U.P. Brewery Book

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whatsleftofyou

Third Eye Pried Wide
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I'm in the very early stages of working with Jesse from Things to do in the U.P. on a book about all of the current breweries in the U.P. We have a lot of neat ideas, but also want some input from the beer community: What kind of things would you like to see in a book like this? It's mostly meant to be a "tour guide", but we also want to cover the history of the breweries, etc. Any ideas will be much appreciated.
 
Honesty. Sucks to read how great the beers are at a brewery...get there and they are terrible. If a beer is bad... say so.
 
History is always good IMO. Maybe a brief description of the area to go along with it. Let's face it, anyone can find stuff online in a hurry nowadays. I like reading about the place and the area to give a little life to the place.

Always nice to know what styles the brewery focuses on, if any.

Hours, food options, etc. of course.
 
Very cool idea. I would love to see a few pictures of the local scenery along with each brewery. It's so pretty up there in the summer. I'm too much of a wuss to head north in the winter but I imagine all the snow can be pretty scenic too. We've been to tahquamenon and Lake Superior and enjoyed both.
 
Another troll here. I wish I would have seen that website when I stayed a week in the UP last year. It was hard for me to find much info online of what to do ahead of time. A lot the UP websites I went to (if I could find one) looked like they were from ~20 years ago. Not to bash or anything, it was just hard finding good info. Now, on to the book:

I think it would be great to have a list of each breweries mainstays, with tasting notes. Also, at least mention any seasonals (as I realize it could be hard to actually taste them all), so people can get a good idea of what's there. As others have said, obviously food, hours, atmosphere, nearby attractions, etc. are all important too. An overall brewery rating would be good too. Like say 5 stars for beer, 5 for food, 5 for atmosphere, etc. If I know there is a brewery around where I am vacationing, I will stop by regardless of ratings, but if I see one that looks really cool, I'll definitely go out of my way.
 
Well, I'm sure you already have the Escanaba area covered, whatsleft, but I'd be glad to give you some breweries from the keweenaw:

Houghton: the Keweenaw Brewing Company, and the Library Bar & Restaurant, since of course they make beer on premise.
Calumet: Michigan House Cafe & Brew Pub
Copper Harbor: Brickside Brewery (a fellow HBT member owns this brewery).

Marquette area:
Ishpeming: Jasper Ridge Brewery
Marquette: The Verling Restaurant and Brewery, Black Rocks Brewery, The Ore Dock Brewery
 
Thanks for the feedback so far. We're definitely going to focus on other things to do in the area, etc. The goal is to make the ultimate "beer travel guide" for the U.P. Does anyone have any specific questions for any of the individual breweries?
 
As someone with both German and Finnish relatives in the UP, I’d be interested in a more in depth look at how the ethnic influences of the UP’s immigrants affected brewing ... Germans, Cornish, Irish, Italians, and particularly the Finnish.

I’ve never heard of any Finnish brewing tradition (as in breweries) in the UP but I know there are a couple of Finnish style beers ... Olut and Sahti, which at least one brewery in the UP is producing.

Ore-Dock Brewery makes Lunta Olut

In the Lower there’s also Salmiakki Olut from Dark Horse Brewing ... and Dark Horse also makes a Sahti, another type of Finnish beer usually flavored with juniper. But that's in Marshall (thanx Mors :)

(btw HBT has a Sahti recipe at ... https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f78/sa...-1st-place-cat-23-2nd-place-best-show-321633/ ... and down in the Lower I think Copper Canyon in Southfield did a Sahti called Heidrun a couple years ago.)

Anyhow, the identification of the UP’s breweries and available beers with the immigrants who populated the area would be very interesting.
 
As someone with both German and Finnish relatives in the UP, I’d be interested in a more in depth look at how the ethnic influences of the UP’s immigrants affected brewing ... Germans, Cornish, Irish, Italians, and particularly the Finnish.

I’ve never heard of any Finnish brewing tradition (as in breweries) in the UP but I know there are a couple of Finnish style beers ... Olut and Sahti, which a couple breweries in the UP are producing.

Ore-Dock Brewery makes Lunta Olut

Then there’s also Salmiakki Olut from Dark Horse Brewing ... and Dark Horse also makes a Sahti, another type of Finnish beer usually flavored with juniper.

(btw HBT has a Sahti recipe at ... https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f78/sa...-1st-place-cat-23-2nd-place-best-show-321633/ ... and down in the Lower I think Copper Canyon in Southfield did a Sahti called Heidrun a couple years ago.)

Anyhow, the identification of the UP’s breweries and available beers with the immigrants who populated the area would be very interesting.
You do know that Dark Horse is in the lower peninsula. It's in Marshall near Battle Creek.
 
That's certainly an interesting angle. To my knowledge there isn't much of a connection there, but I will certainly look into it. I know that most of the pre-prohibition U.P. breweries were started by off-the-boat Germans, but that's an entirely different book.
 
You do know that Dark Horse is in the lower peninsula. It's in Marshall near Battle Creek.

My bad. Thanks for the correction, mors. Corrected the post.
Nope, not a simple task tracking down Finnish beers. Really surprising though that for all the Finnish culture in the UP there's no brewing tradition being kept.
 
A Yooper 7 course meal. A Pasty and a 6-pack.

I got so much stuff to get done this summer and I'm already dreaming about a UP vacation. I will definitely be interested in that book!
 
A Yooper 7 course meal. A Pasty and a 6-pack.

I got so much stuff to get done this summer and I'm already dreaming about a UP vacation. I will definitely be interested in that book!

Whatsleftofyou and I were talking about that book you gave me a couple of years ago, and then I gave it to Leon. It was about Bosch Brewing, in South Range, I believe? Where did you pick that up?
 
Whatsleftofyou and I were talking about that book you gave me a couple of years ago, and then I gave it to Leon. It was about Bosch Brewing, in South Range, I believe? Where did you pick that up?

Good heavens! I can't even remember what I had for breakfast! (ok, it was McDs, I was in a hurry!)

I *think* I bought it at an antique shop near Copper Harbor. They had lots of cool things, but that was the most interesting to me.

Bosch had several breweries at one time. Where they all were, I don't remember exactly. I think one was in or near Houghton, and I think there was one in or near Calumet. Seems like he bought a brewery a bit farther away, but I can't remember which one or where.

There was supposed to be a brewery opening up near Copper Harbor across from the general store. Anyone know if that is still on? I'm guessing the startup is taking longer than anticipated, which is very normal for a new brewery. I *might* be able to convince the wife to spend a couple of days up there again.
 
Good heavens! I can't even remember what I had for breakfast! (ok, it was McDs, I was in a hurry!)

I *think* I bought it at an antique shop near Copper Harbor. They had lots of cool things, but that was the most interesting to me.

Bosch had several breweries at one time. Where they all were, I don't remember exactly. I think one was in or near Houghton, and I think there was one in or near Calumet. Seems like he bought a brewery a bit farther away, but I can't remember which one or where.

There was supposed to be a brewery opening up near Copper Harbor across from the general store. Anyone know if that is still on? I'm guessing the startup is taking longer than anticipated, which is very normal for a new brewery. I *might* be able to convince the wife to spend a couple of days up there again.

The brewpub in Copper Harbor is open. I've never been there, but some of my friends have.
 
I bought the Bosch book here: http://www.calumetcopper.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=68
It outlines a a good number of the pre-pro breweries in the Keweenaw...at least the numerous ones that Bosch acquired over time.

The brewery in Copper Harbor is open and it's called Brickside Brewery. I haven't been there, but had his porter at the Marquette fest and it was pretty good.

Regarding my book, the cover does involve beer and pasties!
 
Bosch was in Hancock back in the day. I know a few people up that way who remember it fondly.
We can soon add Bells to the Escanaba list. Well, Upper Hand as I believe that extension of their brewery will be initially called.
 
Bosch was in Hancock back in the day. I know a few people up that way who remember it fondly.
We can soon add Bells to the Escanaba list. Well, Upper Hand as I believe that extension of their brewery will be initially called.

Just read that. One in Escanaba and another in Grand Rapids. Because GR doesn't have enough breweries already... :D
 
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