Arcadia Brewing Company - Cheap Date

This session ale from Arcadia pours a lightly hazy, pale straw color topped with a voluminous cap of white foam. It's well-carbonated, so pour gently and perhaps choose a tall glass to accommodate the head. On the nose, we picked up some intriguing touches of berry, leaning towards strawberries, as well as melon-like overtones. Additionally, look for some inviting tropical fruit notes with a touch of lemony citrus. On the palate, pils malt provides some crackery undercurrents to support the hoppy stars of this show. Being a low-gravity session ale that's dry and well-fermented out, it doesn't need a ton of IBUs – even at a moderate level of 30 the beer has more than enough perceived bitterness to balance the malt and keep this brew definitively on the hoppy side of the road. Look for the hops to deliver prominent flavors of honeydew, light citrus and berry, and hints of tropical fruit along with a bit of earth. Light-bodied with spritely carbonation, this session pale ale is easy-drinking on its own, or will pair nicely with lighter fare. Arcadia suggests scallops & grilled peaches, ahi tuna, salad niçoise, chicken tacos, and sausage & pretzels. Oh, and 1% of Cheap Date's sales support the Kalamazoo River Valley Trail by way of the Kalamazoo Parks Foundation. Cheers to that!

Arcadia was founded in 1996 in Battle Creek, MI, by Tim Suprise and his wife, Mardy. Tim, originally from upstate New York, spent five years in law enforcement before spending another ten in the paper products industry, during which he traveled around the nation and the world visiting paper mills and picking up a taste for locally-produced beers. Deciding it was time for another career change, he jumped into the brewing business, determined to bring locally-made brews to the thirsty residents of Michigan. The Arcadia Brewing Company was founded as a brewery and pub, utilizing an authentic English brick kettle brewing system and open fermentation using English ale yeast. With little money available for an elaborate kitchen, a wood-fired stove was procured – a fateful decision it turns out, as the location is now well known for their wood-fired pizza, as well as BBQ.

By 2014, the Battle Creek location had proven just too small to support the continued growth of the business, so Arcadia opened a second location in Kalamazoo at the abandoned site of a former coal burning power plant. With developmental help from the city, the new brewhouse, restaurant, and beer garden is helping to revitalize the River’s Edge district. In 2016, Jim Lutz, formerly of Flying Dog, and Old Dominion & Fordham breweries, came on board as Arcadia’s president, with Tim retaining his position as CEO. In September 2017, Arcadia made the decision to close its Battle Creek location, which has endured a lot of wear over its two decades of operation. Luckily, Arcadia won't be gone from Battle Creek long; Suprise and his team are expecting to open a new and improved location in the city sometime in mid-2018. For more information on their Kalamazoo and Battle Creek breweries and restaurants, visit arcadiaales.com .