From Gosegeist to Dauphin: Barrel + Beam Brings the Funk and the French to Everyday Wines in Ann Arbor

On a beautiful June evening, Everyday Wines in Ann Arbor hosted Nick Van Court, co-founder of Barrel + Beam, for a tasting featuring their newest beer release and a few other select brews. 

Mary Campbell, the owner, welcomed around 25 guests to the Kerrytown courtyard for Barrel + Beam’s release party featuring “Gosegeist,” a Gose-style ale created in collaboration with another of our favorite Michigan breweries, Archival Brewing.

Tickets were just $5 and included a generous pour of Gosegeist, plus Barrel + Beam’s Cranberry Mead, Grafted Bucolic Blueberry, and Dauphin. Guests also received 10% off a mix-and-match six-pack courtesy of Everyday Wines.

About Barrel + Beam’s Beers

Before jumping into the beers, Nick Van Court shared some background on Barrel + Beam’s approach to brewing. “Some of you might know that if you’ve had our products before, we do a lot of farmhouse ales—Saisons, Grisettes, Bière de Gardes, and barrel-soured beers as opposed to kettle sours.” In other words, they lean into tradition.

All of their beers are naturally carbonated in the package, which, as Nick said, “gives it this wonderful carbonation as well as really exceptional shelf stability.”

Gosegeist

“The Gosegeist is a collaboration uniting the Lower and Upper Peninsulas with our friends at Archival Brewing in Belmont, MI. Brewed with community and good times in mind.”

Nick explained, “We were really going for the most authentic Leipzig Gose we could make.” Even the can design features the colors and pattern of Leipzig, Germany.

“This is a very traditional beer that uses salt and coriander,” he continued. They brewed a sessionable wheat beer, then added crushed, toasted coriander seeds and Italian sea salt at the end of the brew day. Laughing, Nick said, “Because that’s the stuff that tasted the best down at Spice Merchants.”

He added, “Both of these are subtle but noticeable flavors. If I didn’t say salt, you might not have put your finger on it—but now you do.”

The beer spent nearly eight months aging in barrels before being packaged, followed by a few more months conditioning in the bottle. 

While the flavors are subtle, they are extraordinarily with a slight nuttiness and that hint of salt adding wonderful complexity. Overall all this is a very smooth and easy drinking beer. A perfect choice for enjoying a sunny afternoon on the deck.

Cranberry Mead

This Michigan-sourced dry mead is made with Grand Bees honey from the L’Anse area in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and cranberries from the Michigan Cranberry Company, grown on the sunrise side of the state (a.k.a. near Lake Huron). The water comes from a well in Marquette Township, and the mead is naturally carbonated in the can with Michigan Sugar Co. beet sugar.

Mary asked, “Has this mead changed your mind about mead?” It certainly changed mine. It reminded me of a dry sparkling rosé—crisp, clean, and refreshing.

Nick noted that most meads are much higher in ABV and typically still, not carbonated. This is a specific style known as draft mead.

Grafted Bucolic Blueberry Brett Rustic Table Beer

Barrel + Beam’s Rustic Table Beer GRAFTED is a Grisette-style ale aged in French oak wine barrels. In the final six weeks of aging, they add a generous dose of Michigan blueberries.

Unlike Gosegeist, this beer isn’t made with souring bacteria. “It’s a wild yeast beer,” Nick explained. “You get a touch of that funky barrel character from the wild yeast, but any tartness you’re tasting—that’s all from the fruit.”

Since the beer is light and low in ABV (4.3%), using whole fruit could water it down. “That’s why we went with concentrate,” Nick said. It maintains the flavor’s brightness without diluting its body.

Another champion for summertime, I found this beer very light and refreshing with a splash of blueberry zing.

Dauphin

Dauphin is a Bière de Garde-style lager made with a modern twist. “We use a lager yeast and ferment it a little warmer than usual,” Nick said. “That brings out cherry and stone fruit notes from the yeast and malts. But overall, you still get a really clean profile.”

The beer features a range of imported ingredients. “It starts with this amazing Pilsner malt we get from France—it’s the base for a lot of our beers,” Nick said. “Then we add Belgian caramel and Munich malts for depth. And of course, we use French hops.”

Unlike bold American hops, these offer a gentler profile. “They’re floral, maybe with a hint of citrus, but mostly earthy and woodsy,” Nick said. “It’s a more natural hop character.”

As for the name, Dauphin has layers. “It’s the French word for dolphin—but it was also the title given to the heir to the French throne,” Nick explained. “This beer is part of a series with names that have double meanings: Monarch, Noble, and Dauphin.

People hear ‘Monarch’ and think butterfly, but we’re referencing the King of France. ‘Noble’ refers to both noble hops and nobility—that one’s brewed with Michigan-sourced ingredients.

Then there’s ‘Dauphin.’ The story goes that a French heir had a dolphin on his crest—his tunic or whatever,” Nick added with a laugh. “I’m not a historian, I’m just a beer guy. But that’s how the dolphin became a royal symbol—and how it ended up on our label.”

Cheers

I love events like this. I always walk away having learned something new, and this time, we got to hang out with Nick in a beautiful setting, right in our own backyard. Drop by our gallery for a few more photos from the Barrel + Beam tasting at Everyday Wines.

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