Ann Arbor Michigan, new breweries and must visit hot spots

HOMES brewing is the big up and comer. Jolly Pumpkin has great food and sour beers. Hopcat is a great beer bar with a huge selection of taps. I've heard good things about Pileated brewing as well

 

second HOMES. Easily the best brewery in town. Wolverine is good for lagers and atmosphere, but don't expect to be blown away by anything. Pileated is pretty good but they have strange hours of operation so be sure to check before you try it. Jolly Pumpkin for good food and sours, Hopcat as well for a good selection.

 

I'll weigh-in and reiterate what a few have said...

HOMES is the new kid on the block, but you wouldn't know it by their product. They make excellent fruit-forward sours and a good variety of IPAs. Great Korean street food too.

Wolverine Brewing make lagers exclusively. I think they're pretty underrated - their BBA black lager and their Racher smoked lager (on tap now) are standouts. Their year-round IPL Gulo Gulo is also very good.

Jolly Pumpkin does have excellent food and sours, but if you want additional variety, seek out Null Taphouse in Dexter (about 10 mins west of A2). They have many more beers available from both Jolly Pumpkin and North Peak brewing, as well as many pub exclusives like their triple IPA aged in Buffalo Trace barrels. They also have a store with t-shirts, gifts, and bottles to go.

Just down the street from HOMES is the Session Room - a family friendly restaurant that features over 70 taps. Solid food and some great beer make this a good option if you're looking for something other than a brewery.

The north side of town finally has a decent destination: Rappourt is a casual, communal pub with an emphasis on excellent beer (40+ on draft). They were once the Wine Seller, my go to bottle shop, but the owners noticed the lack of good bars in the area and reinvented their business as something entirely new for the area. They also sell bottles to go.

The Beer Grotto is a no-frills beer bar in downtown A2 - kitty-corner from Bill's Beer Garden - an outdoor "beer courtyard". Both are a perfect way to spend a nice summer night out. Also recommended: going across the street to Blimpy Burgers and bringing back a triple patty to enjoy with your beer.
There's also a Beer Grotto in Dexter with a different draft list.

Grizzly Peak and Arbor Brewing are two of the oldest breweries in the area. Both have solid food options (I'm partial to GP) and about 10 beers on draft at any given time. Both are walking distance from one another downtown.

 

I'll second everything here and add:

Cheddar Ale soup from Grizzly Peak.
Ashley's is my go-to. Huge amount of taps and bottles, and great food.

 

So true. The cheddar ale soup is incredible. My wife talks about it every time we're nearby.

I don't know how I could have forgotten about Ashley's - it's a true institution in town and is a must stop. Hopcat is just around the corner, but Ashley's should be a priority!

 

Also if you’re over towards Ypsi at all, Cultivate might have the best taplist in the county IMO.

 

HOMES can release today. Saw the sour sold out by 115pm so made no effort to make the drive. Ive been there’s once before and man do they make some good kettle sours. God damn

 

AA is a 3 step program.

Step 1 - Go To HOMES
Step 2 - Order Bulgogi fries and a beer
Step 3 - Thank me later

 

I went today for the cans. Got there at noon.
Had cans at 12:45. Had a beer in line and then beer and lunch and was out of there at 1:15.
Another POS would speed things up, but it wasn’t a bad day to stand in line.

 

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but had some Ann Arbor questions and I will be there in a couple weeks. It looks like HOMES is a must hit, but was wondering about Transient and Speciation around town. Any bottle shops carry their stuff or are they brewery only? Apologies if this is covered elsewhere. Cheers and thanks!

 

Not all that familiar with A2. But know enough to steer you towards Blue Front which is a bottle shop in town that does has a rotating growler fill station. They might also have some bottles of Speciation available. Only place that carries Transient (other than the brewery and other places in Chicago) on the East side is 8 Degrees Plato which is in Detroit. Other than that you SOL.

 

Ah gotcha. Yeah I figured they were mostly brewery only and hard to come by. I saw in another thread someone mentioned transient at 8 degrees Plato, so I might need to make a detour. Will definitely check out Blue Front. Thanks!

 

Actually on the Transient availability, Cultivate in Ypsi carries their cans. Just depends on when they get drops as it varies all the time what they have.

 

Good to know! Thanks for the tip

Ypsi is definitely closer than Detroit.
I'd say check it out.

 

Sweet, I’ll be pouring for my brother’s brewery (Snowbelt, shameless plug) at the Michigan Brewers Guild Festival, so I’ll check it out!

 

Cultivate is within walking distance of the Festival. In fact, I've seen people clogging up their parking lot by using it as defacto parking for the fest.

 

That parking area is the worst just in general...make sure you don't park in Sidetracks lot or the parking attendant will be on you.

Also keep on eye on what they have on tap the day before the fest and the nights of it..if I remember correctly they put some more interesting beer on draft at that time.

 

If time permits, how about hitting up Edelbrau Brewery? https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/55948/ It's a fairly new brewery with a pretty good beer rating, but no one has placed a review or rating on the 'Place' itself yet. My last visit to AA was just before it opened, and I haven't been back yet to check them out. It might be worth your time.