Short’s Anni Party XII turned the quiet town of Bellaire into party central with a celebration of awesome beer, food, and music shared with awesome people.
Short’s Anni Party XII Newbies
I’m not sure what rock we’ve been living under for the past 12 years. For some reason, we were completely oblivious to the Short’s Anni Party. Our buddy Jeff celebrates his birthday on April 30th, so we are typically doing some type of beer trip around that time. This year, we discovered that the Short’s Anni Party was on Jeff’s birthday, so we bought tickets and made plans to head up to Bellaire. A party veteran told us to get in line early. We dinked around town for a bit and got in line about an hour before the gates opened. Our spot in line was just fine.
However, in less than 30 minutes, the queue was wrapping around the block. Thank you party veteran for the helpful newbie tip.
Your ticket gets you a couple of drink tokens. You are going to want to get more and Short’s has you covered. Token vendors moved through the line to get you hooked up with more tokens in advance of the gates opening. They have orange flags which made them easy to find.
With our tickets scanned, we headed into the Anni Party. The handy-dandy cup holder was a life-safer, especially as we moved into the evening. Our first order of business was to grab a table. While the full Short’s complex, including the newly opened taproom extension, had seating options; we opted for an outdoor table near the music tent.
The selection of beers at the party was outstanding. As you would expect from Short’s they had a wide variety of styles and many intriguing ingredients. “Melt My Brain” was a gin and tonic golden ale with delicious tang and dry finish. “Powder Blue” was a damn fine IPA laced with blueberries. The winner at our table for the “Awesomer” beer award was “Tip ta Tip”. This bourbon beauty combines Funky Budda’s orange gruit with Short’s Strong Ale with Cherries.
There were multiple stations to fill your beer cup with lots of hard working folks slinging beers like crazy. The lines got long, but we shortly learned that you need to get a full cup instead of a small pour to avoid the sad “I have no beer” face.
Don’t Forget to Fuel
A good party requires good food and the Short’s Anni Party provided multiple options including paella from Man and Pan, smoky goodness from Cordwood BBQ, weiners from Woj, and pretzels by Terri.
Be More Awesomer
The Anni Party theme and Joe Short’s message during his state of the brewery speech was “Be more awesome!” Just like Mr. Miyagi taught Daniel in the Karate Kid, “In Okinawa, all Miyagi know two things: fish and karate”, Joe Short and his fantastic crew at Short’s Brewing know beer. Joe gave a heartwarming speech, noting the brewery’s sales expansion beyond the state’s borders, appreciation for his family, including his extended family at Short’s Brewing, and a challenge to everyone present to be more awesome.
With the help from Seth Bernard and members of the Crane Wives and Vulfpeck, Joe Short unveiled a song he’d been working for some number of years that he finally completed. This met with a chorus of cheers from the audience.
Speaking of awesome, just look at these awesome people who attended the Anni Party.
And let’s not forget the awesome folks who were working to make the party rock.
The Crane Wives
The music at Short’s Anni Party was energetic and fun. The Crane Wives from Grand Rapids got the party off to a great start. They play folk that rocks by infusing the trademark singer/songwriter genre with electricity. Rich vocal harmonies and a driving rhythm section made for enjoyable listening while sharing beers with friends.
The Go Rounds
After Joe Short’s state of the brewery address, the Go Rounds heated up the music tent. The fellas from Kalamazoo got people shaking and grooving. The Go Rounds stirred up a big bowl of sounds with flavors of pop-rock, rockabilly, and a dash of purple microdot for that extra splash of sass.
Vulfpeck
The beers were flowing and the crowd was in high spirits when Vulpeck appeared. When they started to play, the music tent crammed with people started to bounce. Vulpeck is the mother funkin bomb. They reek with sweet 70’s funk audacity. Apparently Short’s is a big fan of the band as they made a beer called “Compression”. The beer is named and inspired by the Vulpeck Compressor which adds the dazzling pink Himalayan tones to their grooves. Vulpeck dropped a super Thai stick of booty shaking and rump rumbling funk on the crowd. You could not keep from moving your body to the music.
We had a hell of a time at the Short’s Anni Party. Drop by the gallery to see a ton more pictures of this awesome event.
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