The nomination process begins today for the best brewery in Michigan.
What are we looking for: The best overall experience, including the variety of beer they produce, quality of menu (if food is offered), ambience and the staff's craft beer IQ.
Bottom line: This has to be a fun place that offers great beer!
• email: gonzo@mlive.com (Put the name of the brewery in the subject field along with a few details about what makes your favorite brewery so great!
• On Tuesday, Sept. 3, all Mlive reporters throughout the state at MLive.com and affiliate website AnnArbor.com, will also post stories online and take your nominations. If your favorite brewery is not in one of our markets, don't worry: We'll take nominations from all over the state, including the Upper Peninsula, the Traverse City/Grand Traverse Bay Region and Southwest Michigan.
• The breweries with the most nominations in each market will be added to our official polls.
• Polls will be published online Thursday, Sept. 5. And readers will get to vote. michigans_best_brewery_
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Muskegon Brewery Updates
Unruly Brewing Co.
Where: 360 W. Western Ave., Muskegon, in the Russell Block Building
Owners: Jeff Jacobson, Mark Gongalski and Eric Hoffman
The beers: Unruly will serve a variety of beers, including the Revel Rouser IPA and the Sasquatch double IPA. The brewery will also serve a coffee porter, a cream ale and a California common steam beer.
Unruly has also acquired a small winemaker's license and will make white and red wine, as well as cider in the future.
Food options: The brewery will serve sandwiches from Fatty Lumpkins Sandwich Shack as well as appetizers from local vendors like The Cheese Lady. Eventually, the owners hope to have a full menu.
The space will fit about 150 people inside and an additional 70 people in the outdoor beer garden area.
Expected opening is in November. Unruly has all the licenses to operate and has to undergo a few final inspections before opening.
Fetch Brewing Co.
Where: 100 W. Colby St., Whitehall, in the old State Bank building
Owners: Dan and Jen Hain
The beers: Fetch will have four standard beers on tap, said co-owner Dan Hain. They are:Tree Stump Coffee Stout, the Lazy Eye Rye, the Pitchfork Wheat and a pale ale.
The brewery will also make "small batch stuff" and seasonal brews that will rotate. Hain also said he wants to experiment with produce from nearby fruit orchards.
Food options: Fetch will serve pizzas, paninis and finger foods from Whitehall restaurant Sam's Grille and Pizzeria.
There will also be a second-floor mezzanine area. Hain said the space should accommodate about 95 people.
Expected opening is late December or January.
Pigeon Hill Brewing Co.
Where: 500 W. Western Ave., Muskegon, in the Noble Building
Owners: Joel Kamp, Michael Brower, Chad Doane
The beers: The brewery will start out with large batches of four or five beers when they open and expand their portfolio once the initial rush slows down, said co-owners Joel Kamp and Michael Brower. The bar has space for 10 taps.
The taproom will seat about 80 people.
Expected opening date is unknown.
Where: 360 W. Western Ave., Muskegon, in the Russell Block Building
Owners: Jeff Jacobson, Mark Gongalski and Eric Hoffman
The beers: Unruly will serve a variety of beers, including the Revel Rouser IPA and the Sasquatch double IPA. The brewery will also serve a coffee porter, a cream ale and a California common steam beer.
Unruly has also acquired a small winemaker's license and will make white and red wine, as well as cider in the future.
Food options: The brewery will serve sandwiches from Fatty Lumpkins Sandwich Shack as well as appetizers from local vendors like The Cheese Lady. Eventually, the owners hope to have a full menu.
The space will fit about 150 people inside and an additional 70 people in the outdoor beer garden area.
Expected opening is in November. Unruly has all the licenses to operate and has to undergo a few final inspections before opening.
Fetch Brewing Co.
Where: 100 W. Colby St., Whitehall, in the old State Bank building
Owners: Dan and Jen Hain
The beers: Fetch will have four standard beers on tap, said co-owner Dan Hain. They are:Tree Stump Coffee Stout, the Lazy Eye Rye, the Pitchfork Wheat and a pale ale.
The brewery will also make "small batch stuff" and seasonal brews that will rotate. Hain also said he wants to experiment with produce from nearby fruit orchards.
Food options: Fetch will serve pizzas, paninis and finger foods from Whitehall restaurant Sam's Grille and Pizzeria.
There will also be a second-floor mezzanine area. Hain said the space should accommodate about 95 people.
Expected opening is late December or January.
Pigeon Hill Brewing Co.
Where: 500 W. Western Ave., Muskegon, in the Noble Building
Owners: Joel Kamp, Michael Brower, Chad Doane
The beers: The brewery will start out with large batches of four or five beers when they open and expand their portfolio once the initial rush slows down, said co-owners Joel Kamp and Michael Brower. The bar has space for 10 taps.
The taproom will seat about 80 people.
Expected opening date is unknown.
New Beer Sitcom?
A new beer sitcom based on Dogfish Head brewery could be in the works. The show would feature funnyman Ken Marino (“The State,” “Party Down,” and the Ben Stiller-produced web comedy “Burning Love”) and his writer/actress wife Erica Oyama (“Burning Love,” "Children’s Hospital”) as the husband-and-wife owners of a funky craft brewpub. Marino was Dogfish Head owner Sam Calagione’s college roommate at NYU, and remains one of the brewer’s closest friends.
“It was actually my wife's idea – she does most of the thinking in our partnership.” Marino quipped to TODAY.com. “We pitched it to Sony TV earlier this summer and they loved it.”
Fox also loved the idea, enough to purchase the exclusive rights to the show, Calgione confirmed. A pilot is in the works, and if Fox likes what they see, the show could make it to the airwaves. new-beer-sitcom
“It was actually my wife's idea – she does most of the thinking in our partnership.” Marino quipped to TODAY.com. “We pitched it to Sony TV earlier this summer and they loved it.”
Fox also loved the idea, enough to purchase the exclusive rights to the show, Calgione confirmed. A pilot is in the works, and if Fox likes what they see, the show could make it to the airwaves. new-beer-sitcom
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Summer Craft Beer Festival in GR
The 2013 WGRD Summer Craft Beer Festival is taking place at John Ball Park in Grand Rapids MI Saturday, August 17 from 2-7PM. 20+ Breweries will be there along with food music and brewing seminars.
2013-wgrd-summer-craft-beer-festival
2013-wgrd-summer-craft-beer-festival
Breaking Bad Beer
by Dana Henninger- Brewers Ted Rice, Jeff Jinnett, and John Gozigian are huge fans of the TV show Breaking Bad. After all, the AMC series is filmed in Albuquerque, N.M., where the trio has run Marble Brewery since 2008. Several Marble beers have made cameos on the show, and cast members have found themselves relaxing after a shoot in the Marble tap rooms. Next week, on August 8, the brewery will release two commemorative beers in honor of the fifth and final season of Breaking Bad, the second half of which premieres on August 11. The first, named Heisenberg’s Dark after main character Walter White’s alter ego, is a black IPA, according to the craftbeer.com. The second is a white IPA called Walt’s White Lie — a reference obvious to anyone familiar with the show’s premise (a school teacher turned meth dealer to support his family).
Breaking Bad fans outside New Mexico are out of luck when it comes to sampling these brews, as Marble doesn’t yet distribute out of state. The beers will be available on draft at all three Marble tap rooms (two in Albuquerque and one in Santa Fe), as well as select local draft accounts. Perhaps a trip to the Southwest is in order? stop-everything-theres-now-2-breaking-bad-ipas
Less and Less of the Light Stuff
Today in "news that surprises no one," people are drinking less and less of the light beers that have long ruled the beer market, because they're finding that they don't taste as good.
AdAge cites the ConsumerEdge Insights' Beverage DemandTracker, "a periodic survey of U.S. adults who consume alcohol at least once a week," which found that 27 percent were drinking less light beer because they were "tired" of the taste, while 21 percent were drinking "more types of beer." We can only assume that means that craft beer is making stronger and stronger gains (again, to no one's surprise). Fewer and fewer people now say that "light beer tastes great," 30 percent in the last survey, compared to 33 percent in June 2012. breaking-light-beer
AdAge cites the ConsumerEdge Insights' Beverage DemandTracker, "a periodic survey of U.S. adults who consume alcohol at least once a week," which found that 27 percent were drinking less light beer because they were "tired" of the taste, while 21 percent were drinking "more types of beer." We can only assume that means that craft beer is making stronger and stronger gains (again, to no one's surprise). Fewer and fewer people now say that "light beer tastes great," 30 percent in the last survey, compared to 33 percent in June 2012. breaking-light-beer
Bell's Brewing in Escanaba
The new facility will be called the Upper Hand Brewery, and it’ll produce entirely new types of beer.
Bell’s owner and founder Larry Bell has told the Escanaba Planning Commission that Upper Hand beer would be available in the U.P., northern Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota, but not in Lower Michigan. new-bells-brewery-site
Bell’s owner and founder Larry Bell has told the Escanaba Planning Commission that Upper Hand beer would be available in the U.P., northern Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota, but not in Lower Michigan. new-bells-brewery-site
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