MI Beer-cation 7/26-8/4

Discussion in 'Great Lakes' started by hopchick, Jul 22, 2013.

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  1. hopchick

    hopchick Initiate (0) Jun 27, 2013 Florida

    Sorry we missed each other!
     
    #101 hopchick, Aug 2, 2013
  2. hopchick

    hopchick Initiate (0) Jun 27, 2013 Florida

    Day 7 brought us to 5 breweries:
    Jaden James - connected to Cascade Winery, they had some excellent brews. Worth checking out. Hubby tried the jalapeno wine and liked that as well.
    Schmohz - decent for English-style beers, but our least fave of the day.
    Harmony - pizza was outstanding, and beers were good.
    Brewery Vivant - very cool place. I'm not a Belgian fan, but their beers were top-notch for the style. Hubby's bringing home some cans
    Hideout - 26(!) of their own beers on tap. We tried 11, many of which were very good. Their setup is insanely small, but they've got a team of good brewers who brew constantly.

    Decided to spend the night in Holland and probably do the Dutch Village tomorrow, along with New Holland and whatever else we find in the area. Will hit Perrin on the way back east tomorrow evening.
     
    #102 hopchick, Aug 2, 2013
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  3. moshea

    moshea Initiate (0) Jul 16, 2007 Michigan

    Enjoy New Holland. I enjoy their beer, and really enjoyed their Pub. It has a great pub atmosphere and good food. Downtown Holland is a nice place to stroll off an afternoon New Holland beer buzz
     
    #103 moshea, Aug 2, 2013
  4. adamdd

    adamdd Initiate (0) May 9, 2011 Michigan

    I don't think many of us in west Michigan would have expected you to like Schmohz. Check out Our Brewing in Holland, and it isn't too far to skip up the road to Grand Haven to go to Odd Side.
     
    #104 adamdd, Aug 2, 2013
  5. PapaGoose03

    PapaGoose03 Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,057) May 30, 2005 Michigan
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    You are spot on with your assessments of these breweries (in my way of thinking) except that I've never been to Jaden James. I've driven past there any number of times but have never stopped, so your feedback will now encourage me to do so. You're doing a great job of keeping us all informed; thanks for the reports. :slight_smile:
     
    #105 PapaGoose03, Aug 2, 2013
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  6. hopchick

    hopchick Initiate (0) Jun 27, 2013 Florida

    Day 8 was a light day. We stayed in Holland last night, and had brunch at deBoer's Dutch Brothers Restaurant & Bakery (YUM), then visited the DeKlomp Wooden Shoe & Delft Factory (disappointed the tulip garden was closed!). We then went to New Holland (very good) and Our Brewing (also pretty good - some unique IPAs). We enjoyed walking around, and had a good dinner at 8th Street Grill (lots of craft beer).
    Next we went to Perrin and enjoyed some of their beers. Their t-shirts are crazy cheap compared to other breweries ($12-15, even for women's)!

    Decided to head back toward Flint tomorrow since we're flying out early Sunday. We'll hit the Lansing breweries on the way and finish up at the one in Flint. Need to find one more on the way to make an even 30 though - we hit #25 today!

    If anyone is in the Lansing or Flint area, we have some Cigar City leftover that we had brought up. We have Maduro (6 as of now) and Jai Alai (4) cans. PM or comment if you want to meet up and trade.
     
    #106 hopchick, Aug 3, 2013
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  7. miwestcoaster

    miwestcoaster Grand Pooh-Bah (3,981) Jan 19, 2013 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah

    Glad you had a good time in Holland. Tulip Time as we call it is sometime in the May 05 to May 15 time frame each year. Come back then to see thousands of tulips around town. Soon after, the tulips are done. Have a safe trip home.
     
    #107 miwestcoaster, Aug 3, 2013
  8. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,647) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah

    Witch's Hat in South Lyon is a little out of the way but one I like (can't remember if you have been).

    You could also consider the town of Frankenmuth, which is about a half hour north of Flint with 2 brewpubs.
     
    #108 hopfenunmaltz, Aug 3, 2013
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  9. Pete811

    Pete811 Initiate (0) May 13, 2013 Michigan

    Great choice for Deboers bakery, they have the best breakfast in Holland
     
    #109 Pete811, Aug 3, 2013
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  10. hopchick

    hopchick Initiate (0) Jun 27, 2013 Florida

    Final day done :slight_frown: . We started with Eaglemonk. Very solid beers, although lacking in atmosphere lol. Next was Bad Brewing, also worth a stop (plus their logo is cool). We took hopfenunmaltz's advice and hit Witch's Hat after that. Also some pretty good beers. Made the huge mistake of going to Fenton in South Lyon next. The worst brewery of our trip, with some really bad beers. Skip it!

    Finished our night at Redwood in Flint. Some excellent brews, more than made up for Fenton. They have a Russian Imperial Stout on right now that's been aged in bourbon barrels for 4 years. Hubby was in Heaven (not my style so I didn't go near it lol).

    We've had a wonderful time on our beer-cation! Met so many nice people (sorry I didn't get to meet any of you!), enjoyed the beautiful weather (home is mid-90s with over 90% humidity), walked barefoot on the soft grass (ours is hard like hay even during the rainy season), sampled about 150 different beers (hubby's total is higher), and hit 30 breweries plus the fest over 9 days. Now detox/real life begins with our morning flight home.

    I'll be writing up a much more detailed review of our trip, in the next week or so; I'll post it here for everyone's reference when I'm done.

    Thank you all so much for all your great advice! Cheers!
     
    #110 hopchick, Aug 4, 2013
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  11. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,647) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah

    Fenton brewing is in Fenton, for the record.

    A friend who lives in Fenton says that the beer has improved. You can make your own conclusion.
     
    #111 hopfenunmaltz, Aug 4, 2013
  12. PapaGoose03

    PapaGoose03 Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,057) May 30, 2005 Michigan
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    I have agreed with all of hopchick's brewery evaluations in her posts so far, and I have Fenton on my list of new places to visit next weekend, so now I don't know if I will. Maybe I'll put in on my stop-if-time-permits list.
     
    #112 PapaGoose03, Aug 4, 2013
  13. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,647) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah

    Would like to her your opinion.
     
    #113 hopfenunmaltz, Aug 4, 2013
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  14. hopchick

    hopchick Initiate (0) Jun 27, 2013 Florida

    You're correct, Witch's Hat is in South Lyon.

    If that was improved, I'd hate to taste the original!
     
    #114 hopchick, Aug 4, 2013
  15. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,647) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah

    Will look for your detailed trip report.
     
    #115 hopfenunmaltz, Aug 5, 2013
  16. hopchick

    hopchick Initiate (0) Jun 27, 2013 Florida

    Side note - Founders hits us in FL in a couple weeks - very excited! :slight_smile::slight_smile::slight_smile:
     
    #116 hopchick, Aug 6, 2013
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  17. Arsenal_MC

    Arsenal_MC Initiate (0) Feb 25, 2013 District of Columbia
    Trader

    So I'm going up to MI for the first time at the end of the month. Staying in Rochester Hills, 20 miles north of Warren (Kuhnhenn).. I'm on a tight schedule as the reason we're going is to visit my girlfriend's family, but I've been alotted 1 day for beer (not including Warren and the surrounding area, I can make that a mini-trip).

    I was thinking about making a loop... Ann Arbor (Jolly Pumpkin), Marshall (Dark Horse), Kalamazoo (Bell's/bottle shop), Grand Rapids (Founder's), Lansing (dinner with an old rommmate), back to Rochester Hills.. Does that sound feasible? Trying to decide what day of the week to do it (Thurs the 29th, Fri, or Sat.)..

    I've read that Kuhnhenn tour is a must to get some BB4D, so should we do it Saturday? Also, anywhere I can find an (over-priced) CBS, maybe at a bar or something?!?! Thanks for any comments!

    Cheers,
    Mike
     
    #117 Arsenal_MC, Aug 7, 2013
  18. PapaGoose03

    PapaGoose03 Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,057) May 30, 2005 Michigan
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    If you go on a Saturday then you'll give yourself an extra hour because JP opens at 10 on Sat & Sun. Otherwise, you've got a lot of miles and hours ahead of you. From JP to Dark Horse is an hour or so; DH to Bell's is 45 minutes; Bell's to Founders is an hour; Founders to Lansing is also an hour. So there's almost 4 hours of driving alone, and that extra hour starting early at JP will help.

    I can't comment on the BB4D availability or whether there is any distant hope of finding any CBS.
     
    #118 PapaGoose03, Aug 7, 2013
  19. Arsenal_MC

    Arsenal_MC Initiate (0) Feb 25, 2013 District of Columbia
    Trader

    Haha distant..

    Thanks for the info, Mother!
     
    #119 Arsenal_MC, Aug 7, 2013
  20. moshea

    moshea Initiate (0) Jul 16, 2007 Michigan


    Very very hard to do that trip in one day.

    CBS bottles were released what, over a year ago? And they flew off the shelves, if they even made it to the shelves.

    I have never heard of getting BB4D on a Kuhnhenns Brewery tour. I can not imagine that the tour would take long, the building is not that big. Give them a call see waht they say. Good luck

    Also, check out Griffin Claw while in town, they will have the best beer form a brewery you never heard from
     
    #120 moshea, Aug 7, 2013
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