Want to join the circus?
The Mr. Beery’s Bell’s Circus that is, taking place Saturday at the craft beer bar in Sarasota’s Gulf Gate neighborhood. And it also marks the beginning of a chance to win a keg of one of the most sought-after beers in the country, but more on that later.
First, the beer. Twenty-one taps pouring twenty-one different brews from Bell’s Brewery, based in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Some of them have never before been served in Florida:
“I don’t think they’ve seen the light of day outside the state of Michigan,” said Mr. Beery’s owner and craft beer evangelist Mark Tuchman.
Then there’s the circus. Tuchman partnered with the website Dateinreallife.com for the event, which will feature a ladies-only mechanical shark riding competition with local celebrities as judges, a clown, a magician, cotton candy, a dunk tank with the “BMC Guy” and sno-cones that, yes, you can get infused with one of the Bell’s beers.
Mr. Beery’s held a similar “Total Tap Takeover” in January with Cigar City beers, but this time Tuchman wanted to do more, and the website came along with the circus idea.
“We wanted to do something big,” he said. “We didn’t just want beer nerds to come in, sit down quietly and drink good beer.”
Though there will be plenty of opportunity for that. If all goes well, Tuchman hopes to debut the pub’s new cask beer engine, imported from the United Kingdom. And in the engine will be a cask-conditioned firkin of Hopslam, Bell’s hard-to-find double IPA. And on another tap will be a keg of Hopslam.
And a contest starts Saturday in which one lucky customer will win a keg of Hopslam.
Each time a customer buys a Bell’s beer at Mr. Beery’s from Saturday through Friday, May 20, he or she will receive an entry into a raffle for the keg. The drawing will be May 20, and if the winner owns a kegerator, the keg can go out the door. If not, Tuchman said, the winner can hold a party at Mr. Beery’s, along with his or her many new friends, to down the keg. And Tuchman promises there will be plenty of Bell’s on tap during the raffle period, so you can enter as often as your liver – or wallet – can take it.
Here’s the beer list for Saturday:
- Firkin of Cask-Conditioned Hopslam
- Hopslam
- Third Coast Old Ale
- Porter
- Pale Ale
- Kalamazoo Stout
- Hell Hath No Fury
- Harry Magill’s Stout
- Best Brown
- Batch 9,000
- Batch 10,000
- Deb’s Red Ale
- Winter White
- Oarsman
- Expedition Stout
- Amber Ale
- Oberon Ale
- Two Hearted Ale
- Java Stout
- Cherry Stout
- Consecrator
The circus will run from 2 to 6 p.m. The Bell’s beer will flow from 2 p.m. until the pub closes.
Coming up on May 14: Dogfish Head Total Tap Takeover.
Mr. Beery’s
2645 Mall Drive, Gulfgate
(941)343-2854
