I Needed A Good Detroit Brewed Beer to Go with my Shorty Bell's Street Pizza, So I Showed Up at a Startup Detroit Networking Mixer

But Seriously Folks, It Was An All You Can Meet Night of Great Detroit Business Leaders

Tuesday April 18th, 2023 at 6:55 PM
On the Witty Woodward Bus 4
Detroit Michigan

I attended a pleasant networking event at the Brakeman American Beer Hall. I didn't hit the networking too hard. I spent a half hour just looking at people with amazement. I cleaned my glasses. And then I walked around the event, looking for a conversation. I didn’t have to look too hard. 

It's a hard event to miss. The monthly sponsor of Start-Up Detroit happy hour gives everyone a beer token. So thank you Signal Advisors, a Detroit based start-up in the fintech space. I enjoyed a pint of what I enjoyed last time, a Eastern Market 313, a lager with a hoppy finish. One beer might be all I need on any night. The alcohol has an amazingly soothing effect. 

I remember when I could drink four or even five beers in a session. A beer that one chooses to drink at a session is called sessionable. The 313 Eastern Market could be a good sessionable India Pale Ale. But I just don't sit around to drink beer now. I wonder how in the world I got into the habit.

I talked with an Aflac Insurance salesperson. I didn't know that Aflac sold a disability product. The salesperson had the facts ready, probably after hundreds and hundreds of presentations. I didn't come to the networking event to talk to an insurance salesperson, but it made for an easy conversation. I actually took a course in life, health and automotive insurance. I took the course in 2005. I found myself consulting at the nuclear power plant by the time it came to take a test. In the meantime, my friend Frank has built his on agency, working as the broker.

I might be more energetic at next month’s mixer. I left fairly early to catch the bus at Grand Circus Park. Most of all, I think I enjoyed the fresh slice of street pizza from Shorty Bell’s. It’s a nice quick stop before walking Grand River to Woodward Boulevard.

A stop at Cannelle brought fantasies of Paris to mind, especially as I regarded my fellow Detroiters strolling on Griswold Street. I even paused in the Shinola Hotel to take a video of the Nick Cave sequined mandala on the wall. A few visitors in the lobby were happy to learn that the round work, a tondo, came from the imagination of Nick Cave.

Eating Street Pizza on Woodward in Downtown Detroit - AI generated