Valparaiso, IN BA's

Me. I made that same move last year. I miss being closer to FFF and Chicago, but Figure 8 is better than Crown...though that's not saying much.

 

Have you guys checked out Shoreline Brewery in Michigan City?

 

I'm from Valparaiso. Shoreline has some pretty good beer. Decent food too.

 

I'm from Valpo but I live about an hour away now. I'm home often to visit family and would be down to meet at Figure Eight sometime.

 

In Porter with Crown and Figure 8 being equidistance from my home. ... Shoreline's premium bottle releases are generally good stuff. Can't vouch for the food.

On a lighter note, you are closer to Michigan where Beer is for sale on Sundays and Shorts and other Michigan beers are more accessible.

 

Dude's, you're less than an hour from Greenbush. 49 to 94 to exit 12 in Sawyer (you can thank me later). And yes, Shoreline > Figure Eight > Crown. Also, there is Backroads in LaPorte (been there once, haven't been back).

 

I checked out Greenbush once, it was decent...worth checking out if you haven't.

 

I must've just had a terrible experience there. I went there once, beer was very mediocre, and the food I actually sent back and ended up not eating at all. Maybe it was just an off day. It happens.

 

I've heard good things about Greenbush. I haven't been to shoreline in awhile. Maybe they've gone downhill since the last time I was there.

 

Greenbush was great when I was there 2 weeks ago. Have to disagree with the Crown hating though, Steve and crew are really cranking out some quality brews along with a promising barrel aging and cask program.

 

Love me some Figure 8 beers, namely Raven Tor (an earthy outmeal stout) and Twist of F8 (a wheat beer with watermelon, which I reviewed here on BA last year, found it to taste like Jolly Rancher Watermelon), .. Greenbush is a must stop, especially for a growler of Sunspot (a very good hefeweizen) and/or Anger (a black iPA worth the drive to Greenbush alone), both are very good places for craft brews.. I'm originally from Chicago's south burbs, now living in KY . whenever I'm up north to visit family, my priorities are 1) Three Floyds for a case of Zombie Dust or Gumballhead, 2) a drive to Figure 8 and then 3) a drive up to Greenbush... You can't go wrong with those three breweries.

 

in my experience, Shoreline is awful. I went there twice last fall and once this spring. The first trip the food was very subpar and the beer was extremely underwhelming. The place had no more than 20 people in it and the service was absolutely horrible.

I decided to give them another chance a few weeks later and found the same exact thing. i tried to order 2-3 beers that they had listed and were all of a sudden out of, at the same time apparently. Service again was horrible and the food was very subpar.

Went once in March just to get a beer and the service again was awful (reoccuring theme here) and again the beer, that took forever to get was not very good.

Being that FFF is about the same time from me as Shoreline I see just about zero reason to ever go there again. I know there are people that really like it, but in my experience the service is awful and there is no reason to put up with bad service (meaning the beer isn't good and the food is boring at best).

 

Used to go there a lot, and for me Shoreline was real good until their General Manager, Michael, left/got fired a year and a half to two years ago. He had nothing to do with the brewing, but handled all the day to day stuff. I've been a few times since and it has slipped.

Does anyone know if they chose to go non-smoking, or no one under 21, on July 1st?

 

I have never been to Shoreline so I can't vouch for them. You're post made me laugh b/c of all the people/posts that complain about FFF and the staff's apparent indifference to customers.

 

I don't know if you guys think this is a point against them, but I applaud such a decision. After 5 years of living in Chicago (moved from Portage) I do not miss smokey bars and restaurants, and loath going to bars back in Indiana now because of it.

 

I must agree here, I moved to Chicago from Valpo a few years ago and it is amazing how much I hate going back to Indiana bars now.

 

Agreed. Last couple of times I was in there it got very smokey.

I've never gotten all the staff bashing. My wife and I are in Floyds at least once a month and sometimes more than that. The staff, for us has always been great. In fact, late last year, after a late dinner at the bar, our bill was comped, no explanation given. More recently, we were at another beer bar where some of the Floyds staff was at, including our bartender from the week before. He sent a beer our way and when I thanked him, he said something like "you took care of me so I'll take care of you."
Thought that was very cool.