Virtual Shot Night

Saturday, May 24th

OK, so I know that I'm all out of order. I owe you all a post on my week in Madison before I even start writing about Grand Rapids. However, I hosted shot night this evening and it turned out pretty well. In an effort to write about it before the details slip away, I want to share it with you.

I signed up for shot night intending to make a bacon bourbon cocktail. When that experiment didn't go as well as I had hoped, I was at a bit of a loss as to what to do about my impending shot night. I decided to go local and feature a Michigan specialty. It wasn't immediately apparent how to make Archway cookies into a shot, so I was left with Vernors and cherries. I did some research on ginger ale drinks and cherry drinks. I went to the liquor store with recipes for both in my pocket, but ended up going a bit off script.

I wandered to a great gourmet shop called Martha's Vineyard after I read their online reviews. The reviewers commented a couple of times about how helpful the staff was, so I put myself in their hands. I explained that I was in town with Spamalot and that we had a weekly drink night. I further explained that I wanted to do something with a local theme and that I was thinking Michigan cherries might be a good one. The staff helped me pick out some cherry products for shot night!

Below are the goodies I picked out along with the "Michigan Cherry Fun Facts" I posted to accompany the drinking. (Shot night as "infotainment".)

Cherry Ginseng Wine (Served Warm - a'la Mulled Wine) from Traverse Bay Winery, Traverse City, Michigan

This one was a surprise hit! I got it as sort of an extra throw in to be different. The bottle suggested serving it warm in the cooler months and I warmed it to make it different than anything else I had on offer. It didn't smell very good, but tasted quite lovely. David Havasi suggested that this would be the perfect apre-ski drink and I think he hit the nail on the head. It really warmed your insides.

Bell's Cherry Stout from Bell's Brewery, Galesburg, Michigan

I knew we had several stout fans in the Spamily, so this one was a natural. I enjoy all the craft beers that Bell's produces (especially the summer brew: Oberon) so I was confident this would be a winner. Bell's produces this brew during the winter months, so I was a little bit lucky to find this one still on the shelf. It had strong coffee and chocolate overtones with a smooth cherry finish. Gurr, Cuz and Tony especially dug this one. At the end of the night there were a couple of bottles of Cherry Stout left over and I happily stuck them in my trunk to be finished off later.

Jason enjoys some Cherry Stout

Cherry Wine from Peninsula Cellars, Traverse City, Michigan

The fellow at Martha's Vineyard specially pointed this one out as a tasty cherry wine. The Michigan tart cherries really stood out in this wine and made it quite enjoyable. I was worried that cherry wine would be overly sweet, but this was enjoyable. I can imagine drinking this wine in the summer time with food from the grill. The crowd enjoyed this one, there was nothing left at the end of the night.

Paula especially liked the cherry wine

Kreik (Cherry) Lambic from Lindemans, Vlezenbeek, Belgium

The only non-native product on offer. I knew, however, how popular the Belgian Lambics are. Sheila Marie adores the raspberry version and lots of folks pick a lambic when we go out to the Flying Saucer or another of the million beer bars. This one didn't disappoint: they were the first bottles empty.

I posted the following fun facts around:

- Michigan Produces 75% of the tart cherries grown in the US and 20% of the
sweet cherries.

- Most of Michigan’s cherries are grown in the Grand Traverse Bay Region (the pinkie finger of the mitten).


- Cherries are high in potassium, vitamin A, vitamin C and beta-carotene.

- Cherries have been shown to reduce arthritis pain and inflammation thanks to their anthocyanins (which are also responsible for the cherry’s red color).

- A cherry pie contains about 250 cherries. That’s roughly 28 pies per tree!

- Cherries were brought to America by Europeans in the 17th century.


- The National Cherry Festival is held each July in Traverse City, MI (the “cherry capital of the world”).



- Most of the cherries grown in Michigan are of the Montemorency variety. Sweet Royal Ann cherries are grown to be made into maraschino cherries.

- Cherries are harvested in late July by shaking the tree and letting the fruit fall onto a canvas laid around the tree’s base.

Everyone seemed to dig my Michigan cherry themed shot night. The last of us were still sitting around on the trunks that line the hallway laughing and talking past 11 o'clock.

Berg, Darryl and Rick enjoying shot night

Special thanks go to my charming wife who, as always, was the source of my good idea. She suggested the cherry theme and was my sounding board. Well done entertaining the folks of Spamalot even from afar.

JV