First, a big thanks to everyone who came out for Memorial Day weekend! We know it was busy here, and we appreciate your business. It was great to see so many happy faces trying out the meads, wines, and new beers.
There’s no three-day weekend this week, but we’ve still got plenty going on out here at the Cellars for the start of June.
Open Mic Thursday
Starting off with tonight – we’ve got Jim and Wanda Curtis in the house for open mic! We’ve recently installed a whole host of new sound equipment to make this event even more lively, and you definitely need to come down and check out the new speakers, soundboard, and more. We’ve loved having Jim and Wanda host our Open Mics, and look forward to a summer full of sound from our favorite friends. Get in on the fun – and get 35% off your howlers and growlers because it is Thirsty Thursday! Music starts around 6PM and goes until we close!
DeDe Alder
DeDe and her magic drums are one of our favorite acts in the tasting room, and she’ll be back on Friday night to delight you. The music will start around 6PM. From humble beginnings, Dede has paved her way on her own experimental, alternative, off the grid musical journey. Dede has picked up her gypsy skills over the years including soulfull singing, raw song-writing, playing percussion of all kinds, dancing, community organizing, and being able to sleep in any location at anytime. Skilled in the art of the Vibraphone, Tambourine, Drumkit, Frame Drum, Snare Drum, Vocals, Word Smithery and much more, she is a versatile performer that can wear many hats, and does.
Her vocal style mixes sweet Irish influence with growling soulfelt jazz sensibilities, a unique combo you can only experience for yourself.
Blake Elliott
Blake Elliott hasn’t been in the tasting room in a while, but she’s back on Saturday night!
Blake Elliott’s signature style is as universal as the types of music she creates. Her writing spans a wide range of genres, covering the scope from jazz to folk to soul and ensuring that even the most discriminating of listeners will enjoy watching her perform. With a vibrant personality that matches those bright red lips, Blake has made her mark on the Michigan music scene with a fervor that’s unceasing.
The fun starts at 6PM on Saturday night – as always, there is no cover for our Friday and Saturday shows.
St. Ambrose in the Wild
Our store locator has over 400 places where you can pick up our wine, still, and draft mead. Check it out! And if you want to see it in your area, let your favorite bar, restaurant, or store know that they should stock up – we’re distributed by Imperial Beverage and available across the great state of Michigan! If you aren’t in Michigan, you can always find our products at VinoShipper.
In Traverse City, we’re available at Taproot Ciderhouse – one of the coolest spots in downtown! Here’s the owner, Jenn, with some St. Ambrose goodies:
Taproot has awesome ciders, and in addition, they have a truly awesome food menu. You won’t be disappointed. One of my top spots to eat in TC, easily.
Hagerty Small Business of the Year
Congratulations to Image360, who won the Hagerty Small Business of the Year award! We were a Top 10 finalist, but alas, didn’t take home the gold. Kirk and Doug still had a good time at the award ceremony:
Thanks for reading, and can’t wait to see you all soon!
It’s Thursday, and that means one … ok, two … ok, ok, it means THREE things this week! We’ve got LuLaRoe coming in for a pop-up boutique in the tasting room and the lawn, with all their leggings and assorted goodies. This is always a hit!
It’s also Thirsty Thursday – which means we’re giving you 35% off your growlers and howlers. Fill up on our new beer, No Frills IPA, or a classic like John Lemon. The choice is yours! May I recommend Violet Femmes, our lavender mint mead that’s only going to be around for a limited time?
And finally, we’ve got Open Mic with Ma and Pa Curtis. They installed some fancy new speakers in the tasting room yesterday that will make you sound awesome! Join the hottest Open Mic in all the land starting at 6PM.
Chloe & Olivia Kimes
The sister duo Chloe and Olivia Kimes will be joining us on Friday night, starting at 6PM. The duo plays a lot of folk, Americana, country and bluegrass on a mix of guitar, mandolin, washboard and harmonica. These talented women look forward to seeing you!
Here’s a little preview:
Alfredo Improv
Alfredo – always a hit – is back to jam with us on Saturday night. The guys will be firing up at 6PM for a night of white hot jams. You’ve seen them before, and you’ll see them again this weekend.
New Summer Hours
It’s time for summer hours! That means we’ll be open to 6PM on Sundays, and we’ll be open to 9PM Monday thru Wednesday, and until 10PM on our three music nights (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday).
And also – exciting times – we’ll be open at 11AM every single day! For you folks getting started on a wine tour or a trip to the Traverse City area from the dunes, we’ll be open before you even stop out for lunch.
These hours take effect starting after Memorial Day!!! (May 30th)
End of Michigan Wine Month
Finally, it’s last call for you to get 30% four awesome wines and meads from the tasting room. When May is over, so is this great deal!
It’s May 17th, and we’re really getting into the swing of summer here at St. Ambrose Cellars. You may have heard some of the big news – we’ve got beer! – and I’m sure you’re excited to come try No Frills IPA, if you haven’t already. This is a limited edition first run – so you’ll want to get out here and grab a glass before it is gone! The men in the back are working hard on adding more delicious beers to our taps, and we’ll have more info on those once they are ready to go.
But there’s other stuff happening too!
Festival Season Has Returned
The return of the sun means the return of the busy festival calendar here in Northern Michigan. As usual, St. Ambrose Cellars will be out and about pouring our favorite beverages at your favorite festivals. We’ve got a couple events lined up in the next two weeks:
Empire Asparagus Festival
One of our favorite events, the Empire Asparagus Festival is this weekend and we’ll be there with XR Cyser and a rotating selection of other meads filling the other three taps. Don’t miss the world famous parade at the Asparagus Festival, it’s a delight. There will also be a pig roast on Friday night, and music from outstanding artists like K. Jones & The Benzie Playboyz throughout the weekend.
Next weekend – Memorial Day Weekend – we’ll be pouring out at Crystal Mountain for their Beer n’ Brat Festival. Roll your self away to Crystal Mountain, turn the page on spring, and work on your night moves with Lookin’ Back, a Detroit-based Bob Seger Tribute Band and some sweet St. Ambrose mead!
As we announced last week, it’s Michigan Wine Month and in honor of this grand occasion we’re offering four of wines and meads at a special 30% discount. These Michigan grown, Michigan made wine and meads will make a great addition to your cellar. Grab our Marsanne Viognier, Dancing Bare, Rose Ambrosia, and 2011 Riesling Reserve at this special discounted price now through the end of the month!
Music This Weekend
Benzie’s home for the best jams is going to host three musical blockbusters again this weekend.
The action kicks off on Thursday with the Famous Curtis band and our Open Mic night. It’s also Thirsty Thursday, so you can take home a growler of your favorite mead or our new No Frills IPA beer for 35% off! It’s a great way to try something new, and stick around to watch the show starting at 6PM with Jim & Wanda Curtis.
On Friday, we’ve got hometown favorites The Feral Cats returning to the tasting room stage. The fur will be flying when these cats get scratching. As always, no cover for our musical performances. Enjoy a glass of wine, mead, or beer and a build your own charcuterie board while they slay you with some tunes.
On Saturday, “Michigan’s darkest ukulele band” – SALDAJE – is back in action. These St. Ambrose favorites are sure to pack the house for another night of mystical music and storytelling. We love when Saldaje makes time for the tasting room, and you won’t want to miss this performance.
$7.77 Draft Meads
If you can’t make it to the tasting room, and you can’t find your favorite drafts on store shelves near you with our store locator, don’t forget that we ship to 37 states through our online store. All draft meads are now just $7.77 (plus shipping) through the web! Our line of wines and meads are also available through the store. Check out the full list here.
May is Michigan Wine Month! The return of sunshine and warmth to the Mitten is also the perfect time to celebrate the incredible amount of great wine that is produced here every year.
At St. Ambrose Cellars, we’re celebrating Michigan Wine Month with special deals on four of wines and meads. These four featured products are 30% OFF in the tasting room through the end of the month.
Dancing Bare Ambrosia
Dancing Bare is a blend of white wine grapes and star thistle honey. At 66% honey and 34% honey, this pyment is a perfect gateway for wine drinkers into the world of mead – and vice versa. This crisp, semi-sweet beverage will make a great addition to your collection.
Rose Ambrosia
A pyment produced from local grapes, hand pressed, and fermented with gallberry honey collected by our bees. Semi-sweet with a refreshing combination of cherry and sweet spice flavors, and a bold, complex, bouquet. Rose Ambrosia is an ideal candidate for a wine slushie – for those of you looking to cool off and still get your fix this summer.
Marsanne Viognier 2011
Come out of your comfort zone and try our Rhone Varietal blend white wine that will take you straight to France. Full bodied with a nutty aroma and a honeyed texture. A unique wine sourced from Michigan grapes.
Another great way to take the edge of the heat this summer is a sangria – and our Marsanne is an awesome base for your summer sangria needs.
Riesling Reserve 2011
A true classic from our lineup, and it’s almost running out! This Riesling is made from fruit grown by the Vans Brothers Farm. The 2011 was a warmer season and allowed us to pick fully ripened fruit that exudes great Riesling flavors with just enough acidity to provide structure to this perfectly balanced wine.
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.
This Saturday we’re hosting (you may have heard) a fundraiser for the Crystal Lake Elementary Odyssey of the Mind team. The team is headed to the World Finals for Odyssey of the Mind, and this is your chance to support these great kids in this worthwhile program.
What is Odyssey of the Mind?
OM is a problem-solving competition. You can learn more about Odyssey of the Mind at their official website.
What’s Going On Saturday?
We’re hosting a fundraiser to help the team with their trip to the World Finals. We will be accepting donations at the door, along with a pop-can drive. Donating to the cause will get you a wristband, which is good for 5% off your bill at the tasting room for the rest of the day and evening.
In addition, we’ll be hosting a Silent Auction. Some of the items available are:
Accidentals signed ukulele!
Apache Trout Gift Card!
Brys Estate wine!
Cherry Republic basket!
Dried Cherries from Northern Organics!
Dinner and a Pie from GT Pie and the State Theater!
Soap from Mother Gypsy Soap!
VIP Tasting at Chateu Chantal!
Musical Performances
Brett Mitchell and Cheryl Wolfram will be playing in the afternoon – Cheryl will start around 2:30 PM, and Brett Mitchell will take the stage around 4PM. Afterwards, Barefoot will be playing in the St. Ambrose Cellars tasting room. Wear your wristband and get 5% off through all these peformances!
In addition, you’ll get to see two performances by the talented Odyssey of the Mind team.
Food
Along with the build-your-own charcuterie boards in the tasting room, you can try the world famous Taco ‘Bout It Food Truck! They’ll be on site during the afternoon for all your taco-related needs.
We hope you’re able to join us for this special day and help send the team off with a bang!
