Mi guys Lets start something here, Best local beer noones ever heard of

I'd say Big Rock Chop House is the most under the radar place. Super high quality (Red Rocks, Saison St. Claire, BA and Reg Imperial Stout, IPAs....) and not too much talk of them on the sites.

 

Numerous beers from Odd Side ales. They are barrel aging and working on sours. Underated brewery IMO.

 

Wolverine State Brewing did a bock called Bread Winner that I had at Shark's Club one night that I thought was amazing. For a common beer off the shelves I have always loved New Holland's The Poet. But on tap my top choice is Kuhnhenn's Creme Brulee Java Stout.

 

I'm happy with everything from North Peak.

Leelanau Brewing is worth tracking a bottle down, since it's brewed for them by Jolly Pumpkin,

Otherwise, my favorite MI breweries are Greenbush, Brewery Vivant, HopCat, and Kuhnhenn.

 

Some of my favorites not from the Big 3 that comes to mind

Everything Kuhnhenn...for their size, the brew BIG amazing beers
Final Absolution from DragonMead
Neapolitan Milk Stout from Saugatuck Brewing
BB Shamans Porter from Atwater
BB Shipwreck Porter from Arcadia

 

Yeah, Saugatuck is not bad. Neapolitan Milk Stout is good and their Singapore IPA is a good $7.99 sixer.

I also think Arbor's Framboozled is a pretty tasty sour.

 

Calling Kuhnhenn under the radar is a bit of a stretch. If you've been on BeerAdvocate for a couple months you have most likely heard of them, especially if you're from Michigan.

Big Rock Chophouse is in my opinion the best brewery in Michigan that doesn't get it's dues. I've had 4 or 5 brews from them and they were all great. You can also buy bottles at the brewery pretty much all the time.

Wolverine State is kind of strange in the fact that they specialize in lagers but everything I've had at their pub has been at the very least above average to very good (I've avoided their standard Lager and Dark Lager). The Gulo Gulo "India Pale Lager" is damn good.

Odd Side is definitely making a case for themselves out in Grand Haven. I've only been their once but overall I was impressed. My favorite was probably the Citra Pale Ale. They had a sour on tap, I believe it was Atomic Cherry or something to that effect. It could use a little fine tuning but for how long they've been around it was nice. There was also a Tart Cherry Imperial Stout which seemed like it had the Atomic Cherry blended into it, that was very good.

I'll give a little shout out to Witch's Hat Brewing in South Lyon. I was there the first week that they opened and they definitely know what they're doing. Currently most of their offerings are fairly pedestrian but I except good things in the future.

 

HEY, Shhhhh!

 

The Livery, hands down. Their Grand Reserve Triple Wiezenbock is insanity, not to mention the Cherry Bomb and the Runemiester. Great location, real nice guys, and down to earth people sitting at their bar.

 

Man, I've had nothing but disappointing bottles from these dudes. The wheatwine...the flanders red...the barrel-aged imperial stout. All were pretty awful. Was initially stoked to try something "new" (for me) from Michigan, but was left wanting so much more.

Odd Sides, though.....the coffee stout was pretty sick (in a good way).

 

Big Buck in Gaylord. They have a new brewer and he is doing a amazing job. They have allot of Big BIG beers that are awesome.

 

Out of curiosity when did you get these bottles and what was wrong with them? I don't make it down there very often but I've had bottles of Red Rock (Flanders Red) and BA Flying Buffalo on a few occasions. Red Rock is usually a gusher but otherwise great. I've had some low carbonation issues with BA Flying Buffalo but it's always tasted very good. It's been quite awhile, at least 6 months, since I've had one of their bottles. Hopefully it's an isolated incident and not an overall dip in quality. Either way it's disappointing to hear someone being turned off of a brewery that I've had nothing but good experiences with.

 

Redwood Lodge in Flint.

 

Arbor Brewing Co.'s Red Snapper

 

Call me a homer (since I live 1 mile from it), but I have to say The Walldorff from right here in downtown Hastings! Great beer, great food, and great service....and located dead center of the Founders, Bells, and Dark Horse "triangle".
Come check it out! And if you do, let me know, I will buy you a round.

I will also throw votes on Odd Side and Livery....I have heard tons of great things, but haven't been to either yet

 

I'm not from Michigan but, I visit the U.P. 4-6 times a year. I try to always hit up the Keweenaw Peninsula as there is a few decent brewpubs there, with The Library in Houghton (Java Stout rocks!!!) definitely sticking out to me. If only their service was better and they could learn to fill a growler....

 

I was just there and got one filled! Its worth it man... Certainly a unique and very delicious beer. Every trip to kuhnhenn is always a great one!

And if you haven't been to Dark Horse or Dragonmead I'd certainly recommend those places. Especially Dark Horse, that place is awesome!

Short's is always a hike to get up to, but if you are doing a ski/snowboard trip and go to boyne, shorts is right there and a great place to hang out.

As for more local small time stuff, ive been to a lot of local breweries around the detroit/ann arbor/royal oak area and unfortunately nobody really hit it home for me... gonna hawk this thread to see if any new places pop up to try though!

 

Agree with all of this, I would throw Greenbush in Sawyer into the mix, I have had a few of their offerings and hear they are doing some pretty amazing stuff, I look forward to checking them out in person this weekend.