Tri-County Times Featured Section - Sunday, November 15, 2020 BEER FEST IN A BAG SATURDAY, JOHN'S PIZZERIA NOV. 21, 2020 LEROY ST. 3-8 P.M. FENTON When life gives you lemons… Find a beer that goes with lemons While I can’t guarantee the historical accuracy of the for Fenton Area Resources & Referral Network, Inc. quote below by Ben Franklin, I can say it was the catalyst (FARR). It was so much fun that we started planning the to our team starting a craft beer festival eight years ago. 2020 event right away. First in Lapeer and then last year in As you’re all likely familiar with anything Fenton, the events have been a great planned in 2020, plans changed. It would way to connect with clients and read- Beer is living have been easy for us to say, “see you next Wes Smith ers — and best of all — raise money for proof that God year,” but that’s not how we operate. View great causes. ‘‘ When the pandemic first hit, our Newspaper Clearly this community agreed. Last loves us and wants team continued to produce newspapers, Group year’s first-ever Bottles, Brews & News us to be happy. informing our neighbors of what was Publisher was a complete sell out, raising $6,000 Ben Franklin ’’ See BEER on 2 2 Sunday, November 15, 2020 BOTTLES, BREWS & NEWS myfenton.com BEER are disappointed (as we know many The idea is to return home and host a munity and support a great cause. Continued from Page 1 of you are too) that we can’t host an mini-beer and wine fest of your own. Speaking of our sponsors, please see happening right in their own in-person craft beer and wine fest in We’d love to see the photos of your their ads herein and patronize their backyard. Some of that reporting told downtown Fenton, we are pleased to celebration. Send them to ecaswell@ businesses. stories of those in need. Given that be able to bring you this alternative. mihomepaper.com. We’ll publish our A special thanks in advance also our craft beer and wine fests have For $30 ticket holders will receive favorites! to all of the volunteers, who will help always benefited a local cause, it a reusable souvenir bag including a We know this community loves to us operate our Beer Fest in a Bag gave us even more incentive to push mixed six pack, souvenir mugs, pret- give back and have fun while doing drive-thru and, of course, our part- forward and find a way to host the zel necklaces and more for two – to so, and the fact that this event is hap- ners in this event FARR, the Fenton event. Plus, if 2020 needs anything – go! Beer Fest in a Bag items can be pening is proof. Ticket sales started Regional Chamber of Commerce and it needs fun. picked up anytime between 3 and 8 to roll in as soon as we announced John’s Pizzeria. By the way, if you’d Through some creative thinking p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21 in the parking the event and our sponsors were like food to go with your drinks, give John’s a call to place a to-go order, the Bottles, Brews & News Beer Fest lot of John’s Pizzeria. Best of all, the eager to jump on board to help us which you can pick up when you in a Bag event was born. While we event will once again support FARR. provide something fun for the com- pick up your Beer Fest in a Bag. I’m partial to the Sandy’s Super Pizza. Tickets are only available in EST. 1947 advance at myfenton.com, the Tri- County Times office, the Fenton Regional Chamber of Commerce or John’s Pizzeria. Call Emily Caswell at 810-513-8501 with any questions. Thank you for your support – we hope to see you back in-person next year. Until then, we’ll see you on Nov. 21 at the drive-thru. Cheers! BEER FEST IN A BAG FEATURING: • Griffin Claw — Mr. Blue Sky • Blackgrass Hard Cider Proudly supporting the — Cheap Cran Cherry Key Fenton community for more than 74 years. • Essentially Geared Wine Co. — Bubbles • Lansing Brewing Company — Angry Mayor Watch for our Holiday • Atwater — Mango Seltzer Hours • Grand Armory Brewing 134 N. Leroy St. Ste 1, Fenton MI 48430 | 810.629.7936 | www.SawyerJewelers.com Company — Nutter Your Hours: Monday 10-6 | Tuesday 10-6 | Wednesday 10-6 | Thursday 10-7 | Friday 10-6 | Saturday 10-5 Business myfenton.com BOTTLES, BREWS & NEWS Sunday, November 15, 2020 3 FARR Fenton Area Resources and Referral Network, Inc. Do you know anyone who’s strug gled to make a rent payment on time or pay a utility bill during a difficult time in their lives? If so, there’s help available through made up of more than 19 churches, the Fenton Area Resources and plus community groups, and lead- Referral Network, Inc. (FARR). The ers interested in serving the needs organization is proud to be the non- of others within the boundaries of profit partner at the second annual the Fenton, Lake Fenton and Linden Bottles, Brews & News. Due to CO- school districts. VID-19, this year’s event will take on a The goal of FARR is to coordinate Stuff the Bus! different format offering a Beer Fest these groups so that people are re- HELP YOUR NEIGHBORS IN NEED AND DONATE in a Bag. Ticket holders can pick up ferred to appropriate services for help TO THE STUFF THE BUS COMMUNITY FOOD SHARE PROGRAM. their goods anytime from 3 to 8 p.m. with housing, medical or counseling or FARR, in partnership with the Fenton High School Alumni Association, the Fenton Saturday, Nov. 21 at John’s Pizzeria in emergency needs. Being a central hub Kiwanis Club, the United Methodist Church and St. Jude’s Episcopal Church are Fenton. keeps accountability in place. coming together this year to make sure families in need have food during the “FARR is very excited to be part- Many of the churches involved Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. nering once again with View News- have their own food pantries, thrift Donations can be made by going to the FARR website at farrnetwork.org or at one paper Group,” said FARR Executive of the drop boxes around town. Nonperishable food, cash or VG’s receipts can be stores, access to infant and children’s Director Dawn Placek. “We feel donated at VG’s on North LeRoy St. from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21 and at needs, homeless support programs fortunate that the View team and State Savings-Main Branch noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22. our partners found a way to keep through Genesee County’s Fam- Remember, if you or someone you know is in need of food for the holidays the event alive in a challenging year. ily Promise, support for addictions please go to the FARR website and register for food. As with last year, money raised at through Al coholics Anonymous and Bottles, Brews & News will help us Narcotics Anonymous, and more. continue our mis sion of serving this Groups, such as the Fenton Lions community.” Club, can help buy eyeglasses for Last year’s first-ever event raised people in need who don’t have insur- $6,000 for FARR. ance. Since its start in 1990, FARR has Local police departments have evolved in many ways. Today, not a shared their appreciation of having thrift store or an office location, it’s one group like FARR to go through a central hub of accessible resources when they run across people in need. DO YOU, OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW, NEED HELP? Go to farrnetwork.org to apply for assistance. If you want to give or get involved with FARR call (810) 750-6422. 4 Sunday, November 15, 2020 BOTTLES, BREWS & NEWS myfenton.com Corks vs. Screws A look at wine tops It’s a ceremony as old as wine itself: SYNTHETIC CORKS SCREW TOPS popping the cork on your favorite One solution is using synthetic Some daring wineries are even bottle. corks that don’t produce TCA, and experimenting with a new type of While natural corks are certainly the hence won’t cause the wine to spoil. top: the screw-on variety. most traditional way to seal a wine The upside is that you can still pop While, admittedly, this takes bottle, they’re not the only one. the cork on the bottle, which always away some of the traditional feels like the right way to open a wine. pomp and pageantry of popping DRAWBACKS But synthetic corks have their prob- the top on a bottle of wine, it is The big downside of using natu- lems, too. Some types of them can be incredibly convenient and seals ral corks is that they can sometimes very difficult to pull and even harder the bottle perfectly. It’s a tried- cause the wine to spoil. A chemical to put back into the neck. Some are and-true way to deliver a proper called trichloroanisole (TCA) oc- made of material so dense that it’s drink. casionally occurs, making the wine tough to get a corkscrew pushed into Wineries in Australia and New smell like mold and ruining the entire them. Zealand have been the quickest bottle. The good news is that synthetic corks to adopt screw tops, while Ameri- Fortunately, there are solu- are improving all the time.