Help Planning a Fall Mich. Beer Trip

[Atticmonkey]

Hey guys,
I know its only July but me and the wife are planning on taking a trip up into Michigan this fall to take it the colors and plenty of the local beers. I live in northern central Illinois and plan on taking a 4-5 day trip. So far I know I want to stop at Founders in Grand Rapids but other than that im open for anything. So anybody got any suggestions of brewery's to check out as well as other cool stuff to do. We both love the outdoors and hiking and such. So any help or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[NoNothing]

Bells in Kalamazoo! You must visit Bells!

Are you staying in the lower peninsula or planning on heading up to the UP?

I went to school in Houghton, Mi, there is some BEAUTIFUL hiking up there. As far as breweries go, the Kewenaw Brewing Company was one of my favorite microbreweries. 2 blocks away is the Library Pub, they brew their own beer as well and have fantastic dinners. It's QUITE a drive though, from mid michigan to Houghton is a 10 hour drive.

But keep an eye open in some local stores for KBC beers, they can their beer and ship it all over the state.

In the Ann Arbor area you cant go wrong with Jolly Pumpkin, Arbor Brewing Company or Blue Tractor. ABC and Blue Tractor are nice places to go for dinner as well. Blue Tractor is a great burger place, they are attached to, and share beers with a cuban place, Habana, and sports bar.

Original Gravity in Milan, Mi is another great brewery.

Sadly I dont know a lot outside this area.

 

[Atticmonkey]

We haven't really decided how far north we are going yet. Yes, we have to check out Bell's, for some fresh Two Hearted if nothing else. I forgot about Jolly Pumpkin, i'd really like to check them out but not sure if I can convince the wife to head that far east. I think she wants to stick closer to the lake. What is the scenery like around Ann Arbor?

 

[triethylborane]

We haven't really decided how far north we are going yet. Yes, we have to check out Bell's, for some fresh Two Hearted if nothing else. I forgot about Jolly Pumpkin, i'd really like to check them out but not sure if I can convince the wife to head that far east. I think she wants to stick closer to the lake. What is the scenery like around Ann Arbor?

Farm land to the west and south and then Detroit metro area. It is probably not worth it to make the 1.5 hour drive from Kalamazoo to AA on I-94. There is construction going on I94 this summer (surprise surprise) and AA has some cool stuff, but its like any other cool college town. There is a Washtenaw county park north of AA, but there is nothing incredibly special about AA and the surrounding area.

If you want beautiful, I would trek up along Lake Michigan. Take I94 to I94 buisness in Benton Harbor, follow that to M63 and then to I196 business to A2. In Saugatuck you can hop on US 31 and take that north through Grand Haven, Muskegon, to Charlevoix. My wife and I did weekend trips up to Charlevoix and Grand Traverse Bay when we briefly lived in Okemos, MI. If you can ever make it, the UP is really where the beauty lies. Hit the Keweenaw peninsula, go over to Tahquamenon falls, all of it is beautiful. Second most beautiful place to Colorado heh.

 

[NoNothing]

Farm land to the west and south and then Detroit metro area. It is probably not worth it to make the 1.5 hour drive from Kalamazoo to AA on I-94. There is construction going on I94 this summer (surprise surprise) and AA has some cool stuff, but its like any other cool college town. There is a Washtenaw county park north of AA, but there is nothing incredibly special about AA and the surrounding area.

+1 nothing great scenery wise here sadly. Nice beer though

 

[triethylborane]

Nice beer though

ABC's Bavarian Bliss Hefe is one of my all-time favorites. I really liked having dinner at ABC and then going to La Doce Vita for a cigar and spanish coffee. Fun.

 

[NoNothing]

ABC's Bavarian Bliss Hefe is one of my all-time favorites. I really liked having dinner at ABC and then going to La Doce Vita for a cigar and spanish coffee. Fun.

[]
Im drinking a BBH right now at work , working a block and a half from ABC has its perks.

La Doce Vita is a great after dinner place to hang out.
[/]

I could spend 4 days at founders and bells alone though, wish I knew more on that coast though.

 

[acyl]

I would stick to the west side as it is MUCH more beautiful than the surburban eastside.

Here is an itinerary starting from kalamazoo and going as far north as Traverse city. Also, if you go to traverse city and you or your wife enjoy wine, this is wine country. You can tour the pinky of michigan (leelenau peninsula) and sample wine from over 20 different wineries on the short route known as M22.

old hat brewery in lawton. 20 minutes southwest of Kalamazoo.
bells brewery of course. downtown kalamazoo
Founders brewer (my favorite) downtown grand rapids
Hopcat 1 mile north east of Founders. They have their own brews as well as tons of specialty michigan beers on tap.

If you make it as far as Traverse city, i would only hit up Right brain brewery in the old warehouse district. The other two breweries in Traverse city are mediocre at best.

40 minutes east of Traverse city will bring you to Shorts brewery in bellaire.
Great beer there.


Another option between kalamazoo and grand rapids would be to take M89 to saugatuck. That is a touristy town on the water and there is a decent brewery there.

196 will bring you to grand rapids from here.

 

[spriolo]

If it's sunny, you could go see Lake Michigan in Holland, MI and then visit New Holland Brewery for lunch or dinner...

Also, the store down the street from me carries Schmohz now and it's very good beer. I've never been to their tap room in GR, but they have an Imperial IPA thats called the hopknocker that is better than dogfish 90 minute.

 

[xiang]

If you plan on going to Founders in Grand Rapids, you might want to check out Hopcat as suggested and Michigan Beer Cellar. Also, Odd Side Ales in Grand Haven, MI is worth a visit.

The Michigan Brewing Company in Webberville, just east of Lansing, would also be an excellent choice. HenryHill was kind enough to take me on a personal tour of the brewery last summer.

 

[Homercidal]

If you end up in Traverse City, I was told by the brewmaster at Jasper Ridge, that John is no longer employed at Right Brain. Also, the assistant brewer quit a day or two later. So I wonder who's going to be brewing, and how good the beer is going to be.

Right Brian used to be my favorite brewery up north, but now... I mean, John was so much part of the allure IMO. His quirky sense of flavor and creativeness cannot be replaced.

It's going to be another mundane brewery IMO.

 

[acyl]

ps. In case ya michiganders haven't checked the michiganmashers forum, we are in the process of doing a bulk grain group buy. Good prices too. About $28 for 55lbs of 2row.

 

[schweaty]

I recommend Dark Horse in Marshall, which is SE of Grand Rapids. If you make it up Traverse City way I'd suggest going a little bit further north. There you will find one of the up and coming, most creative breweries in Michigan, Short's Brewing. If you're sticking to the east coast there is also New Holland brewing in Holland, The Livery in Benton Harbor, and Arcadia in Battle Creek.

 

[red82mtu]

+1 for Dark Horse. It's right off I-69 in Marshall. As quoted in the Michigan Brewers Guild publication, "A taproom that looks like a garage sale puked within its walls." It's a cool place with some charater and characters for sure. I await the release of Scotty Karate Scotch Ale in the fall.

+1 for Shorts if you make it that far north. Joe Short makes wonderful beers, and the Bellaire brewery has a huge selection. Plan to spend a lot of time here if you can, they usually have live bands in their expanded stage area.

Check out the Michigan Brewers Guild publication -http://www.michiganbrewersguild.org/mag/index.html

Hopefully the reader works better for you than it does me as it loads super small, but the zoom works. Lots of breweries listed and a map to help you lay out a trail. Should be a good help.

 

[jmendez29]

If you get to New Holland Brewery, give me a shout. I'd be happy to meet you there, it's only a mile or so from my house.

Likewise, if you make it here, Saugatuck is a pretty cool place to check out. I wouldn't want to stay there anywhere, it gets pretty expensive being a tourist town and all. But there's also the Saugatuck Brewery there as well. Saugatuck is pretty close to Holland so it might be worth stopping in there as well, just on principle.

 

[Atticmonkey]

I can't get over how many breweries Michigan has. If I didn't hate the cold so much I would consider moving just for the beer.

 

[Atticmonkey]

So for those who are familiar with the season changes in Michigan what would be a good estimate of when to catch the best colors in the middle to upper middle part of the state?

 

[Homercidal]

So for those who are familiar with the season changes in Michigan what would be a good estimate of when to catch the best colors in the middle to upper middle part of the state?

This depends a bit on the exact weather during the late summer, early fall. IIRC, I think that by middle of October, the colors are pretty much done and gone.

You might want to check out some websites that do color tours and see when they schedule their tours. I'm guessing around middle to late September they start. I've never really paid attention to the timing. I just sort of decide to grab the camera when it starts looking nice and go get some pics.

 

[spriolo]

I've taken a few trips down the Manistee in mid Oct. (The exact area you are talking about). it's fairly colorful then.

 

[Tiber_Brew]

Mid-late September in the UP is the peak of fall colors. Also a good time to start up the snowblower and make sure you can get out of your driveway in a couple weeks.

TibercoldandsnowequalsbrewingBrew

 

[Atticmonkey]

Hey guys,
So we finally came up with a rough draft of our trip to Michigan. Going to drive up to Kalamazoo, from there head north to Grand Rapids. Not sure if we are going to go further north from Grand Rapids and then head west toward the lake or if we will just head straight west from G.R. and do it that way. At any rate going to stop at New Holland and then just follow the coast south and make our way home. Haven’t really planned which routes or anything yet. I would like to take as many county roads that I can since I figure the view will be better. So what does everyone think? Suggestions? Oh and we are heading up there from the 8-11 of Oct. Thanks for all the help so far.
Jason

 

[marubozo]

Are you taking I-94? If so, you're literally going to drive about a mile away from Round Barn winery/brewery in Baroda. http://www.roundbarnwinery.com/brewery.php

It's not a huge operation like Bell's or Founders, but it's a very nice place out in the country, they have some great wines, and a few equally good beers. The oaked IPA and cocoa stout comes to mind. Anyway, since you'll be driving right by them you could easily make a pit stop there for an hour or two before heading on your way up to K-zoo.

 

[Atticmonkey]

Alright, as we get closer the details are starting to come in place. We decided to spend 3 nights in 3 different towns, to take in as much as we can. Friday night we are staying in the Kalamazoo area, Saturday we are driving north and will end up spending the night in Branch, and Sunday drive down to Saugatuck. Drive home on Monday. We are trying to stay at locally owned hotel/motels instead of the large chains.

I think we are going to stop by that Round Barn Winery. My wife had mentioned it before but after I heard they had their own beers I decided it would be good for both of us.

Does anybody know of any decent motels in the Kalamazoo area? Doesn't really have to be in Kalmazoo but somewhere within a 30 minute drive would be nice.