Breweries in Traverse City, MI?

I'll be vacationing in Traverse City, MI for a week and would like to visit some of the local breweries there. Anyone have any recommendations?

It's not "in" TC, but if you're that close, make the trip to Bellaire and visit Short's Brewery. Well worth it IMO.

I haven't been there, but I have been told that Right Brain Brewery is really good.

Short's is the best in the area. In Traverse City I know of three. Right Brain Brewery is very good. Then there is Mackinaw Brewing Company, and North Peak Brewing Company, the beers aren't very good.

Short's is the ****, and I've heard very good things from Right Brain. RB does whole wet hop beers, from locally grown hops from the peninsula, Mission Point. Short's is just a killer all around highly admired brewery.

Right Brain is awesome....one of the best beers I've ever had was their Bourbon Barrel vanilla porter. Kinda hard to find, off a side street, small little place but very trendy. Macinaw had ok beers...your basic microbrew selection, nothing exciting, but decent. Kilkenny's is an irish pub under a microbrew...kinda two pubs in one. I don't remember what the upper brewpub was called...I never went upstairs, but spent an entire night downstairs. The irish pub was a blast...I think the atmosphere was amazing. The beer was great, but then again that was the last stop of a pub crawl!

Also, don't miss Bubba's Burgers!! It's a little bar/restaraunt that opens early for breakfast, and serves THE BEST burgers I've ever tasted. All their food was great, and I ate there like 6 times in a week. Beer selection is great, too. It's right near the start of the downtown area. Good stuff!!

Didn't have a chance to check this thread while I was in TC so I unfortunately did not go to Shorts. I did make it to North Peak, Right Brain, Mackinaw, and Jolly Pumpkin.

There were slim pickins at the cottage (I didn't do the grocery shopping!):


Tuesday night started out at North Peak. I had the sampler:


Afterwards, got dropped off at Right Brain where again I started with the sampler:


1) Raspberry Ale
2) Lemon Wheat
3) Willpower Pale Ale
4) Scarborough Fair Spiced Ale - Brewed with parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme (but of course). Very interesting beer, but nothing I would have many pints of.
5) Ethel the Frog ESB - by far the best beer that I had in TC!
6) Posh Poter - Chocolate porter laid down on local organic red raspberries - was not for me... The raspberries added to much tartness.

I was debating having The Exception Barleywine or a pint of Ethel the Frog. I finally decided on Ethel the Frog, but the friendly bartender made an exception and gave us a 5 oz sample of The Exception Barleywine. It was really medicinal, and I don't think I could have had much more than 5 oz of it.




We made our way to Union Street bar where my friends had Bell's Olberon and I took a break.

We walked over to Mackinaw brewery where I had the Summer Love wheat beer.



I don't remember it being to spectacular, but I was pretty drunk by then.


I took a day off to recover then went on a 40 mile bike ride around the peninsula saw some hop fields. Stopped at the Jolly Pumpkin for pizza and a sour beer on the way back down to Traverse City.




All in all a great time in TC. I emailed Right Brain for the recipe for Ethel the Frog ESB... We'll see if they respond. I hope so.