Upland Brewing and Oliver Winery hosted their first “Sours After Hours” event at the Bloomington brew pub Monday night. Upland President Doug Dayhoff and Oliver President Bill Oliver guided us through a tasting of sours and wines, talking about the process it takes to achieve the final product and their unique partnership.

Upland’s become a standout in the sour beer scene. Turns out it all started a little more than ten years ago when the brewery traded Oliver a few cases of beer for some oak barrels. The barrels were used to help brew Upland’s first sours and are still used in the process today. The sour program’s grown every year since its conception, as well as the partnership. In addition to using Oliver’s barrels in the process, Upland uses some of the winery’s grapes to make two of its sours: Vinosynth Red and Vinosynth White.

We got to taste both sours next to Oliver wines that are made using the same variety of grapes, Moscato and Catawba. Bill and Doug encouraged us to experiment by taking a bite of cheese, meat or fruit, then sipping the sours and wines. It was amazing to see how doing so brought out different flavors in each drink. I enjoyed everything we tasted, but Vinosynth Red is among my all-time favorite Upland beers. I can remember buying a bottle when we first moved to Bloomington and I didn’t know much about sours. We opened it during a late night with friends on our front porch and I was blown away by the unique, complex flavors. It’s one of my go-to special occasion drinks.

We had a blast learning more about the collaboration between Upland and Oliver throughout the evening. It was the first Sours After Hours, but they’re planning on offering the event on a somewhat regular basis. I can’t wait to learn something new next time!

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It was Katie’s birthday weekend, which gave us all the more reason to celebrate being together. She’d been to Bloomington before, but in the middle of the winter. It was so nice to be able to walk everywhere and spend some time outside. We started the day with lunch at Upland Brewing. Katie was wowed by the size of their flights. We all had great meals and fell in love with Purple Reign, a saison that won this year’s Up Cup. Upland hosts a homebrewing competition each year and the winner gets to come in and brew a production batch. We are big fans of Brandon Schaefer’s creation!

After an amazing lunch, we headed out to Oliver Winery. It’s one of my favorite places to take out-of-town guests because the grounds are beautiful and there’s a good variety of sweet and dry wines, meaning there’s something for just about every kind of wine drinker.

We did a tasting before buying a bottle of Catawba and heading outside for a little afternoon picnic. The weather was absolutely perfect and we had a blast catching up while sipping wine and demolishing some cheese. It doesn’t get much better.

If we could have, we would have spent hours at the winery. It’s such a peaceful setting and the perfect place to spend a summer or fall afternoon. It was Katie’s boyfriend’s first time in Bloomington and I’m so glad we were able to make it to Oliver.

We headed back to our house to relax for a bit before braving the Welcome Weekend crowds and walking down to Kirkwood. There were, of course, a couple rounds of Sink the Biz. It’s a game we rarely partake in, but visitors are always interested in trying it out. Luckily, I’ve gotten pretty good during our two years in Bloomington.

The night took us to the Root Cellar for dancing and to Rockit’s for late-night pizza before we came home to celebrate Katie’s birthday with some homemade funfetti cake. It was the perfect way to end a ridiculously fun day.

Saying goodbye after such a quick visit is always hard, but I’m already looking ahead to December when we’ll be able to see each other again.

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We’ll check quite a few things off our summer bucket list over the next few days. We’re road tripping south with my family to visit my aunt, uncle and cousins for a week. They live in Arkansas and own an amazing houseboat business on Lake Ouachita. We’ll spend a few nights on the boat and almost all of our time on the water. After a crazy summer, it’s just what we need!

Here some other things I want to do before the summer’s over:

1. Take advantage of Tiki Tuesday. 

Every Tuesday during the summer the amazing bartenders at Cardinal Spirits serve up some impressive beach-themed drinks. Just sipping them makes you feel like you’re on vacation. We went to Tiki Tuesday a lot last summer, but somehow we haven’t made it once this year. That needs to change!

2. SUP at Lake Monroe.

I haven’t been standup paddle boarding in a while and I’m dying to rent a board for an afternoon out at Lake Monroe.

3. Attend Cork & Fork.

I’ve only made it out to Oliver Winery once this summer and I want to make a return trip to hear some live music during their Cork & Fork series. The event is actually at their Creekbend Vineyard in Ellettsville, which I’ve never visited.

4. Hike at McCormick’s Creek. 

I absolutely love McCormick’s Creek State Park. It’s a short drive from Bloomington and offers great hiking trails and camping. We rented a cabin there with some friends last summer and had a blast.

5. Go camping. 

I have no idea how we’ve gone so long without doing this, but we have to take advantage of all the amazing camping spots near us! In addition to McCormick’s Creek and Lake Monroe, we’re a short drive from the beautiful Brown County State Park.

6. Participate in Tour de Upland.

We’ve talked about signing up for this event ever since we moved to Bloomington but have always had other plans. This year we’re free! Tour de Upland is a weekend of cycling, beer and camping. Does it get much better? There are several different routes to choose from based on your cycling level. If we’re going up and down Brown County hills, I think we’ll go for one of the shorter rides!

7. Plan a picnic. 

We’re lucky enough to live within walking distance of several great city parks at our new place. I’d love to throw together an easy picnic and walk down to one of them for dinner one night. There’s something about eating outside that’s just so relaxing and enjoyable — at least when there isn’t 90 percent humidity.

8. Bike to the Scenic View.

The Scenic View is a great restaurant that overlooks Lake Monroe. I’ve been wanting to bike out there forever and a summer evening is the perfect time to do so. You can’t beat the view or the food!

9. See a drive-in movie. 

When I was a kid my parents would take us to a drive-in movie theater about 30 minutes away from my hometown and it’s an experience I still absolutely love. We have yet to go to the Starlite Drive-In in Bloomington, so I’m keeping my eyes on their schedule over the next few weeks.

10. Host a cookout. 

We don’t have a grill, which means we only cookout when we’re at a friend’s house or visiting my parents. But we’re not going to let that stop us! I think it would be a blast to get a group together at a local park that’s equipped with grills and throw an end-of-summer cookout. You can’t beat hot dogs and s’mores.

What’s on your summer bucket list? Chime in by posting a comment below!

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So when it came time to choose the booze for our wedding, we knew exactly what we wanted: good beer and good wine. We served Bell’s Two Hearted and Oberon and Oliver Winery Shiraz and Creekbend Vignoles. All of our choices were hits with our guests, but especially the beer. At one point during the reception we almost ran out! But, our amazing bartenders (if you’re in Central Illinois, I highly recommend Redbird Catering) ran out to refill our supply. They brought back some Not Your Father’s Root Beer, which ended up being the most popular beverage of the night. Who knew?!

Liquor will be one of your biggest wedding expenses, so I highly recommend deciding on drinks as early as possible in the wedding planning process. Here are a few tips to help guide you through the process of selecting the right option for your budget and making sure your guests are well-hydrated when they hit the dance floor!

(Photo by Stephen Haas Photography)

1. Set a budget. 
Because liquor will be one of your largest wedding planning expenses, you need to decide early on how much you’re willing to spend. This will help you determine whether you can afford a cash bar, open bar or limited open bar. And don’t worry about what other people will think if they have to pay for their own drinks. This is your wedding and it’s all about what you want and feel comfortable spending.

2. Prioritize.
Decide what’s most important to you — quality or variety? You may be able to afford a full open bar, but one that only includes well liquor. Or, you may decide you’d rather spend your money on higher quality beer and wine. Do you really want champagne for the toast, or are you OK with guests drinking whatever they already have in their glasses?

3. Consider connivence.
We knew a good portion of our guests would spend a lot of their time on the dance floor, so we decided against having real wine glasses for the reception. We used clear plastic cups, which worked so much better. We also decided to have the bartenders serve bottled beer. Although it was slightly more expensive than a keg, it was much faster and less messy. Plus, someone started a spontaneous spin-the-bottle dance off — so much fun!

4. Calculate.
In my opinion, this is the hardest part. My calculations were a little off for our wedding since we ended up running out of our initial beer supply. I read several different guides online that said to count on guests having one drink per hour at the reception. I knew some of our guests would barely finish a glass of wine and others would down several bottles. I went through our guest list and labeled the non-drinkers, light drinkers and heavy drinkers. I figured three drinks for light drinkers and five drinks for heavy drinkers. That worked out perfectly when it came to calculating the overall amount of alcohol we would need. Where I messed up was in the beer to wine ratio — we ordered 60 percent wine and 40 percent beer. I should have adjusted that ratio based on the preferences of our guests. You can use an online wedding alcohol calculator to help you ballpark the costs.

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