August is National Sandwich Month.  In my opinion, a bratwurst sandwich is one of the most flavorful sandwiches that I’ve experienced, especially with grilled onions and peppers.  We’ve had collaboration with Founders Brewery for over a year in our meat department.  Open Acres Founders Brat have been a huge success from the first day that we put them on the shelves.  Open Acres is a brand you can find at Family Fare.  The Open Acres Founders Brat taste delicious because they are made with Founders beer.  That’s right; Founders beer is a significant ingredient in our Open Acres Brats.

We have more than one flavor of brat based on the flavor of Founders beer put into the tasty goodness of this brand.  Founders six packs are featured in this week’s ad in Michigan and available at a great price every day in all Family Fare stores. Founders has become our number one selling craft beer at Family Fare.

One flavor is the Rubaeus brat made with Rubaeus beer.  Rubaeus is a beer made with volumes of raspberries.  Pork products have always taken well to fruit applications.  RateBeer has given this gem a rating of 96.  At one time this beer had limited production but is now available all year long.  Rubaeus has an ABV of 5.7% and has 15 IBUs.

Another brat is made with Founders Dirty Bastard beer.  We sell a significant amount of this Scotch Ale from Founders.  This beer is ruby red in color and is brewed with seven varieties of malts.  This is a flavorful and bold beer with a slight peat and smoke characteristic.  The brat made with this beer can easily hold up to this beer as a pairing.  The ABV is 8.5% and has 50 IBUs.  RateBeer has given this beer an amazing 98 points.  A variant of this beer is Backwoods Bastard with is the Dirty put into bourbon barrels.  Give this variant a try as well.  Very tasty!

All Day IPA is an additional flavor of brat that we offer in the Open Acres brand.  This brand of beer from Founders has been the most successful offering Founders Brewing has.  This beer boasts all the flavor you are looking for in an IPA without the alcohol.  All Day IPA has great aromatics expected from a great IPA and all of the flavor as well.  The ABV is 4.7% with 42 IBUs.  Enjoy your All Day IPA with an Open Acres All Day IPA brat from the grill.

The final Founder Beer in the Open Acres Brat offering is the P.C. Pils.  This is an American Hopped Pilsner beer from Founders.  This beer is clean and crisp, a perfect backyard BBQ beverage.  P.C. has Chinook, Cascade and Centennial hops applied to a pilsner style beer.  The ABV is at 5.5% and the IBUs are 45.  It is a classic style beer done in a delicious manner with the quality expected and delivered by Founders.

Brats and Beer!  Perfect for National Sandwich Month!

Greg VanOverloop, Beer & Wine Specialist

• Started in the Grocery business bagging at D&W in 1975.  Worked at D&W for 30 years in various departments.
• Worked at SpartanNash for 11 years.  Currently the Category Manager for Wine/Beer/Spirits for SpartanNash East.
• Have been a category manager since 1990 and a category manager of beer  since 1997.  CM of wine and spirits since 2007.
• Have travelled extensively which provided the opportunity to taste many foods and beverages from Hong Kong to Caribbean, from California to Maine.
• Love to cook, grill, and bake, snow ski, sail, and read books.    Best baked item – a bourbon pecan pie with rum crust.  Best grilled item – salmon with blueberry onion wine sauce and goat cheese.  Best cooked item – Squash Apple soup with bourbon.  Best ski slope – Go Devil at Keystone.  Best book – Wonder.
• 1 wife, 3 children, 7.3 grandchildren.