Brewery Ferment

Brewery FermentBrewery Ferment
Brewery FermentBrewery Ferment
Brewery, Bar, Eatery, Beer-to-go

511 S Union St
Traverse City, Michigan, 49684-3246
United States

// CLOSED //
BEER STATS
Average:
3.41
Beers:
20
Ratings:
71
PLACE STATS
Average:
3.71
Reviews:
6
Ratings:
28
pDev:
14.29%
View: Beers | Place Reviews
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by DannyDan:
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Reviewed by DannyDan from Michigan

3.38/5  rDev -8.9%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.25 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3
Been to this place twice. It is a small but pretty friendly place that has a few snack type foods to go with your beer and outside food is allowed in the place. I tried a sampler of their 5 flagship or all year round beers on my first visit. The bartender told me all about the place which was really cool. I do not remember the name of most beers i tried but one I really like was their 45th Parallel IPA which is 6.5% ABV and was very hoppy. The second time went their tried 4 beers on their one year anniversary and they had three fruity beers which I thought were too sweet for me but they were good for being fruit beers, but the double 45th parallel way really good and hoppy and could hardly tell it had 10.5% ABV. Not a bad place but doubt I will go here often, but when I do I most likely will drink a 45th Parallel.
Oct 06, 2013
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 3.21 by redleg64 from Michigan

Dec 20, 2017
 
Rated: 3.36 by Cotton_27 from Michigan

Nov 01, 2017
 
Rated: 3.75 by Danielr26 from Michigan

Jun 06, 2017
Photo of JasonR1975
Reviewed by JasonR1975 from Michigan

4/5  rDev +7.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4
Service was great, very knowledgable about the beers. Tiny place, cool vibe, awesome snack plates. I like sours so I was cool but selection could be underwhelming for middle of the road craft drinkers. Worthwhile stop in TC.
Mar 07, 2016
 
Rated: 3.67 by chuckgietzen from Michigan

Feb 21, 2016
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Reviewed by SteveSly from Michigan

3.18/5  rDev -14.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 2
Kind of a funky little place. We got there on a Tuesday afternoon. We walked in and there was no one behind the bar. Finally a girl appeared and said something about finding a bartender then she disappeared again. A couple of minutes later a guy came of from downstairs and started tending bar. They were out of a good chunk of their selections and to be honest seemed to have a little bit of an attitude. I am not sure if this is just because they were busy of what. Once everyone had been served I did get the chance to talk to the girl, who was one of the owners and she seemed nice enough. I thought the beer was decent, but again they were all out of the ones I really wanted to try. With all the quality brewing operations popping up in the Traverse City area I think these guys are going to need to up their game a bit if they are going to survive. Still, I bought a t-shirt and thought it was worth a visit.
Sep 02, 2015
 
Rated: 4.03 by Buck_Jones from Michigan

Aug 15, 2015
 
Rated: 3.78 by Doublicious from Michigan

Jul 07, 2015
 
Rated: 4.23 by leprechaunandfatman from Ohio

Jun 08, 2015
 
Rated: 4.25 by DbbC from Illinois

May 23, 2015
 
Rated: 3.6 by Shaskins80 from Michigan

Apr 09, 2015
 
Rated: 4 by Agentveba from North Carolina

Dec 03, 2014
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Reviewed by PapaGoose03 from Michigan

2.84/5  rDev -23.5%
vibe: 3 | quality: 2.5 | service: 3 | selection: 3
This was stop #6 on a week-long pub crawl for my wife and I. This brewery is located just at the south edge of the main downtown area, and is situated in a stand-alone storefront setting among other commercial businesses. Our visit here was just to try the beers after we had had lunch. (I don't know why this brewery has an 'Eatery' classification here on BA because all that I saw were some snacks like pickled eggs, cheese, etc. So don't come here planning on a meal.) This was actually a second-chance visit because the previous time that we were here was shortly after they opened, and the beers were not very good. We attributed the bad beers to this being a new brewery, so no BA review was completed with the hopes that things would get better.

Unfortunately, things have not gotten better. There were 7 beers available at the time of our visit, so we ordered a sampler flight to try them all. We gave two beers a C grade, three a C minus grade, and 4 of them a D grade. All but one of them had almost no carbonation, and the one that had some was barely acceptable. (I have to wonder if the lack of carbonation was a factor in our taste experience, but my beer knowledge tells me ‘probably not.’ )

As mentioned above, this was our second visit to this brewpub, and I had hoped that we would experience an improvement that would be consistent with some favorable comments and ratings that I’ve read about this place, but we were disappointed. We won’t be going back again.
Sep 21, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by rjcoy06 from Michigan

Sep 15, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by deakin from Michigan

Aug 19, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by tommy5 from Michigan

Aug 07, 2014
 
Rated: 4.5 by jneff33 from Michigan

Jul 18, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by djsweet from Michigan

Jul 02, 2014
 
Rated: 3.5 by jmich24 from Michigan

Jun 09, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by midlifec from Michigan

May 02, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by Fargrow from Michigan

Apr 28, 2014
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Reviewed by Anitrak from Indiana

4.43/5  rDev +19.4%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4.25 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5
Every time I'm in Traverse, I try to make it in here. The bar is small and you'd probably think it was another art gallery if you were driving by and didn't know what you were looking for. It's really bright and the big windows in the front let a lot of light in which is really refreshing.

With it being small, the service is always excellent. They are friendly and everyone is really knowledgable. The last time I was there, I asked if they had any sours and the bartender went to the basement and pulled up their Cherry Sour and served me on a picnic tap. That's service. It's nice to play darts in here or just have a nice conversation. If I lived in Traverse, I'd probably come in everyday afterwork for at least one.

The beer is really good. It's not zany or untraditional. They have a core group of really well perfected beers. It's really worth stopping in!
Feb 26, 2014
 
Rated: 3.75 by DCdevyl78 from Illinois

Jan 29, 2014
 
Rated: 2 by sternamagrapha7x from Michigan

Dec 06, 2013
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Reviewed by joe1510 from Illinois

3.82/5  rDev +3%
vibe: 3.75 | quality: 3.75 | service: 4 | selection: 3.75
Brewery Ferment sits in a tiny little storefront that you have to keep an eye open to find. I walked by this place a few times without noticing it was a brewery before actually figuring it out. The interior space is small with a 7 or 8 person bar and 5 or 6 tables. A couple dart boards hang on the wall and the night I stopped in was apparently dart league night but that had already ended. There were maybe 10 people in the bar and all seemed to know each other, they were jamming some '90s rap and having some laughs. With a smile we were told that was their routine for dart league as Skee-Lo started playing. Everyone was super friendly and easy to get along with.

The taplist was larger than I expected with 10-12 beers on tap and a handful of new releases, some fruity and some hoppy. I tried a handful of beers, even styles I don't usually go for, and all were well made from fruited wheats to 8% IPAs. Unfortunately we stopped in about an hour before close, I would have liked to hang out at this place longer than I did. Brewery Ferment was so different than any other brewery I've been to that's it's certainly worth a stop, the beers were mighty fine as well.
Oct 22, 2013
 
Rated: 2.75 by rpenterics from Michigan

Oct 21, 2013
 
Rated: 3.75 by JohnnieNepal from Michigan

Oct 18, 2013
Brewery Ferment in Traverse City, MI
Brewery rating: 3.41 out of 5 with 71 ratings