement of a party with friends, with the tinge of nostalgia and should be fun for everyone from mug club members to a brand new visitor.  

The festivities of  Beer God's Week comes to a close with a bang on Friday with the Kona Luau. This night will feature a full array of beer from Kona Brewing Company, a special luau menu, and NoRA cupcakes made from Kona beer. While drinking beer from Hawaii and enjoying the special menu, you may think that you're sitting on a lawn chair on a tropical beach, and not just outside a great bar in Middletown, CT. The luau last year was a great success with wood smoked BBQ matched perfectly with Kona's light, refreshing, beers, and I'm sure that this year will be made that much better with the addition of cupcakes.

JD Crandall has spent a lot of time at Eli Cannon's and also does a ton of beer brewing himself, so he is the go-to person for planning an event that focuses on great beer. How lucky for beer drinkers everywhere that next week we will have five whole nights of such events! If you want more information on the Beer God's Week, be sure to swing into Eli Cannon's and ask what's on your mind. Be sure to follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Blogger to get coverage of the events next week, and general information on local CT beer happenings!