I am heading up around Lake Superior at the end of the month. We will be staying in Whitefish Point, Marquette, and Ashland. We are visiting Mackinaw City for a day. Is there any bottle shops, breweries, or restaurants with great beer selections I should try? I will probably bring a few bottles of Surly Darkness 2016 with me for trading if anyone is interested.
Ashland doesn't have much, aside from South Shore Brewing (which is mediocre at best). For bottles try Star Liquor, but you aren't going to be blown away by the selection. Marquette, on the other hand, is great: Breweries: Blackrocks- must stop one of the best breweries in MI. Always has lots of great draft only beer on tap. Ore Dock Congnition (in nearby Ishpeming) Bars: Portside- MI only taplist, great if you want to see what the state has to offer. Econo Foods White's Party Store Keep an eye out for cans of Old Nation's M-43 if you are into NE IPAs. Michigan Only relatively easy to find in the U.P.
Mackinac City - Bier de Mac Brew Works is a new but very solid brewery. It's worth a stop! If you decide to hop over to the island, be sure to get to Mary's Bistro, biggest tap system in the U.P. and they had a great lineup when I was there this summer. Whitefish Point - If you're here already, do yourself a favor and get to Brown's Fish House in Paradise. No beer, but the best fried fish I've ever eaten. Also you might be tempted to go to Tahquamenon Falls Brewing Company, but don't. Marquette - I'll echo what @cl3 said, but note that Cognition is probably my favorite brewery in the state. Also Lagniappe has outstanding Cajun food, and a decent beer list.
I second visiting Brown's for fish. I worked up there for a spring and ate there whenever I could. I can't remember if they have any other choice, but get the whitefish. I've always had good whitefish at Tahqua Brewing as well, the beer isn't great though. If you somehow end up in Grand Marais, MI the Dune Saloon was always a favorite for pizza when I lived up there. The beer, like Tahqua, is unremarkable.
Just to clarify, these aren't bars. Econo is probably the largest grocery store up there and has a good assortment of MI beers. White's often has some pretty good bottles hanging around on the shelf that sell out pretty fast elsewhere in the state. Though post-tourist season the selection is usually picked over pretty well.
Sometimes they have trout. I'm batting .500 in my two trips there. Also the smoked fish dip is stupid good. In any case, the fish you order was swimming just hours earlier.
I was going to say that Dune Saloon had the best fried fish I've ever eaten. I've not had the fish from Brown's though. I thought Dune Saloon's beer was acceptable, the brown was pretty good.
I had their cherry wheat (maybe Jasper Wheat?, it was before I really kept track) several years ago and it tasted like Cap'n Crunch's Crunch Berries. I never liked that for breakfast, certainly didn't like it in my beer!
