Michigan
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2016 10:38 am
Just recently came back from a trip to Michigan and thought I would share where I went/what I thought.
1) Hopcat - Detroit: AWESOME beer bar, has 130 taps I believe, and the crack fries are not to be missed.
2) Jolly Pumpkin - Detroit: didn't try the food, but the beer was stellar. Love what these guys do on the sour side. Very approachable too. The North Peak ('clean' beers) were also decent.
3) Kuhnhenn - Warren: This is the original location, all the beers I tried from them were solid. I think my favourite was the DRIPA. No food, but had a sushi food truck on site (not nearly as good as what you can find in Halifax though...).
4) Kuhnhenn - Clinton: This is their newer spot where they're in the process of building a production brewery. Much larger, and had some food. I tried the duck fat fries and they were quite tasty. Pretty much the same beer line up with a few different beers currently on tap. They are also distilling here and the cuke vodka was neat. My cousin's friend knew the owner, so I chatted with him for a while (though he constantly made fun of me talking like a Canadian).
5) Dark Horse - Marshall: This place is crazy. The tour was cool, though odd (Gary has a strange sense of humour...). Beer didn't really blow me out of the water, but on the tour we got to try some limited releases that weren't on tap or in the bottle shop. Food was really good though. Cool spot to check out for the decor alone.
6) Arcadia - Kalamazoo: Cool spot, didn't try the food though (looked like some tasty BBQ). Beer was just OK though.
7) Bell's - Kalamazoo: amazing food (I had the duck ramen), and a bunch of very cool funky beers (all beer we tried was solid though).
8) Gonzo's BiggDogg - Kalamazoo: beer was ok, but wish we had just spent the night at Bell's instead...
9) Perrin - Comstock Park: quite liked the food (good lunch special). Beer was decent but fairly boring.
9) Founders - Grand Rapids: didn't try the food, but the beer was quite good. MASSIVE tap room.
10) Greyline - Grand Rapids: recommended by the server at Founders. It was an OK spot but had small beer line up and all pretty boring.
11) Mitten Brewing - Grand Rapids: also a pretty straight forward beer lineup, but everything was decent.
12) Saugatuck Brewing - Douglas: decent line up, really liked the Neapolitan stout. Didn't try the food, but this spot is much more of a country brewery than some of the others.
13) New Holland - Holland: great spot, good food. They had a great beer line up with a really nice sour on tap too. Was disappointed the beer selection to take home was somewhat limited. Had some cool looking spirits too that I didn't try (whisky aged in a beer barrel for one).
14) Jolly Pumpkin - Ann Arbor: tried the food at this location and it was great. Pretty similar to the one in Detroit, though a somewhat different beer lineup.
15) Arbor Brewing - Ann Arbor: nice beer line up, though the service was terrible. Didn't try their food.
16) Detroit Beer Co - Detroit: super close to the ballpark, and makes sense... Pretty bland beer but mostly decent.
1) Hopcat - Detroit: AWESOME beer bar, has 130 taps I believe, and the crack fries are not to be missed.
2) Jolly Pumpkin - Detroit: didn't try the food, but the beer was stellar. Love what these guys do on the sour side. Very approachable too. The North Peak ('clean' beers) were also decent.
3) Kuhnhenn - Warren: This is the original location, all the beers I tried from them were solid. I think my favourite was the DRIPA. No food, but had a sushi food truck on site (not nearly as good as what you can find in Halifax though...).
4) Kuhnhenn - Clinton: This is their newer spot where they're in the process of building a production brewery. Much larger, and had some food. I tried the duck fat fries and they were quite tasty. Pretty much the same beer line up with a few different beers currently on tap. They are also distilling here and the cuke vodka was neat. My cousin's friend knew the owner, so I chatted with him for a while (though he constantly made fun of me talking like a Canadian).
5) Dark Horse - Marshall: This place is crazy. The tour was cool, though odd (Gary has a strange sense of humour...). Beer didn't really blow me out of the water, but on the tour we got to try some limited releases that weren't on tap or in the bottle shop. Food was really good though. Cool spot to check out for the decor alone.
6) Arcadia - Kalamazoo: Cool spot, didn't try the food though (looked like some tasty BBQ). Beer was just OK though.
7) Bell's - Kalamazoo: amazing food (I had the duck ramen), and a bunch of very cool funky beers (all beer we tried was solid though).
8) Gonzo's BiggDogg - Kalamazoo: beer was ok, but wish we had just spent the night at Bell's instead...
9) Perrin - Comstock Park: quite liked the food (good lunch special). Beer was decent but fairly boring.
9) Founders - Grand Rapids: didn't try the food, but the beer was quite good. MASSIVE tap room.
10) Greyline - Grand Rapids: recommended by the server at Founders. It was an OK spot but had small beer line up and all pretty boring.
11) Mitten Brewing - Grand Rapids: also a pretty straight forward beer lineup, but everything was decent.
12) Saugatuck Brewing - Douglas: decent line up, really liked the Neapolitan stout. Didn't try the food, but this spot is much more of a country brewery than some of the others.
13) New Holland - Holland: great spot, good food. They had a great beer line up with a really nice sour on tap too. Was disappointed the beer selection to take home was somewhat limited. Had some cool looking spirits too that I didn't try (whisky aged in a beer barrel for one).
14) Jolly Pumpkin - Ann Arbor: tried the food at this location and it was great. Pretty similar to the one in Detroit, though a somewhat different beer lineup.
15) Arbor Brewing - Ann Arbor: nice beer line up, though the service was terrible. Didn't try their food.
16) Detroit Beer Co - Detroit: super close to the ballpark, and makes sense... Pretty bland beer but mostly decent.
