Reno's EAST with some big upgrades! (Jan 2012)

Reno's East new pavilion

This is some unexpected news, Reno's sunk some big money into these renovations.  Remember their huge patio with a partially covered back bar and awning?  Well scratch that they decided to put an entire Indoor / outdoor patio, they also renovated both bathrooms.  "Reno-vations also include a new bathroom with 5 (yes I said 5) stalls for women...)

That's pretty cool and we're always excited when bar owners reinvest in their establishment rather than pocket the majority of their earnings.

I feel like they need to clean up some of the clutter on the inside but it's still a pretty nice atmosphere if you like that kinda stuff.  Great news to start 2012!  As always hit us up on twitter with the new hashtag #ELB or @EastLansingBars!

East Lansing NYE 2011 #ELB

Wrapping up your year in East Lansing?  Well let's keep this nice and simple.   These are the events we have so far, if we get more info we'll add the events!  TWEET or Email us any info! All links below go to their official facebook events for NYE 2012! We really think Lou Ha's will be the best overall party but Beggar's is really putting up some amazing specials.  We're pretty happy with the variety EL has to offer, have fun!

THANKS FOR A GREAT 2011! AS ALWAYS TWEET @EASTLANSINGBARS or #ELB

NYE 2011 (Image credit: ENSO)

Lou and Harry's NYE 2011 - 20$ Lou Ha's has and always will be one of our favorite spots to party.  Featuring an entire bar midnight balloon drop, the perk looks good too with free champagne toast, buffet, photo booth pictures, coat check, and shuttle service.  Triple Lindy will be playing all night along with DJ SNS.  Dress to impress, this will be a good one. (email louandharrys@gmail.com or stop in to purchase tickets)

Dublin Square - 10$ Free admission till 9 then it's 10$. Dinner menu and drink specials all night long, Star-farm in front, DJ Beats in the back bar. Champagne toast at midnight
Our full dinner menu will be available, as well as a holiday dinner menu, and great drink specials all night long.  (For call-ahead reservations & VIP, please call 517-351-2222 or contact us marketing@dublinsquare.net.)

Harpers / RUSH - 15$ gets you in the door or pay 20$ with dinner buffet.  Your ticket gets you in to both Harper's and Rush and admittance is free if you get there before 8pm. Midnight breakfast buffet as well as champagne toast.  An ELB favorite Bobo Lai will be spinning club RUSH from 7pm to 4am.  Square Pegz and DJ Siege will be playing upstairs at 10:30.

Beggar's Banquet - NO COVER Drink specials will be kicking off at 8 PM as we countdown to the New Year. Each hour we add another drink special on top of the one from the previous hour."  $5 Domestic Pitchers all night, $4 All Premium Drafts 8 PM - CLOSE, $3 Call Drinks 9 PM - CLOSE, $2 Well Drinks 10 PM - CLOSE, $1 Jello Shots 11 PM - CLOSE and a champagne toast at midnight. No tickets required, no cover and kitchen open till midnight!

ENSO - 25$ after 10pm gets you in the door and a buffet at midnight! DJ Juan Trevino will be on the decks. Enso's NYE dinner menu HERE.

PT O'Malley's - *10$ - As well as 5$ Pre-Sale tickets are available now for and include a complimentary champagne toast at midnight. This guarantee's your admittance by 10PM. Table reservations are also available and include a complimentary bottle of champagne. DJ Big Mike will be on the decks as well as a "house magician" Chaz king performing tricks. (For questions, reservations, advance tickets please ask for a manager at (517) 332 - 2959)

Woody's Oasis - NO COVER As far as we can tell there is no cost for admittance, and their specials are insane!  Woody's is featuring these awesome specials all night! $5 Domestic Pitchers & $7 Craft/Premium Pitchers, $5 Off Bottles & $1 Off Glasses All Our "Other", Sparkling & Dessert Wines,$5 16oz Long Islands, $5 Dead Guy Ales, $2 SoCo Lime Shots, $12.95 Surf & Turf Kabob Entrees & $2 Off All Our Vegetarian Entrees and Complimentary Champagne & Hors D’oeuvres At Midnight!

Whiskey Barrel - 15$ "Spend your NYE with the hottest country jam in Michigan. featuring Brian Lorente & the Usual Suspects" 21 and up welcome doors open at 7pm champagne toast at midnight with a 1am breakfast buffet.  Seating is first come first serve!

XIAO - 15$ - This year we will be throwing it down at Xiao China Grille & Lounge. The party starts @ 10PM but we won't be ending until the wee hours of 2012 @ 4AM! LIQUOR WONT STOP SPILLING UNTIL 3:55AM! Featuring DJ Delafresh - DJ Cstyles.

Rick's - 12$ Tickets guarantee admission and include a dinner buffet catered by Chef Dominique, and all the party favors. Champagne bottle specials + other specials all night long. Open till 4 AM. Call 351-2285.

WHOA that's a lot of options, what will you be doing this NYE? If you are heading out in East Lansing please tweet at us or hash tag us at #ELB!

Winter 2011 Blog Update News (Image Credit: UGP East Lansing)

We wanted to give you an idea what we're up to and what we want to deliver this winter, unfortunately EL has felt kinda stale lately and historically winter break is a tough time to be in East Lansing, either everyone is hibernating or out of town.  So let's not get into an early winter slump here.  So what do we do when things feel stale?

Well for starters we need to branch out and see what's really going on in other areas of East Lansing .  We really wish we could get more interaction from the actual bars, and as always, more interaction with the fans! (Because without our fans, what good are we?!)  Anyways here is what we have lined up and if you have any suggestions or comments please use the forums.

Bagger Dave's - The East Lansing / Okemos Bagger Dave's location is now open,  Info page and review to come!

New Interns - More unique, informative and entertaining content.  We even have a possible new to East Lansing intern on the line.  It will be refreshing to see a newcomers view on what EL has to offer. Time will tell.

Updated Specials - As always our main goal is providing accurate and timely updates.  We really need your help though, It's tough to keep up with the changes! If you see a new special or error please tweet at us or email us!

Twitter - More pictures, updates, notifications when cool stuff is going on.

Forum - Hopefully more of you will start registering and posting on the forum, it is in fact the best place to start a topic on anything ELB related.  We've seen lots and lost of comments on our articles that would be much better served on the forum.  Please check the forum out!

250,000 page views - Yes you read that correctly, this little blog is approaching a quarter million all time page views according to our analytics.  That... is amazing and we'd like to thank everyone and anyone who ever visited our blog and told their friends.  While this is a low key "for fun" style blog it really shows how much the community matters and how much we love a good booze special.

We realize that we aren't perfect but please continue to tell your friends and if you see an error or a mistake please let us know.  We also plan on doing something special when we actually hit the quarter million mark, probably a give away of some sort so keep an eye out.

Thanks again to everyone who continues to support us and spread the word.  Don't forget the Men's spartan basketball season is underway, full schedule and info here.  Obviously the Men's Football Big Ten championship this weekend should be an amazing game as well.

Oh and one last thing if you're a bar owner / manager / employee and have any info or ideas to share with us don't be shy contact us for whatever reason.  We would love to get involved in some creative ideas for next semester.  We feel like East Lansing needs passion and creativity to avoid these stale times.  Always keep your fans and drink specials in mind!

We hope everyone has a great remainder of the Fall 2011 semester as well as a great winter break / holidays!

-ELB Admin

The Mega 80s, the best "cover band" by Real Detroit readers 7 years running.

Just when things were getting slow, cold and boring in EL we get some good news.  The "Mega 80s" throwback band will be at Harpers this Friday (11/18/2011) for a huge party. If you like 80s rock then you owe it to yourself to check them out, not to mention Harper's is featuring some great drink specials.  $2.50 pints, bombs, Captain Morgan, and Jack Daniels all night long .

We wish we could give you an accurate description of this cover band but we always get way too wasted, so take a look at this excerpt from the Mega 80's  facebook fanpage.

The Mega 80's sprung onto the Detroit music scene and have not looked back. Their mix of accurately replicated sounds of the 80's era, their expansive play list and retro style has made them a dominating force in Detroit entertainment.

The success of the Mega 80's has included playing at the Palace of Auburn Hills, being highlighted on Mitch Albom and Fox 2 News, Playing the House of Blues in Cleveland Ohio, and even voted "best cover band" by Real Detroit readers in the "Best of" issues 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 AND 2010!

The band features some of the greatest players in the Detroit area. Drummer Jason Gittinger is a musician that can do anything. Jason's talent has been spotlighted many times, such as: TV specials with Kevin Bacon at the Fox Theater, recording international advertising campaigns for companies such as Cadillac, as well as extensive European tours with local and national acts. His newest endeavor, the Detroit School of Rock and Pop is a Detroit sensation. Guitarist Mick Khzouz, an accomplished musician that can play just about any guitar style, loves the positivity that the 80's era has brought back. Ron Abraham, keyboardist for the band, has played keyboards in many different bands and has toured the world doing so. He now has found a permanent home in the land of the Mega 80's. Ron's hip stage demeanor and excellent vocal ability make him the perfect Mega 80. Matt Webber bassist, has been on America's Got Talent, played with a band called Gordon Bennett and has a rich rock n roll history.

Lead vocalist for the Mega 80's, Carey Denha, has been the vocalist of Going Public, a Michigan State band he played in when he attended the university in the 90's, as well as the original Michigan M80's band. Carey has now embarked upon managing other high end production bands like the Mega 80's with his timeless venture, Tangerine Moon Productions. So far, Tangerine Moon Productions has brought into the musical fold five other great shows: Boogie Dynomite (a multimedia disco tribute), The Square Pegz (a female fronted 80's tribute), X-Generation (a 90's tribute band), The Hype Syndicate (a Top 40s DJ Revolution) and La Dolce Vita (wedding/corporate act). Tangerine Moon Productions will also be bringing other high end Las Vegas type acts to Detroit as well. These premier bands like all other Tangerine Moon Productions are now sponsored by Real Detroit Weekly.

See you at Harper's!

The Post of East Lansing has closed 10/22/11

Source: Our favorite Post bartender S.H.

Well after many months of rumors and hear-say the POST of East Lansing is now officially closed and done with.  Its last hurrah was Saturday 10/22/11 and rightfully featured  DJ Ruckus.  We're pretty sad to bring you this news and we don't even know the full details.

All we are assuming is that the owners are pursuing bigger and hopefully better ventures.  To the regulars and anyone who enjoyed the post, let us know how you feel or where you plan to go instead.

We've already seen several of its awesome bar staff move employers to places like Harpers and the Land Shark.

Let us know what you're thinking on Twitter.  Possibly more details so check back soon.

Burgerama is EL's infamous Thursday burger party 3-9pm! Image credit: TheRiv.net

 THE BEST OF BURGERAMA: By Derek Schlau find him on twitter @D_schlau, A Michigan State University Senior studying Media and Communication Technology

The majority of college students live for the weekends. Football games, tailgates, parties and much needed time to catch up on school work and the ever evasive sleep. Although the weekend is traditionally begins on Friday afternoons, the most intelligent Michigan State University students have axed the Friday classes for an early start. For those fortunate Spartans, Thursday is THE day of relief and relaxation. And what better way to kick back than by drinking beer and playing games. The Riv is the best place to indulge in these activities because it is located in the heart of downtown East Lansing and offers unbeatable food and beverage specials, especially at their most famous Thursday event, Burgerama.

The Riv has "Life size" Jenga!

Being conveniently located right on the corner of Albert and M.A.C, The Riv naturally attracts a lot of customers.Although nearly all patrons are students, The Riv is a bar “welcome and accommodating to anyone wearing a business suit or sweatpants,” General Manager Ryan Kosecki said. Just make sure you’re of age if you plan on visiting. Personally, I had my “alter ego” taken from me when I foolishly tried to enter a few years back.

Flat screen televisions line every wall and the wait staff is well trained, professional and efficient which creates the perfect sports bar atmosphere. Jake Sloan, a Material Science Engineering Senior at MSU said, “The Riv is great for watching the Tigers and the Red Wings. It’s also the only place where you can bring a deck of cards, hangout and drink.”

If you are not a sports fan, The Riv provides a top notch social environment filled with pool tables, dart boards, foosball, and a one-of-a-kind life-size Jenga.  The Jenga pieces are made from 4x4 wooden posts, cut to about two feet long and when stacked, stand approximately three feet tall. When the wrong piece is pulled, it collapses to the floor in a thunderous roar, quieting a rowdy crowd instantly, until laughter strikes throughout and trumps the brief silence.

The typical line to Burgerama! Photo credit: DJ DONNIE D

The Riv offers daily specials, but the rowdiest bunch show up Thursday for Burgerama. As previously mentioned, Burgerama notoriously starts the weekend off strong with cheap drinks and a live DJ provides endless fun. Attendees enjoy all the Riv has to offer with pitchers of beer in hand.

Yes, you read correctly, pitchers, not pints, litter the bar’s tables. From 3pm – 9pm pitchers of Keystone sell for only $3.00, Labbatt for $3.50 and Frog Tanks for just $2.50. The official Frog Tank recipe is unknown, but it is confirmed to be a bluish, green concoction that will make you forget about all your worries and throw your inhibitions out the window.

The best deal of Burgerama, appropriately, is the $1.50 hamburgers with 25 cent toppings alongside a healthy handful of fries for an additional $1.00. The tasty burgers do not fill you up and drag you down. Rather, the sizable amount leaves you satisfied with plenty of room for another pitcher. This special lasts for an amazing six hours, but arriving late calls for standing in long entry lines, so make sure to be punctual and thirsty.

Try the back door at the Riv, sometimes the line is smaller!

Little known to many Spartans, Burgerama originally sold their pitchers for an astonishing $2.00 and burgers for just a dollar. The Riv’s current General Manager, Ryan Kosecki, explained that the tradition was created by one of the past GMs who envisioned the ultimate happy hour experience. Kosecki went on to say that Burgerama gained popularity in the early 2000’s. My guess is Spartan Nation needed somewhere to support their National Champion basketball team and a place where they could drink solely to get drunk.

From there, the rest is history. Cheap beer and burgers will never grow old especially when combined with a social atmosphere. Burgerama at The Riv stands alone as the best Thursday deal and may even be considered the best special in all of East Lansing on any given weekday.

Welcome back we hope you had a great summer! Credit: Uknown hot chick

A big welcome back to our East Lansing Bar fans! Fall 2011 is here and so is Spartan football, many argue this is without a doubt the best time to be in East Lansing.  We promise to bring you all kinds of events and bar specials throughout the year!  Please bare with us as we transition into new Fall specials.  With everything changing it's quite a challenge!

Obviously we can use all the help we can get, if you spot a good special please facebook or tweet at us! It's really appreciated and helps everyone else take advantage of them.  Remember the more we support bars with good specials the more they support us back!

What's coming for Fall 2011

• Bar Special Page Redesign - Many of you spoke, we listened.  A new specials page featuring ALL the bar specials on a single page is in the works.  This can't happen over night but we are hoping for a mid semester launch.This will allow us to keep one main specials page with a higher standard of updates and accuracy.
• The individual bar pages will remain but they will only contain a "bio" and various details.
• MORE give-aways and prizes
• MORE twitter updates / re-tweets, shout-outs and promotions

Are you a bar owner / manager looking to promote your specials or events contact us! Do you want to become an advertising partner or sponsor an ELB bar-crawl? CONTACT US it's easy!

New Thurday night special @Lou Ha's Just in time for the end of summer.

Damn, nice new deal.  Looks like the first one is coming up on 8/4/2011.  We'll post back with more details once we go and check it out.  A pretty nice spin on what most other bars have, you normally see a lot of "1/2 off Thursdays excluding top shelf liquor and bombs" or "2$ drinks all night *well liquor only" but this is a new, fresh, good idea, thanks Lou Ha's!

Announcing "Split Your Tab Thursdays"!!! Keep your tab open past 12:30am and Lou Ha's will split the bill with you!! That's right, 50% off your entire tab - Includes food AND drinks!!

We don't know much more detail than the quote above or any of the fine print on this offer so keep an eye on our twitter!

Keg information broke down into ounces, 12 oz servings and case equivalency credit:Unknown

Keg confusion getting you down?  Let's see if we can clear up some of the most frequently asked questions about Keg Beer.  First let's cover some basics.  Kegs come in many designs and sizes, and since there is no global standard we will be covering the standard American Keg.  The "half barrel"  is the most popular and standard keg in America.  This guide is pretty broad, covering even the basics of Kegs but we hope everyone who reads it might learn a thing or two! Also we've included a FULL list of keg retailers around East Lansing!

Standard Budweiser 1/2 Barrel

KEG

• Height of keg - 23.3 inches
• Diameter of keg - 16.1–17.15627 inches
• Contents - 1984.0 U.S. fluid ounces
• 15.5 U.S. gallons / 58.7 liters
• Full keg weight 160.5 pounds (72.8 kg)
• Empty keg weight 29.7 pounds (13.5 kg)
• Beer weight 130.8 pounds (59.3 kg)
• 24×12 fl oz case equivalent 6.9 cases
• 12 fl oz servings 165.6
• 16 fl oz (1 U.S. pint) servings 124

TAPPING

This part is essential and usually causes a lot of confusion.  First off, if you can't figure out how to fit the coupler onto the keg you probably shouldn't be on this website. Second let's ask ourselves the important question.  "What causes foamy keg beer?" There are primarily 3 things will cause your keg to foam up, resulting in bad pours.

The classic pump keg tap!

1. Temperature - If you buy a cold keg and it deviates several degrees this will cause excessive foam. Get the keg back to a proper temp of around 38 degrees. (The reason for this is that beer stored at 38 degrees F will retain the level of carbonation that was created during the brewing process.) When temperature has stabilized tap the keg.
2. Agitation - Securely transport your keg, any agitation will cause foam.  Give the Keg 10 minutes or so if it's been sloshing around.
3. Proper pressure - First thing you should do is pour a pitcher without any pumping to level out the pressure, then once the pressure gets low apply 2-3 pumps. Then repeat as necessary, there's no reason to build up excess pressure.

Here's a great note on keg freshness and party taps that we found very interesting...

"Party pumps utilize outside air, which introduces bacteria inside the keg and will certainly introduce oxygen, which will cause the beer to oxidize, creating a wet cardboard taste, therefore reducing the quality of the beer. Kegs operating a party pump should be used within 18–24 hours otherwise the beer may become unpalatable."

Please note that there are several different keg couplers, since we are focusing on the standard 1/2 barrel which uses a D Style American Sankey tap. This will fit on most North American beers. Breweries such as: Budweiser, Coors, Miller, Labatt and Molson use American Sankey "D" coupler kegs. (Make sure to ask what coupler works with what keg you buy, you'd hate to get home and have a party tap that won't fit!)

RESOURCES

Where can I buy kegs near East Lansing?

Big 10 Party Store East (1108 E Grand River East Lansing, MI 48823(517) 351-5621)
Big 10 Party Store West "Oades"(314 South Clippert Street, Lansing, MI 48912 (517) 332-4551)
Big 10 Okemos (2950 E. Jolly Rd Okemos, MI 48864 (517) 337-7572)
Michigan Brew Co. (402 S Washington Sq, Lansing, MI (517) 977-1349)
Village Market *They Deliver Kegs* (16800 Chandler Road, East Lansing, MI (517) 351-0551)
Tom's Party Store (2778 East Grand River Avenue, East Lansing, MI 48823-4711 (517) 332-4614 ‎)
Quality Dairy Co 1109 East Grand River Avenue, East Lansing, MI 48823-4613 (517) 319-4129 ‎

Standard Party 4" Pump Keg Tap - From our experience this is the best tap under 50$
Beer tap / line cleaner kit - This cleaner works very well for lines and taps.
Kegco Deluxe Conversion Kit - This is the best conversion kit out there for around 150$

FAQ

An example of Keg Prices at Oades Big 10 party store. For current prices visit their website.

Q. How much does it cost for a 1/2 barrel of "Party beer"?

A. Prices range between 60$ and 90$ for "Party beer" BEFORE deposit(s).

Q. What is "Party beer"?

A. Busch, Bud, Keystone, PBR, Molson, Labatt etc...

Q. What does the "deposit" entail?

A. When you buy a keg of beer you must pay a deposit on the actual keg, which varies from 20-30$ However you get your deposit returned either in cash or on your card for the initial amount.

Q. Do i have to buy my own tap?
A. Most stores will rent you a tap and expect you return it with the keg for around a 20-30$ deposit.

Q. So if I don't have a tap or a prior keg deposit purchasing a 1/2 barrel will cost around 120$-150$?
A. Yes

Q. Whats the price break down on a 1/2 barrel of Bud Light?

A. If you rent a tap and pay deposit on a keg = ~90 cents per 12 oz.
If you rent a tap and have a previous deposit on a keg = ~72 cents per 12 oz.
If you have a tap and a previous deposit on a keg = ~53 cents per 12 oz.
If you have a tap and previous keg deposit and buy Busch Lite = ~37 cents per 12 oz.

Q. Who has the best keg prices in East Lansing? Who has the best selection?

A. Big 10 "Oades" and "East" sell the most kegs so their prices are usually the lowest.  Just about any major party store can order what you want, just give them a call 3-5 days ahead of time.

Q. The above breakdown is helpful but I'm still not sure the best way to buy kegs?

A. Good point, here's the best way to do it, if you plan on having a lot of keggers you should start by purchasing your own keg tap, this will save you 30$ of deposit hassle, and you know that your tap will be clean and free of taste impairing bacteria and grime.  Then  buy your kegs from places that allow you to hang on to your receipt and keg and bring both back whenever you want.

The advantage of this is simple, pay your initial deposit on keg "A" of 30$, hang on to the receipt and then when you need another keg return to the same store and "swap" your keg and receipt for keg "B".  This way you pay a 1 time deposit of 30$ and you "roll" your deposit, I've been doing this on kegs for nearly 4 years now. Just make sure to hang on to that receipt!  Also if you're really serious about keg beer, buy a kegerator and ditch the party pumps, ice, buckets and all that hassle for good!

CLOSING

Thanks for taking the time to read our article and we hope this clears up some of your FAQs on kegs!  As always, enjoy responsibly and hurray for beer!  Follow us on Facebook or Twitter while you're at it! Have a suggestion? Leave a comment!

Taken at Short's brew co in Bellaire Michigan! Credit: ELB Staff

We love Michigan craft beers! July is the month proclaimed as Michigan beer month so please head out to your favorite bar and enjoy some Michigan micro brew.  Lucky for us Crunchy's of East Lansing is really going all out for this wonderful month.  From Crunchy's official Facebook page...

All 27 Taps have been turned over to Michigan Brewers. Beer makers Arbor, Arcadia, Atwater, Bell’s, Dark Horse, Detroit Beer Co., Dragonmead, Founder’s, Jolly Pumpkin, Kuhnnhenn, Keweenaw, Liv…ery, MBC, Motor City Brewing Works, Mt. Pleasant, New Holland, Saugatuck, Short’s and Uncle John’s, and more take center stage for the entire month.

Enough reading, go enjoy some Michigan beers at Crunchy's! Wait, before you run off at least follow us on facebook or twitter!