Breweries near Airports

Well, I guess it isn't drinking and driving?

 

3 Floyds is actually 2.8 miles from the Lansing, IL airport, however the brewpub permanently closed and the distillery hasn't announced a reopening date.

 

To be fair, he didn't allude to a bar hop, per se.

24 hours from bottle to throttle.

 

Fat heads brewery is a little over three miles from CLE airport.

Closest I have visited was upper hand brewery in Escanaba, Michigan. Can easily walk to it from the airport - nearly on the airport grounds.

 

Long trip from Florida!

 

Missed the part about leaving from the MI/OH border.

I can't remember if there's a strip at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo* -- could be a nice hop to Bell's.

*Right next to the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek "International" Airport.

 

Triptych in Savoy is pretty close to Willard, if you want to go visit U of I.

 

Good call. Probably a 5 minute drive/Uber from Willard to Triptych. Both airport and brewery are in Savoy. And they sell packaged beer to go. From Triptych you'd be about another 10 minute drive to Riggs Beer Comany in Urbana. They also have packaged beer to go. Both places typically have a food truck on the weekend. Both allow you to have food delivered in too. There's also an even smaller airport in Urbana in case Willard wouldn't work out.

 

Traverse City Airport is within 10 minutes from a handful of breweries. That’s the only one I can think of at the moment.

 

Upper Hand Brewing is a part of Bell's Brewery, now owned by Kirin, the company that also owns New Belgium (being in Michigan now, you're probably very aware of that).

My input for airports for which I have some familiarity:

Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport was mentioned above. Kalamazoo (north of the airport) and Portage (south of the airport) are not large cities, and there are about a dozen breweries that are easily reachable. One Well Brewing is about a mile north, and Latitude 42 Brewing and Presidential Brewing are about a mile south. Hotels are close to that airport if you need an overnight.

Battle Creek Executive Airport at Kellogg Field will give you access to two breweries: Territorial Brewing (has food) is only a mile away, and Handmap Brewing (no food but is food friendly and usually has a very good burger food truck on Saturdays, plus restaurants nearby for carry-out) is in downtown, about 3-4 miles away. No hotels are close to the airport, but Battle Creek has a ton of them, mostly in the busy commercial area along I-94 at the south edge of the city.

Brooks Field in Marshall is just a half mile or so from Dark Horse Brewing (food), and in downtown Marshall is Grand River Brewing (food). There are a couple chain hotels just north of town along I-94, plus a few older mom & pop motels.

A bit of a unique, but flight-related, opportunity for you also exists at the Battle Creek Executive Airport. Being an aviator, you're probably aware of the Waco brand of airplanes. Those bi-planes are manufactured at this airport, and there is a nice restaurant called Waco Kitchen (https://www.wacokitchen.com/) that is located on the second floor of that building/hangar. It has large windows that overlook the airport runways (2nd or 3rd busiest airport in Michigan because of the Western Michigan University Aviation School there and all of their take-offs and landings), plus you get to see Waco airplanes being built in the hangers below. They have a modest beer list with usually a couple good ones on it. While reading the food menu you can also read which planes that they have for sale. Oh, and it's one stop shopping - they have a refueling service too. What more could you want?

 

Schaumburg Regional Airport in IL has a few breweries in the vicinity:

Pollyanna Brewing Company ( < 2 miles)
Wolfden Brewing Company (~3.5 miles)
Church Street Brewing Company (~ 7 miles)

Many more over the 10 mile range (More Brewing, Afterthought Brewing Company, Mikerphone Brewing are a few examples) but this may be out of your preferred radius. Congrats on the pilot license btw.

 

What breweries are YOU near? Anything good we should set up an air drop for?

 

Little parachutes on cans/bottles of beer falling from the sky. Love it!

 

Urrrp! First thing I thought of when I read that was the "WKRP in Cincinnati Thanksgiving Day Turkey Drop" -

 

After your stop in Urbana fly on over to Bloomington/ Normal, IL.
Destihl Brewing, Lil Beaver, White Oak, Keg Grove and Casper Brewing are all 12 min or less from Central Illinois Regional Airport (CIRA)and all have to go options. Only Destihl and Lil Beaver serve food but the others you can order food in.

 

If you want to take a longer trip (much longer haha), Kern River Brewing Company is super accessible by plane by landing at L05. More accessible than car even. You’d probably even have a volunteer from the airport give you a quick lift to and from.

How do I know this random fact about a brewery on the other side of the country in the podunks? Well, I used to work at that airport and hitch rides to the brewery all the time.