Windsor suggestions

Hello? You wrang?

Windsor's scene is getting better. One thing it has going for it is that there are concentrations of a few beer spots in the city so bouncing around a couple in an evening is easily done.

Downtown:
- Craftheads --- small batch brewer that usually has at least 12 unique tap offerings of their own... sometimes upwards of 20. This weekend they will have 12 of theirs, 12 of Indie Ale House (Toronto) and 6 collab beers between the two.
- Villains Beastro --- 50 feet away from CraftHeads, has some Ontario craft and some imports on tap. Cool spot.
- Phog Lounge --- just as close as Villains, tiny spot. Live music usually. Think there are 6-8 craft taps, predominantly Ontario.
- Snack BBQ --- ok taps, good food
- Windsor Beer Exchange --- ok taps and bottles, not my favorite spot
- BREW --- not been, but have had their Lager. Meh. People seem to like their place though. Seems to be bit of a bro/frat type crowd, maybe a bit more sophisticated. They do a lot of beer moktails.

Also downtown:
- Cheetah's --- steps away from Villains, CraftHeads and Phog
- plenty of bars but I can't speak to beer selection in each one.


West End:
- Rock Bottom --- good tap selection, pretty good food. Usually busy on weekends, and has sports on big tv's.
- Barrel House --- decent taps, small place, nice vibe.
- Dominion House --- old bar, no idea on taps or food as ownership has changed hands a few times.
- Buddies --- best to avoid
- Billies --- avoid more


Other spots:
- Motorburger --- on Erie St (our little italy), has gourmet burgers in a cool spot. More importantly, they brew Motor Craft Ales here. Good selection beerwise, and burger-wise. I recommend if you have the time and are hungry. Lots of other awesome food options on Erie St but prepare to wait on a Saturday night. Very busy.
- Walkerville Brewery --- nice big space, sparse. No food on site. Beer is ho hum. Not worth the effort.
- Frank Brewing --- east end, new spot, way out of the way. Sterile atmosphere. Local joint that will likely be busy.

Casino:
- no idea on beer availability besides macros.... I never go. Sorry.


Personally, when I have friends from out of town in for a visit and they want to go out I do this:
- Motorburger (early, 6ish) for food and a couple beers/flights.
- Downtown to Craftheads, Villains, Phog.


Almost all these places have a Facebook page. Check them out if you want more details. Have fun.

 

Thanks @FEUO. If you ever find yourself in Cincinnati I owe you a beer .

 

When I get to Cincy you can find me at Dutch's.

 

Edit: forgot that while CraftHeads does not have food, they have menus from neighboring eateries that will deliver.
I highly recommend Terra Cotta pizza. Thin bread, wood oven, awesome stuff.

 

I've got a better place for you than Dutch's and the selection certainly rivals it if it's not better .

 

A lot of great suggestions there , if I may provide a few others perhaps for future use:

If you want craft, avoid the DH, I think there's a better selection than the average sports bar but it's not very craft-centric. Not a lot, if any, craft at the Casino, though they have some decent whiskey there. Buyer beware: most of the stuff there is overpriced anyways with regards to food.

Motorburger is great, but I've never really had good service there, now there are two locations of Mamo burger on Ottawa street and I think it's either Banwell or Manning. They don't brew their own, but they do have some good craft on tap and in cans/bottles. Great food and beer either way, I just like the service at Mamo better. Very far east side, I always get the two streets mixed up. Much better service IMO, and great people, I used to work for their owner's other restaurant, Smoke and Spice, for a while - so I'm a bit biased.

Also, not being a part of the trendy crowd, I tend to avoid Phog. I love Craftheads though.

 

I left Windsor a few years back, but the DH was never much of a beer place (unless you were after a pint of Guinness, I suppose). Former DH bartender Mark, though, is doing good stuff beer-wise just down the street with his own place, Barrel House (mentioned above).

Motor Burger's food is really something special, but their beers are pretty pedestrian (though at least part of this is an issue of scale, and I think they're getting considerably better); Phog is awesome on a quiet night, when it's just the owner/bartender hanging out, shooting the shit. Good taps, good prices on full 20oz pints. When there's a show, I find it less pleasant.

 

Just wanted to thank everyone for their help! Couldn't talk the rest of our group into going to Craft Heads, but we did find some decent local stuff at The Beer Store across from our hotel.

We went to The Pong Palace and hung out for a few hours and he had a few different local beers on tap. Overall we had a good time!