Mackinaw Trail Brewing Company

We really enjoyed ourselves here. I find myself really appreciating the calmer atmospheres to enjoy beer and a conversation and this is exactly what this was. The building is set in a field about 5 miles from downtown Petoskey, 500 yards from the road. Grapes surround the building and there is a patio as well as indoor seating. We sat inside which was air conditioned and lit softly. The walls were all textured cream colored and with purple accents. Finished wood beams were exposed in some areas as well as a large clear glass window to see the brewing equipment on one side of the room. Wine and glassware as well as apparel was for sale on shelves throughout the room/dining area as well as 2 service stations. All their awards were displayed proudly in a couple areas. They had about 10-15 beers on tap. I tried 5 in a flight and 1 pint of another and all were excellent. The service was great also. The bartenders were very helpful in explaining the beverages. Food was available although we didn’t have any. You can definitely tell that wine is their bread and butter here but the beer selection and quality is worth noting and the service is worth a visit if you’re in the area. I will definitely return.

 

 

 

This was stop #6 (Petoskey location) & #8 (Manistique location) on a 6-day pub crawl that would take my wife and me to the Brewers Guild UP Beer Fest and back. This is the main location of a brewery/winery (actually mostly a winery), and is located about 3-4 miles south of Petoskey, and the building is set in about a quarter mile from the road so that you see the vineyard as you drive in.

Our stop here was mostly driven by wanting to buy some of their bourbon barrel-aged Molasses Stout. It turned out that they were out of the bottles of this beer that are mentioned in the previous review, although it was on tap (last keg) and available in a growler or howler, which is what I purchased. It was actually too early in the day to sample their other beers, but we had already decided to stop at their Manistique location to do that as we drove north to Marquette. That location (which is really just a tasting shop) did not have all of the beers on tap, so this review is a compilation of the beers we had there plus the rest of the beers that we sampled when we stopped back here again on the return trip. (We also sampled some of their wines, and they are tasty, especially a BBA Port.) They offer a few snacks and sandwiches, but we did not have anything to eat.

The beer quality is a very mixed bag for now. However, there is a new brewer as of a month ago, and as soon as the brewing operation is moved from Petoskey to Manistique, he will be reviewing all of the recipes and brewing them to his liking. We gave feedback of our tasting to help him in his effort. Actually, all of the beers except for the IP-EH are brewed close to style, but not much above or below. Beside the BBA Molasses Stout (very notable and they plan to brew it again), the only other beer that we liked was the Blackberry Saison. The rest were just okay. This place is worth visiting again just to get some Molasses Stout.

What a pleasant surprise this visit turned out to be. I did some online research before my family's vacation to the Petoskey area and learned about Mackinaw Trail Brewing Company. I saw on their website that they had a bourbon barrel aged Molasses Stout with a 13.6% abv. Right up my wheel house.

I believe the core business at their location is the Mackinaw Trail Winery. This particular location is approximately one to two mile south of the southern most section of business area in Petoskey on 31/131. Their building sits off 31/131 approximately a half mile and it is surrounded by several acres of grapevines.

Once inside, there is a wide open space that can seat up to 150 if they needed to. They had many different bottle of wine around the perimeter of the room. However, my prize was located in a separate cooler located to the right of the bar. The bar area was a pretty impressive setup. I wish I had spent more time taking in the bar's ambience but I had three kids waiting in the car so I couldn't mess around inside.

I had the pleasure of talking to a gentleman who was quite knowledgeable of their operation. I asked him if he knew what distillery's bourbon barrel was used to age their bba Molasses Stout and he told me it was Maker's Mark. I purchased the maximum daily limit of two bottles of the bba Molasses Stout. The two bottles cost me $53 and change. Very pricey. But he explained that the bottles were actually full fifths. Then he asked me if I wanted a small sample. Of course I wanted a small sample.

Holy cow! The sample I had was as good as any bba imperial stout I have ever had! In fact, I'll state right now this bba Molasses Stout was better than Bourbon County, KBS, Black Note, etc... I'm going back to get two more bottles tomorrow. And I'm fixin' to get a growler of their blueberry saison. That just sounds delicious. As I stated earlier, the Molasses Stout is quite pricey but definitely worth it. Check them out.