Disappointing visit to Lakefront

Every time I go there(which is more often lately),there are 30-40 people waiting for the next tour,and 30-40 people finishing the last tour,all holding their cups out for their free samples. They are free to pick from anything that's on tap.They go through a ton of beer daily this way.I suppose they could have a small section of taps off to the side of their smaller releases,but many of those are available in bottles in the cooler anyways.They have enlarged their food offerings,and that's why Ive been stopping there for lunch more often.12-15 tap beers to chose from,several days ago,I had fish tacos and Fixed Gear for lunch.Their Friday fish Fry is extremely popular,and now they are offering a special firkin every Friday,yesterday it was East Side Dark aged with rum aged oak chips. I love the vibe in the place,and based on the number of people every single day taking the tour,so do a lot more

 

Well said!

 

Don't ever go to back road brewing in la porte indiana then.

 

Wow, you had a great time compared to the only time we were there! We were staying downtown without a car as we took the ferry in from Muskegon. I called and asked them what their hours were for today and they gave them. We took a cab out and got dropped off at the front. It was a $20 plus ride. When we got in they said they were closed for a private party that was starting in about 2 hours so we had to leave. I explained the situation and asked if we could at least have a beer while we waited for a cab. At first they said no but later agreed to sell us 2 for $5 each, served in a plastic cup. We drank them and they told us we would have to wait outside. That was over $50 for 2 marginal beers served in plastic cups in a hostile brewery. Needless to say, we saw all we need of that place.

 

If your not on the tour,and you buy a beer,its served in a shaker glass. I've never beenserved in a plastic cup. I definitely would not care for that

 

Lakefront doesn't want to be a "brew-pub". One of the great things about them is the local first mindset. They don't want to compete for business with local accounts. I doubt you'll ever see them staying open to bar close. The beer hall has developed a ton over the last year, so I wouldn't be surprised if we see a lot more positive changes. I bet they are grateful that living social is over, over 1000 of those deals sold, so I'm not surprised your friend slipped through the cracks the last week before the deal expired. Real classy guy by the way, using it twice.

 

I'm excited to continue trying their Friday firkins, which I think are a move in the right direction as far as in house offerings. I live in the area and make sure to pop in on Friday for a pint.

The MKE tour changed to all you can drink in two hours I believe.

If I had to guess this'll most likely be the last living social deal in a while. I think it made sense to offer to show off the fact that it's now a really unique beer hall to a wider audience, but having to fill 2600 growlers in a 4 months may open eyes hahaha.

 

Well as someone with tons of free time and a brewery within 5 minutes of his home.... The Friday nights are ridiculous. They open the fish fry at about 4pm and from roughly 6pm-10pm in the summer the hall is filled, front main hall, and also the back two bars. I usually just skip past the tour line and the food line and head to the bar. The best time is at 5pm when all the bartenders are in for the night but the hall isnt too busy yet. One night I came in and they had an Imperial stout with KK whiskey soaked oak chips on.... I was in heaven (until I had to walk home, holy cow). The big guy at the end of the bar was able to help me in about 2 minutes.

I talked to the FOH manager there and he said he was going to expand the firkins in the near future, he was just trying to get the word out that they were going to have them more regularly. He mentioned something about Tuesdays or Wednesdays being the next day he would expand them to. If you look at their setup for it I can see why he hesitates to do it on more days, standard gravity mount with no cooling beyond some ice.

 

I will tell you one thing I was slightly miffed at. The "My Turn: Johnson" was never sold in house. I asked and the tour guide said they never even got a keg of it. All of it went out to distributors. I feel like they should get first pick of the beers to sell in house before they go out to stores.

 

The way the My Turn series works is that they just keep going until everyone is done. I asked and I heard the next one up was an Double Pilsner and its just about ready to be bottled. They are pushing through the series faster now at this point I think.

That being said, I'm sure they noted this is the most popular yet and will hang on to the recipe.

I just tried an Organic IPA (Hop Trial 15 or 16) they had on their tap two weeks ago that was fantastic. Belgian yeast made it a bit sweet, but the tour guide said the next batch would have a heavier hop taste. I got a growler of that bad boy.

 

There was a whole two months where they had the hop trials for the Extended play go up. I think I tried 3 versions of it (last one (release) is by far the best by the way in my opinion). They had MT: John on tap for a long time also.

Yea, I think its just a matter of being lucky (or living in the area).

 

Always enjoyed the tour. My wife was given the great honor of "bung hole queen" what's not to love?

 

The point is they are experiencing tremendous success as is. They can hardly keep up with their present orders,every time they upgrade with bigger beers,the system is stressed even more. When the current operation is working smoothly,expand,but at a careful rate,they don't claim to be a Miller or Stones. There truly are a bunch of good people running this operation,they are still somewhat new to the special release segment of the industry,they will figure it out ,but at their pace. Indeed go to Miller if you want super polished pristine conditions, highly trained tour guides and bartenders