Michigan trip

There is a good chance that Witch's Hat may have Rez gets Smashed in cans when you come...

 

Rez and Train Hopper were both canned yesterday and now on sale at the brewery...

 

Thinking about coming up from Ohio this summer. Interested in is there any good camp grounds in the shorts, traverse city and sleepy bear sand dunes area

 

Sorry to revisit the topic. I am going to be passing through Detroit tomorrow on my way home from a supplier. I'm planning to stop at 8 Degree Platos in Detroit on Cass, any recommendations on things that may have recently released? I live in Cincinnati, so we get Short's, Bells', Founders, etc.

Thanks for the help!

 

Regardless that you get Short's in Ohio now, I don't think that all of their seasonals have gone outside Michigan, so take a look at the Short's section of the store's shelves for something of interest that you haven't seen. Take a look at the Short's beer release link below to see which ones were recent that you might still find.
https://www.shortsbrewing.com/2016 bottle-release-schedule/

 

Thanks for the help! I picked up a couple of the Short's bottles I haven't seen down my way. I got a pretty good haul including some of the new Stroh's which the store owner insisted I purchase. Glad I did it's really good.

 

hey michigander's, looking to head up to Detroit Friday for Wings-Jackets, figured need to c the Joe before it closes for good! Thinking of best places to hit up before gametime, so far plan is Kuhnhenn n Dragonmead at 11ish then a bottle shop, MAYBE time to hit up a Detroit brewery before heading to arena around 6ish to walk around Joe and soak in the history.

Mainly curious if any breweries u guys personally would recommend, also thought about Witch's Hat, Griffin Claw amongst others, also curious how the craft situation is at the Joe.

 

I really liked Batch Brewing when I stopped there this summer. It is probably 5-6 blocks from the Joe if you want to walk between them. https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/39159/

 

Not to derail cbjfan's bump, take care of him first...

I will be headed to Michigan 12/16-12/18, coming from the Chicago area, here is my initial plan:

Day 1:
Greenbush
New Hollands
Oddside
(Drive to GR)

Day 2:
Perrin
Founders (Tour)
Hopcart
Vivant
(Sicilianos & Rishi Liquor Stores)

Day 3:
(Drive to Kalamazoo)
Bells (Tour)
Dark Horse
3 Floyds
(Head home)

Planning to tour Founders and Bells, maybe New Hollands...feel like this schedule is very weather dependent. Felt like it would be best to hit the west coast stops along the lake first if the weather looks friendly. Does New Hollands actually brewery have a taproom or do you have to hit one of their brewpubs?

Open to suggestions, I mainly care about Oddside, Bells & Founders.

 

No taproom at the New Holland Brewery Facility. The pub is downtown holland and is about 10 minutes south of the brewery.

 

If you want Zombie Dust, Wed is probably better than Friday

 

I didn't realize batch was that close to the arena! Probably hit that or motor city up after the others, thanks!

 

Depending on how long you're in town, Witch's Hat is quite far from downtown. Given you're starting at Kuhnhenn and Dragonmead, I think it'll be too difficult to get out to Witch's Hat on the same day with a hockey game that night. Griffin Claw would be easier to hit after those two in Warren.

As Mothergoose mentioned, Batch is close to JLA, and they have decent beer. Corktown also has Slow's BBQ, Mercury Burger & Bar, Two James Distillery, and Brew Detroit, among other places.

Motor City Brew Works and Traffic Jam and Snug are in Midtown. They're a lot closer to the new arena than JLA. However, you also have HopCat for your beer bar needs, and 8 Degrees Plato for your bottle shop needs. Alternatively, you can hit 8 Degrees Ferndale and Holiday Market Royal Oak for bottle shop needs after the Warren places and Griffin Claw, instead.

 

Making a day trip of it so I'm planning on hitting up Warren close to or at 11 when the breweries there open.

I think I have it down to Kuhnhenn and Dragonmead, then probably a bottle shop, then Batch, then JLA. Decided I'm coming up from Columbus so likely 3 breweries is my max with the drive and work tomorrow haha. Figured Kuhnhenn and Dragonmead I noticed have rediculous taplists and if I attempt to add Hopcat I will be in trouble! Thinking I will use a bottle shop to get some Griffin Claw or other non Ohio distroed brew, thanks for the response!

 

In GR, I'm a big fan of ELK Brewing, which is only a couple blocks from Vivant.

On the way from K'zoo back to Chicago, Latitude 42 in Portage does good stuff, and they have a retail kiosk and good food as well

 

I second @Mothergoose03's suggestion on going to Batch. Great brewery tucked back in Corktown offering good beer and food. I was actually just there on Sunday and their current lineup is pretty great.

However Google maps has the walk to the Joe as a 1.1-1.2 mile route (through some interesting parts of the neighborhood) and the weather service is calling for some cold temps Friday evening.

 

Batch is great, but I wouldn't want to walk to JLA from there in bad weather. It's in the wrong direction from JLA, but Nemo's sports bar is my go-to for transport when I'm going to a downtown event. It's an old-timey place that has solid burgers, parking, a cheap shuttle to the downtown arenas, and easy access to the freeway (without dealing with the downtown traffic). I usually hit a place or two like Batch in Corktown, then stop in Nemo's for one last beverage and a ride to the game.

 

I enjoy Bells, but I think Dark Horse is a much better experience, especially the brewery tour at DH. I took some friends to Dark Horse for the tour after we went to Bells and they would have preferred to have stayed at DH,FWIW.

 

Good to know, there are a lot of options in Grand Rapids it appears, my main priority being Founders. My only other plans there were to hit Perrin, and Vivant, mostly because I've had their stuff and like it. Hopcat seemed like a solid brewpub (dinner) option, even though we have Hopcat in Chicago, I've just never been, don't know if the experience will be very different. And some bottle stores of course...Rishis and Sicilianos both look solid.

It seems I can easily hit 10+ breweries in the 3 days I'm in the area, all of this greatly relying on cooperative weather.

Good to know, thanks! Just changed the reservation for my Bells tour so I could fit in Dark Horse, I was planning to go to both but not necessarily tour both, thanks for the tip.