After the excitement of our fundraiser and music last weekend, we’re back again for another weekend of fun here at St. Ambrose. It’s been a chilly start to the week but it seems like the temperature is rising a bit, and this weekend looks like an absolutely gorgeous time to be out on the lawn with a glass of mead and some good friends.
On Tap
Not many changes to the tap list this week. We’re still pouring our spring seasonal “Cool Breeze” lavender and mint mead, as well as the new trio of springtime wines – Secret Beach, Pinot Noir Riesling, and 2016 Pinot Grigio.
The one change to the list is the return of our Orange Vanilla mead for a limited engagement, replacing the dearly departed (for now) Spirit of ‘67 cranberry hibiscus mead.
In the Tasting Room
Escaping Pavement
Escaping Pavement joins us on Friday at 6PM. Here’s a clip from their bio:
From Detroit to Pasadena, to the high seas and then back to Detroit; it’s only when singer/songwriter duo Emily Burns and Aaron Markovitz escaped the neon blitz and car-strewn concrete of the city that they discovered how well their music could bloom when they brought it back to the roots. There is so much life and vitality in the Americana-folk journeys of Escaping Pavement, sprung entirely from an acoustic guitar, a mandolin, and two voices. Fiery passion, wistful reflection, awestruck adventurousness, and heartstring-plucking poignancy, the duo discovers, through song, the range of human emotion and celebrates the purities of what we’ve left behind for the artifices of tech trends, drug stores and cacophonous city centers.
Jen Sygit is a regular here at the tasting room, and we’re super pumped to have her back on Saturday night at 6PM.
A gifted vocalist and masterful songwriter, Jen Sygit has a golden ear and a deft touch on guitar. Her smooth, sultry voice brings just the right timbre to traditional ballads, acoustic blues, torch songs, country music or lighthearted folk tunes. To supplement her solid acoustic guitar playing, Jen often turns to her open back banjo or soprano ukulele performing mountain melodies and timeless jazz tunes further emphasizing her vocal dexterity. A countrified girl with a generous heart, Jen’s songwriting is personal and heartfelt, but always expressed with a universal appeal. Whether writing about the country roads of her childhood or about watching families send their sons and daughters off to war, Jen Sygit represents “the music of front porch America.”
Jen in action:
Bayou in the Barn
Ok, it isn’t this weekend, but the posters and ads started going up this week for Bayou in the Barn – the spiritual successor to the popular Bayou on the Bay festival in Frankfort! This year, we’ll be hosting three amazing zydeco acts in our barn here at St. Ambrose Cellars. In addition, all the amazing food that goes along with the festival and our meads and wines and beers (yes! Beer!) will be available.
This evening fundraiser celebrates the cultural connections that Louisiana and Michigan share through music, food, and community leisure. National and local musicians perform blues and zydeco music, while Louisiana cuisine is made from scratch with Michigan ingredients. Ticket prices include admission to the event and auctions- food, alcohol, beverages and merchandise will be available for purchase (EARLY BIRD PRICES END JULY 5th). Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs, blankets, and dancing shoes. Yard games including bocce ball, cornhole, and disc golf will be available. All funds raised will benefit Grow Benzie’s community center, youth and educational programs (www.GrowBenzie.org).
We’ll have a ton more on this event as the date gets closer! You can buy advance tickets for this great night here:
As always, you can check out the 400+ (and growing!) number of stores that carry our products at our store locator.
This week we wanted to feature a great store in the Metro Detroit area – Steve’s Party Store has been carrying our mead for some time now and they do a great job introducing new customers to the wonderful world of mead! If you are in the Detroit region, a stop to Steve’s is a must to check out the huge selection of craft beverages available.
The secret of St Ambrose Cellars is starting to spread! I had never heard of this Winery/Meadery and I pride myself on knowing and going to as many of the Tasting Rooms in the region as I can get to. The charm and yet the, I’ll call it … “Kirky-ness” of this place won me over nearly instantly.
I will admit, I did undercover work before I became the Tasting Room Manager. I pulled in the parking lot not sure what to expect and ended up with a great tasting experience, glasses of wine and mead, and a cheese and meat platter. There was a band playing in the barn and even a bake sale!
The entire drive back to Traverse my mom, good friend Becky, and I just could not stop talking about that bake sale, we still talk about it! We had such a wonderful time and even now when I hear Becky talk about where I work she gets this twinkle in her eye, after working here for a few months I see it in nearly every customer when they leave.
The welcoming feeling and just love that everyone has for St Ambrose Cellars is infectious. St Ambrose truly is as sweet as tupelo honey, and I look forward to getting to know the loyal customers and introducing more people to this amazing spot that has been a secret to me until now.
Memorial Day weekend is upon us, and with it, the unofficial beginning of summer. We’ve got plenty going on for the extended weekend, so let’s cut to the chase!
Memorial Day Hours
First order of business – we’re going to be rocking some extended hours over the weekend. As seen above, we’ll be open late and on Memorial Day to serve all your meads.
New Frisbees!
If you like flying discs, we have got a treat for you! These beauties are available now in the tasting room. We have a Pulsar disc (ideal for Ultimate Frisbee) and an Innova Roc disc to add to your disc golf collection. These come in a crazy variety of colors and we only have a limited supply for this first run – so you better come down and grab one quick.
Alfredo Improvisational Quartet Returns
The prodigal sons return for another Friday night special in the tasting room. Fresh off their roaring set at the John Lemon release party and the release of their new CD, Alfredo will be in the tasting room from 6-9 PM once again. Refresh yourself on the history of the band with our post from last month!
Crystal Mountain Beer n’ Brat Festival
St. Ambrose returns to the always enjoyable Crystal Mountain Beer n’ Brat event on Saturday. Enjoy a beautiful day and chow down with some of your favorite brewers. We will be there all day to serve your beautiful faces. More information available here.
Non-Alcoholic “Sasparilla”
Did you know we have a non-alcoholic option on our taps? For all your DD’s and people who just plain love root beer, we’ve got this tasty option available every day.
New Shirts
The tasting room mavens have cooked up some great new merch designs lately. Time to refresh your St. Ambrose gear with one of the fashionable shirts seen above. We’ve got plenty, stop by the tasting room this weekend and try some out.
We’re in a period of exciting growth here at St. Ambrose Cellars. It seems like every day we see a new location with our mead pop up on Untappd or leave a comment somewhere on the web. It really makes our head spin to think about how far our humble beverages have spread.
Around the Grand Traverse Bay area we have recently added some new locations to the lineup. We wanted to take just a few moments to let you know about these great places!
The Coho
320 Main St, Frankfort, MI 49635
Located in the heart of downtown Frankfort, The Coho Cafe is back just in time for summer and offering up the St. Ambrose juice along with their own classics. Check out their website for a sampling of the deliciousness that awaits you.
Villa Marine Bar
228 Main St, Frankfort, MI 49635
Right down the street in Frankfort, we’ve got the Villa Marine Bar which has added a selection of our draft meads to their roster. If you’re looking for a relaxing spot to have a drink or three in Frankfort, Villa Marine has got your back. We’re happy to add them to the lineup and they’d love to see your smiling faces.
What about meeeee?
If you’re looking for St. Ambrose and you don’t happen to be in Frankfort, you are still in luck. We’ve got a handy store locator right here that features over 200 Michigan locations that carry our products. You can sort it by which of our lines they carry. This list includes both party stores and restaurants/bars. And if you can’t find something close to you, just ask your local establishments! We work with a statewide distributor that your local store owners can work with to get our products. If you aren’t in Michigan, we also list all of our products for sale via the web in our store.
Our own Bill Ward was recently elected the president of our neighboring village, Honor, Michigan. We’re pretty proud of our team here at St Ambrose and Sleeping Bear Farms. We have so many passionate, intelligent & community minded folks on our roster. We’ve got high school sports coaches, community theater actresses, volunteers, festival organizers, after school specialists, teachers, advance degree holders, musicians, master gardeners, and of course bee whisperers. But Bill is our first president.
Bill moved here two years ago from St Clair Shores, Michigan, after retiring from special education, specifically, working with autistic individuals. He joined our ranks and that determination to make an impact keeps shining out from him. We see you Bill! In his ‘spare time’ he tries to “garden & fish as much as possible”.
The village of Honor elected him in a nearly unanimous victory, after a shake up with the previous leadership. Ever humble and ready to get his boots dirty, Bill is looking forward to moving forward to helping restore the village legacy that is small but mighty. Around here Bill is known for helping where he’s needed. Sometimes that means he’s on the road making deliveries and other times it means he’s helping out in production. Wherever we find him, his positive attitude and gracious smile brighten up our days. So thank you Mr. President, and congratulations. If your reputation here is any indication, you are sure to be an inimitable asset to your village and the greater community.
Thank Goodness it’s Friday! It’s a snow globe kind of day here in the tasting room! The big red barn looks like a postcard and the light is positively radiant~. Tonight we’ve got Giniker playing jazz tunes from 6-9 with the sweet melodious voice of Carie Fowler brought to fullness with the accompaniment of true talents, Steve Stargardt on keyboard & Mike Davis on the big brass sax. If you’re feeling swanky, come on in for a pour from tonights tapster’s, Dawn & Abby.
With Puxatawney Phil forecasting an early spring, February is off to a good start here in the northlands. We at St Ambrose are feeling the fever rising and have our boots on for you to come in from the cold and put a little fire in your belly.
Giniker Jazz tonight 6-9pm
Spend your Big Game Pre-Party with us from 12-5 and enjoy 10% off our 16.9 ounce bottles of draft mead (to go only) and enter to win a T-shirt (Enter all weekend, winner selected Sunday, you don’t have to be present to win but you must enter in person!)
Fat Tuesday (February 9): FREE Pazcki with the purchase of any draft mead, $2 drafts, AND game night! We’re staying open an extra hour (12-7) and we’ve got Apples to Apples & Cards Against Humanity.
Women’s Wellness Wednesday on February 10 from 6-8 pm a night full of chocolate and self- love, good eats & drink features
EVERY “Thirsty” Thursday~ refills on Growlers & Howlers for 35% off
Saturday 2/13 you’ll find Team St Ambrose hanging out at TC Microbrew Fest from 3-10pm
The Cabin Fever Artist Talk #2 at Oliver Arts Center in Frankfort tonight from 5:30-7 featuring hometown hero Peter Payette would be a great way to start your weekend before heading over here for music. http://oliverartcenterfrankfort.org/. And our friends at Crystal Mountain entice us all with their locals only spa specials on Mondays & Tuesdays through March http://www.crystalmountain.com/specials/locals-only-spa-specials.
So, Bee kind, enjoy all the goodness, drink responsibly & strap on your snow shoes and live out the question we all hear “What is there to do here in the winter?”.
