Great Lakes beer trip. Help!

You could spend all of that time in southwest Michigan/FFF/Chicago.

As far as southwest MI goes you've got Grand Rapids with Founders/Vivant/Hopcat/etc. All have good food. The food at FFF is damn fine as well. I'll let the FIBs chime in on Chicago.

Good place for a beercation.

 

You can use this Michigan Beer Guide link http://www.michiganbeerguide.com/?page=directory to guide your fun here. Almost anywhere that you stop will be a good time. When you hit the first Michigan Welcome Center at the state line on I-94 you can pick up a hard copy of this magazine.

 

FFF, Revolution, Half Acre, Pipeworks, Goose Island's brewpubs for Chicagoland. New Glarus or Lakefront if you're hitting Wisconsin. Michigan, well, too many to name. Dark Horse, Shorts, New Holland, and the ones you've mentioned. Have fun.

 

I second the comment above about staying in southwest Michigan. Founder's and Bell's are the no brainers. Brewery Vivant is unique and focus on Belgians. If you don't like Belgians, then stay away.

Perrin's is worth checking out if you are in the Grand Rapids area. Their barrel aged Malted Milk Ball Porter is f***ing outstanding.

Hopcat is a five minute walk away from Founder's. Go to Founder's for the beer. Go to Hopcat for the beer and food.

New Holland Brewing (in Holland, MI) and OddSide Ales (in Grand Haven, MI) are solid and are located closer to Lake Michigan than Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo.

Dark Horse Brewery (Marshall, MI) is about 40 minutes east of Kalamazoo and Arcadia Ales (Battle Creek, MI) is about 30 minutes east of Kalamazoo. Both are worth a stop if you have the time.

Farther north of Grand Rapids is Short's and Right Brain.

Do you golf? If so, bring your sticks. There are lots of great places to golf in Michigan for very reasonable prices.

 

Shorts. go to shorts. do it. seriously.

 

honestly if i could choose an itinerary it would look something like this. first stop would be 3 Floyds(or last stop or both depending on bottle availability) but i wouldnt spend any time staying overnight in the area unless the plan was to drink heavily. then id head to Kzoo for probably one overnight stay with visits to Bells and whatever else i could fit in. probably hit up New Holland on the way north and then spend a couple days in Grand Rapids. GR has a lot to offer so id maybe spend two nights here. for sure drive over to Odd Side while you are there. from there drive north to Traverse City and spend the rest of your time in northwest Michigan. this town is awesome and is in a beautiful part of the state. some nice brewerys like Jolly Pumpkin and Right Brain along with some silly good food and great beer on tap all over town. Shorts is an absolute must visit not too far from Traverse. i would say spend a night in Bellaire and enjoy that great brewery to its fullest along with little town. if you have time while in the Traverse area i would suggest checking out the Sleeping Bear Dunes.

Pure Michigan.

 

In Kalamazoo you should also check out The Beer Exchange, which is one of the best beer bars in the state, and literally like 150 yards from Bell's.

If you come east, the main must-visits on the southeast side of the state are Kuhnhenn in Warren and Jolly Pumpkin in Ann Arbor.

 

This is pretty much what I did a couple of years ago. Except I fit Greenbush in between FFF and Bell's.

 

If you skip Cleveland, you are doing yourself a disservice. Short on hype, big on great beer.

 

Stay at the Cleveland Hostel for a few nights. Visit Great Lakes and all the breweries/bars that a on the same block (All within walking distance of the hostel). Then hit up Willoughby, Fatheads, and The Brew Kettle.

 

I've never been big on Brew Kettle but Fat Heads and Great Lakes are must stops. Also, Market Garden brews some really good beer too and is literally across the street from GL. Willoughby is also pretty awesome.

 

I-94 east out of Chicago is great.

From FFF head east 1 about hour into MI to Greenbush. Then you can go north up 196 to the Livery, Saugatuck on your way to Holland (New Holland), and on to Grand Rapids. From there you can head up to Traverse City (multiple breweries). If you do head to northern Michigan, make sure you go to Short's in Bellaire!

Or...

Stay on 94 east towards Detroit, and do Bells, Paw Paw, Arcadia (mediocre), Dark Horse, Original Gravity, and all of the breweries in and around Ann Arbor. All in about 3 hours of driving time.

 

ditto on the Beer Exchange comment. I was pleasantly surprised at how knowledgeable our server was regarding the plethora of offerings. And we grilled her pretty good on a lot of items.

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Point : Counter-point. I added my two cents worth because I can't have that opinion go unopposed. Or did you mean for your description to be for Paw Paw?

 

If you are stopping in Chicago, check out http://www.chicagobrewbus.com.

Chicago suburbs:
Two Brothers in Warrenville IL
Solemn Oath in Naperville IL
and not too far from FFF is 18th St Brewery in Gary, IN

 

No, I actually meant Arcadia. I have long been a HUGE fan of theirs, and many of their brews, however, I found the brewery/brewpub to be quite mediocre. We didn't do a tour, rather just stopped in for a few beers and a bite. Mind you, this was at the brewpub in Battle Creek- as I understand they are expanding to Kalamazoo, and I am not sure the K-Zoo facility is open yet.

The waiter we had wasn't very knowledgeable, the variety of beers they had on offer were just the ones you could get at any retailer around Michigan, and they absolutely refused to fill a growler that wasn't their own.

On a day where we started at Greenbush, went to Bell's, Arcadia, and Dark Horse (where we got our growlers filled), Arcadia was definitely the low man on the ladder.

All of this -coupled with my feeling that the Michigan brewing landscape is exploding around them- I feel Arcadia's products are a bit less exciting than the majority of their newer and veteran contemporaries. It totally bums me out to say it, but there's just way better stuff just about anywhere you look in Michigan.

Though they don't boast the catalogue of brews that Arcadia has, Paw Paw is an up-and-comer, and though we did not stop there on the aforementioned day, I have had a few of their brews recently that I really enjoyed. That being said, If I had to choose one over the other for a future visit, I would do Paw Paw instead, having not been there yet.

Either way, you will not be disappointed with the I-94 beer tour.

 

Okay, your 'mediocre' is describing the experience there with the service, rules and physical facility rather than their beers, so that's different. (You must not have eaten there or your opinion may have been a better score because they do a bang-up job with the food.)

Arcadia is my home brewery so I keep track of them and stick up for them when I feel it is necessary. This brewery makes beer in the English tradition which means British hops and malts and yeast, all of which turn out beers that are not quite as exciting in flavor as beers with American hops, etc, and this is especially noticeable in their Pale Ale and the regular IPA. So your statement that their beers are not exciting has some basis. (It's unusual to hit them on a day when no pub-only brews were available, so you did miss an opportunity to enjoy a better experience.)

Over the years I've visited all of the breweries along the I-94 corridor, including Paw Paw shortly after they opened, and I didn't feel their beers were anything to talk about and that's why I asked if you stuck the 'mediocre' tag on the wrong brewery. However, they were a new brewery then which makes marginal-quality beers more understandable while they dial-in their recipes on their new equipment, and I have only tried one of their bottles offerings since my visit. It was just average, but when you visit there I hope you have a good experience.

The new Arcadia location is not yet open in Kzoo, but it should be any day now from what I hear. The brewery in BC will stay open and keep all of its equipment, and the plan is for the brewers in BC to have a greater opportunity to experiment with one-offs, etc. which should be exciting and make for a better future visit if you can come back again. If you do return, let me know and the first beer is on me.

 

It is sad that many do not get the British style beers that were the forefront in many craft breweries 15 to 20 years ago. The malt, hops, yeast, and carbonation levels are unfamiliar to most these days. I say that because one of my locals, Grizzly Peak, has more traditional British Ales. The IPA they make is 6%, dry, served on hand pump, and has EKG hops shoveled in. Since that hop profile is not known to most, they think it is not hopped, and is thin and watery. God forbid they go to Britain someday and experience real ale there.