Big Rock Brewery visit #2

We've been to Big Rock Brewery (Big Rock Chophouse) before and it didn't go well. First off, valet only at a brewery? Outrageous. Of course, this is Buuuurmingham. The bar was riddled with probable east siders in their finest Somerset attire dying to impress,... it didn't work on us. Hardly anyone was drinking the house beer. I usually don't leave a brewery thinking "god I wish I hadn't left my Hummer at home,..." but that was the case here - just know this is not just your casual beer hall.

On the other hand, a high-end restaurant and dance club (popular with cougars) that is also a brewery results in a unique combination. We were so put off by the ambiance during the first visit, that it took tasting their beer at a third party location to think twice about Big Rock. At a recent IPA Style Night beer tasting with Rex Halfpenny at John Cowley's in downtown Farmington, Tim suddenly realized that Big Rock Brewery had his favorite IPA (beating out Mad Hatter of New Holland Brewery).

So one rainy night when we had nothing else to do besides visit local breweries, we hit up Copper Canyon and then went back to Big Rock so Tim could have his Raggedy Ass IPA. I should have ordered a sample first, and I regretted my order as soon as I tasted it, the Strawberry Blonde.

Norm's Raggedy Ass Ale (apparently they don't call it an IPA according to the website)

A] 80 international bittering units? Not going to work for me.

T] All the hops you can reasonable enjoy - 9/10

Strawberry Blonde

A] Too perfumey, I knew I shouldn't have ordered this and probably should have asked for a replacement. - 3/10

I've never eaten here, much to my dismay, as the menu looks excellent and wonderfully gourmet. The bar is a long oval and looks very classy, and there are several small booths around the bar area that would make for a perfect first date or romantic night out, and many people were taking advantage of them that night.

The decor is somewhat unusual, it's high-class "great outdoors" or "woodsy" with pine tree, bear, and mountain silhouettes here and there... A high-end luxury mountain lodge (but not a log cabin). So park a street or two down the road, skip the valet, and cross your fingers that the cougars aren't out - there are surely some tasty beers to be had here. The brewmaster, Dan Brown, certainly takes pride in his craft.

I must find out when they have the hefe on tap so I can go to Big Rock again to taste their Hefeweizen,.. from reading their website, I may have tried it at a separate beer tasting once and it might actually be my "dream Michigan beer" with the whiensthephan yeast, which causes the banana-clove flavors I love. That would just be killer to have that on tap somewhere. I guess I'll have to put on my Somerset best at least once more!

Big Rock Chophouse and Brewery

245 South Eton Street

Birmingham, MI 48009

Mackinaw Brewing Company

Our first stop on our Traverse City brewery tour! This is right in the heart of downtown T.C. on a main drag and it was 4th of July weekend but we were able to get a hi-top table right away. The place was definitely bustling, mostly people grabbing lunch and a brew. The long and narrow building has a historical look to it with its brick interior walls. The food menu was plentiful and featured smoked meats - and not that fake smoke stuff, but the real deal - we could smell the smokers at work as we were walking up. Being BBQ afficionados as well, we were pleasantly surprised and knew we were also going to get lunch here.

The sampler tray was generous - 8 5oz samples, so we really got to try everything.

G.T. Golden Ale

A] Drinkable light beer - 5/10
T] Perhaps the most boring beer since Busch Light - 2/10

Summer Love American Wheat

A] Very light wheat, not heavy enough - 3/10
T] Busch Light with lemon - 3/10

Belgium Whitecap

A] Not my favorite wheat style, but still OK, pretty light considering the cloudiness, sort of a let down :( - 3/10
T] Way too light, needs more body. Like brewing a pot of coffee with half the amount of grounds - 3/10


Vienna Lager
A] Too sweet for me x/10
T] Malt, schmalt! If you like crappy malt, then this is for you - 3/10

Red 8 Ale
A] Smells sweet (apple cider plus porter) - 2/10
T] Not malty like a standard red, needs more flavor - 2/10


Peninsula Pale Ale
A] Not fair for me to comment, I don't like hoppiness - x/10
T] "Hops heads rejoice" - Not exactly an entry level pale ale 6/10


Beadle's Best Bitter
A] Not my style but at least it is flavorful - 4/10
T] Balanced, but bitter is too subtle, malt overpowers slightly - 4/10


Harvest Moon Oatmeal Sout
A] I smell coffee, drinkable for me, tastes like espresso. Not a "meal in itself", it's light, really - 5/10
(note: I don't like porters so 5 is pretty good from me)
T] Another letdown, I geared up for a big powerful beer but I didn't get it - 5/10
(note: the reason I like it is probably the reason Tim doesn't like it)


So by and large, the beer was a letdown and we were concerned they were watered down or something! The wheat looked like it would be delicious but alas... I'm still looking for a brewery that has my favorite style of german hefeweizen. Anyway, let's talk about the FOOD! They have a great selection, and Tim ordered the brisket sandwich and giant onion rings while I had the pulled pork sandwich and fries. Tim thought the onion rings were delicious, I hate to mention there was a hair on his place as I know that could happen anywhere including my house, but he felt the BBQ was "fine" or nothing special. I thought the pulled pork was good, maybe a little mushy, but I appreciated that they smoked it on site as we are an owner of a smoker ourselves.


This is a brewery with a mass-appeal for bringing the whole family in for a decent lunch and the location right in downtown Traverse City is excellent.

Mackinaw Brewing Company
161 East Front Street
Traverse City, MI 49684

A Brief Visit to Right Brain Brewery

Looking back, I wish we would have spent more time at the Right Brain Brewery. After having been to the two other breweries in town (and a few wineries) over the 4th of July weekend getaway in Traverse City, we had a little trouble finding Right Brain since it was a little "off the beaten path" and in a little bit of an industrial area (or so it looked at night). Once inside, it was packed and we could barely find room at the bar.

Like many breweries, they had a chalkboard with today's offerings but this was a giant chalkboard. And the offerings were crazy! They had a plethora of cleverly named beers but it was the ingredients/flavors of the beers that were so unusual - rosemary, chocolate, cayenne, sweet corn, double hopped, triple hopped, etc. We were thinking about getting a sampler tray (6 8oz samples for $15) but with all the hops mentioned, I didn't have any I'd like to try and Tim picked only three. We couldn't even fill up the 6-spots in the sampler request so we ended up with just tasting three:

Magnum Hospitality - Double IPA

T] Too much hops, can't enjoy it - 5/10

Will Power Pale

T] - 7/10

CEO Stout
T] Very good, good coffee, roasty - 9/10


We were actually going to come here for dinner but it didn't work out - this is more of a beer-only kind of place, with the options of peanuts and chips and hommus and such. We ended up just trying those three tastes quickly but knowing we had to head somewhere else for dinner before they closed (it was after 9).

Looking back, I wish my initial response to parsley and cayenne and thyme wasn't "weird" and we should've tried them at least. Also going on a weekend that isn't the night before Cherry Festival would be a good idea, and we should've saved a little more time to spend here to take it all in! Next time in Traverse City, we'll have dinner first elsewhere and I'll be stopping here again. It's a very cool place!

Right Brain Brewery
221 Garland Street
Traverse City, MI 49684

Great Baraboo Visit #2

Well, after the waiter at Copper Canyon said this was one of his favorite breweries, and we were in the neighborhood and in the beer-drinking mood (well maybe we're always in that mood..), Tim and I decided to stop by the Great Baraboo.

"Maybe it will be better this time," we thought. Walking in, it's your average sports bar with a TV in every corner, dark ambiance and music. The bar is a quite nice horseshoe shape and it had a lot of character. There are metal brewing canisters inside the room which at first looked like they were decoration but once I noticed the drains on the floor underneath, I realized they might actually be used for storing beer sometime in the brewing process.

We sit down at the bar and there are only advertisements about Bud Lite drink specials, food specials, and we didn't see anything about home brews. The bartender asked "what'll it be?" and when we said "can we see a beer list?" she was like "Oh.. you want to know about the house beers????" ... As with our first visit to Great Baraboo, we noticed this place is a sports bar first and brewery... third or fourth. It is just not the main attraction and it was obvious but the number of people who were drinking Bud Lites instead of the house brews.

With the house brew menu in hand, it was chock full of cleverly named beers and they seemed to cover all the main beer styles. Here is our review:

King's Peak Caribou Wheat

A] Not too shabby, but not the best wheat ever or anything 5/10
T] Just OK, not horrible offensive like the maple syrup P.A. 4/10

Hoppy Heartland Pale Ale

A] Too bittersweet for me 1/10
T] Tastes like maple syrup!! 1/10

As you can see, the Pale Ale didn't go over well, but the bartender was nice enough to swap out the P.A. for a Porter for free.

Boston Blackstone Porter

A] This could easily pass as cold coffee 4/10
T] Coffee taste lingers, heck of a lot better than the P.A. 6/10

This was all we were able to sample on our second visit. The price is right at Great Baraboo, their house brews were only $2.75 and if you really like the sports bar feel and the ability to have a Bud Lite as a back up plan, then this might be the place for you. We wanted to like this place but we felt the brewery portion of the business plan is somewhat of an afterthought.

Great Baraboo Brewing Company
http://www.greatbaraboo.com/
35905 Utica Rd
Clinton Township, MI

Great Baraboo Brewing Company - Visit #1

At first glance, we thought that this was one of those places with "brewery" in the name and no house beer. It was recommended to us so we made the trek out to the east side to check this place out but as Tim noted, it was a mix between a sports bar and white trash and gave it 1/10 for ambiance. I said it was missing the brewery focus and the sports bar idea was front and center.

The menu was extensive, pasta, ribs, sandwiches, fish, appetizers.. oh and don't forget the Bud Light specials. After insisting we really wanted to try the brewery beers, we had five options to choose from:

King's Peak Caribou Wheat [A] - 2/10 - Bad after/during taste, creamy, wrong yeast, lukewarm, chlorine taste (bad east side water??), reminiscent of dirty dish water

[T] - 4/10 - crap flavored cloudy wheat

[B] - 3/10 - wouldn't want to drink a pint of this

Hoppy Heartland Pale Ale

[T] - 5/10 - Good bitterness, just OK

[B] - 7.5/10 - Enjoy bitterness, pretty tasty

Ass Castle, Honey Brown... seasonal, monthly special

[A] - 4/10 - Can't do darks like this...

[T] - 2/10 - Generally sucks

Shark Tooth Bay Golden Ale - East Side Busch Light

[A] - 3/10 - Better than wheat, tastes like nothing

[T] - 1/10

[B] - 1/10

We also tried the Boston Black Stone Porter but apparently didn't even bother using the rating scale, all my notes say are "ick..."

Food

We ordered crab stuffed portobella mushrooms and chicken nachos. Ben thought the mushrooms were OK but I thought they tasted like fishy alfredo sauce on a mushroom. Tim liked the nachos better than CJ's but I liked CJ's better.

Great Baraboo Brewing Company
http://www.greatbaraboo.com/

35905 Utica Rd
Clinton Township, MI

Sherwood Brewing Company, visit #1

Our first visit to Sherwood was with Ben, Tim and myself. It was recommended to us while we were visiting the Kuhnhenn a while before, and the three of us were doing an unofficial metro Detroit little brewery crawl, we decided to make the trek up to Shelby Township and hit up the Sherwood Brewing Company. It was a great time, hardly anyone was there and we sat right at the bar and had a chat with the bartender who was extremely knowledgable and one of the owners. This is a family owned establishment and it was opened up by a brother, sister and brother -in-law and if I remember correctly, one or two of them used to be teachers. Anyway they decided opening up a brewery would be more fun and here they are! I agree, that does sound like more fun.

Don't be fooled by the strip mall location, the ambiance inside is cool with an assortment of tables, booths, couches, a nice bar, etc. Without further ado, here are the beers we tried this night:

Plush Raspberry Wheat -

[A] -7/10 - Tart, good light fruity taste. Not the creamy banana wheat I like but good for what yeast they used.

Procrastination Scottish Export

[B] - 9/10 - Very good

Manacing Red Ale -

[A] - 8/10 - It has a perfect banana scent, taste, and just happens to be dark but has all the great features I love in a typical hefeweizen
[T] - 9/10 - Got all the right malty flavors without excessive caramel overtones

Birch Beer (non alcoholic)

 [A] & [T] - 10/10 - Awesome!

Sherwood Brewing Company

http://www.sherwoodbrewing.com/

45689 Hayes Rd

Shelby Township, MI 48315

Welcome to the Michigan Brew Review!

This has been a work in progress for over a year! Our goal is to visit every beer brewery in the great state of Michigan. This adventure began in the winter of 2008 and while we have covered many breweries since then, there are always more to visit and our work is never done! There are new breweries popping up (and unfortunately some disappearing) all the time and there are easily over 80 breweries in the great lakes state!


Some brewery visits have been impromptu with scribbled notes on a napkin, and others visits were well planned out brewery tours, complete with guest tasters and ratings sheets we've filled out. Either way, we hope to inspire you to take a drive and discover a brewery near you.


Wishing you many happy brew adventures!
-Anne and Tim

Brewery Tour Ideas

Coming Soon: Detailed Do-It-Yourself brewery tour information. Here we will talk about brewery tour ideas, and grouping breweries with similar locations for a themed road trip.

The Yooper Tour

Metro Detroit East Side Tour

Metro Detroit West Side Tour

Ann Arbor Tour

Grand Rapids Tour

Southwest Michigan Tour

Traverse City Tour

Mid-Michigan Tour

Up North Tour

CJ's Brewery

We were out on the "west side" for a special movie feature one weeknight so I talked The Husband into heading up into Commerce to check out CJ's Brewery which we hadn't been to yet. We don't get out to the Commerce area much together (I sorta work out that way) and it's a bit off the expressway.

For the atmosphere, we both gave it 8/10 - it had a neat industrial/modern feel to it.

Let's jump right into the beer we tried that day:

IPA
[T] - 7/10 - Good effort, insufficient hops

Cherry?/American? Wheat
[A] - 8/10 - Good thick banana-y wheat, didn't taste much cherry so maybe it was the american? so it was stellar, but no fruit (orange or lemon) garnish
[T] - 8/10 - Good banana flavor

Red
[T] - 6/10 - Good malt flavor, excessive caramel

Cherry Ale - light beer with cherry juice mixed in
[T] - 2/10
[A] - 5/10 - watery, higher score because I could drink a lot of it, but not a great beer

Cherry Wheat - we finally got a sample of this
[T] - 4/10
[A] - 5/10 - not as good as regular wheat, sour

We never got a beer list so that was a little weird. We felt the service was about a 6/10 - pleasant but a few mistakes. Beer glass empty for 10 minutes and we had to bring it up and we were out of napkins for a while when we got out pizza. Last but not least, we never got our dessert.. I said "apple crisp" but apparently she thought I was joking.

Menu
Sandwiches, pizza, varied entrees from Italian to Mexican and fish, more variety than you would expect and there was a Thursday happy hour but we never saw the sign

Chicken Nachos
[T] - 4/10 - didn't like the cheese or smokey chipotle salsa but liked the olives
[A] - 6/10 - cheese fine but not hot, had sat out and started to harden up - loved salsa which reminded me of Rio Bravo's and I liked the smokiness, chicken was only OK.. we ate them all so they couldn't have been that bad

Pizza6/10 - CJ's supreme.. apparently they made the wrong one originally so we had to wait another 10 minutes and we got a circle instead of square but overall it had a crisp bottom, soft inside crust and fresh toppings.

CJ's Brewery
http://www.cjsbrewingcompany.com/
8115 Richardson Rd
Commerce Township, Michigan

Michigan Brew Review Maps

Coming Soon: Here we will have a picture of a hand, with brewery locations pointed out. We'll color code them to show which ones we've been to and which ones we haven't. Might also have a few close-up maps for clusters of breweries around big cities, if needed.

Let us know if we've missed a brewery on our list!