OT - Michigan Beers

Submitted by Cali Citrus Man on

Michigan has a lot of great beers.  For those of us visiting for the holidays what are the top 3 Michigan beer recommendations from locals?

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Eng1980

December 26th, 2017 at 9:45 PM ^

Two Hearted Ale named after the Two Hearted river on Lake Superior.

Founder's Porter

Brew Detroit's Stroh's Bohemian - nice hoppy update to my father's Stroh's

Otherwise - Schlitz for real beer taste

Anchor Brewing Christmas Ale is outstanding

Joined: 04/28/2016

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gobluenyc

December 26th, 2017 at 9:58 PM ^

Last year I won a six pack of Wisconsin craft beers thanks to our team's win in the B10 MBB championship. When the time comes that we lose some championship game to them, this thread will come in handy.

Joined: 12/15/2012

MGoPoints: 1277

Genzilla

December 26th, 2017 at 10:02 PM ^

I recommend Brewery 4 Two 4 in Holland, mainly because they currently have a beer on tap in honor of my brother: 

"NEW BEER ALERT!! #301 Under the Bridge Brown featuring Milk Sugar and Mackinac Island Fudge Coffee


The backstory to #301 Under the Bridge Brown (Featuring Milk Sugar and Mackinac Island Fudge Coffee)

Brian Genzink, loved craft beer. Getting out and exploring the breweries in West Michigan was a central component of Brian’s social life. His love for beer created connections and fostered relationships that went way deeper than just brewing; his friends became his family and these relationships brought out the best in Brian. From creating new brews and entering local competitions to sharing his latest brew on his friends home tap, craft-brewing showcased Brian’s creativity, generosity, and love for life. 

One year ago, Brian’s life was cut tragically short by diabetes. When Brian passed away, he was training to ride his bike 100 miles in the West Michigan Tour de Cure to raise money and awareness to help combat this deadly disease. To honor his life and continue to tell his story, Brian’s sister Lisa, along with many others who love Brian, rode their bikes 10 miles in the Tour de Cure on September 11, 2016. Collectively, they rode 100 miles and were able to meet Brian's goal in both miles and dollars. Sharing in this experience allowed friends to turn pain into purpose. When the Tour ended, Lisa knew that she couldn’t just walk away from her part in the fight against diabetes. So she began to get connected and volunteer with other young adults affected by diabetes and that’s where the idea for Brian's Brew was born. 

The event was structured around an on-site homebrew competition and celebration event at Brewery 4 Two 4. The competition was comprised of 10 teams of up to four brewers. Representatives of both the American Diabetes Association and the JDRF were on hand to hold some informal education sessions with the purpose of spreading Diabetes awareness during the down times of the homebrew process. 

The winner of this competition, was the team of Jimm Sullivan and Steve McPharlin. They got to brew the winning recipe in house at Brewery 4 Two 4. This beer, a session brown with lactose and Mackinac Island Fudge Coffee is a unique take on the last beer that Brian brewed before his passing. 10% of all sales of this beer will be donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation & ADA. We ask that you raise a toast to Brian while you drink this beer and enjoy it as he would have."

Joined: 01/26/2009

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Honest Abe

December 26th, 2017 at 10:54 PM ^

In the minority here, but beer makes me full and doesnt fuck me up quick enough (not putting alcohol in my body unless im gonna have a good time from it) and most beer tastes like rat Piss to me anyhow so Moonshine or bust for me.

Joined: 12/19/2017

MGoPoints: 1788

sbeck04

December 27th, 2017 at 2:23 AM ^

1. Bell’s Black Note Stout
2. Oddside Hipster Brunch Stout
3t. Shorts Juicy Tree
3t. Bell’s Hopslam

Beers you can actually buy right now...
1. Shorts Juicy Tree
2. Founders Breakfast Stout
3. Shorts Cup O Joe Stout

Joined: 09/20/2010

MGoPoints: 1686

unWavering

December 27th, 2017 at 9:45 AM ^

This thread is really making me miss living in Michigan.... You can get some Bell's and Founder's down here but only the bigger name stuff. The beer here is just not as good.

Joined: 01/13/2011

MGoPoints: 22437

Primo

December 27th, 2017 at 10:16 AM ^

Shorts Good Humans is my favorite beer to find this time of year. It's a dry hopped brown and is very unique / tasty. A few years ago it was everywhere in MI it seemed, but this and last year has been harder to find.

Joined: 10/16/2014

MGoPoints: 1695

jgoblue11

December 27th, 2017 at 12:07 PM ^

1.) New Holland: Hoptronix @ 9% abv so it packs a punch, very drinkable too. YUMMY

2.) Founders: Breakfast Stout

3.) Bell's: Two Hearted Ale

4.)Greenbush Brewing: Distorter

5.)Short's brewing: Sticky icky icky

 

Added a few more for ya!

 

Joined: 09/20/2017

MGoPoints: 1902

BrownJuggernaut

December 27th, 2017 at 1:58 PM ^

I don't live in Michigan. I live in Massachusetts. Most of the stuff I'm exposed to is the  distributed stuff (Founders, Dark Horse, Shorts, New Holland). I get to have Bell's when I visit DC which is about once every 2 months. While it's not "special" or "rare," Two Hearted is still my favorite.

Seeing as I can have some of the best NEIPAs pretty much whenever I want, I'm curious to see how other regions are doing "NEIPAs." They're popping up everywhere, but I can't say they're great everywhere. Like I've visited Aslin in Virginia a few times and their non-lactose/non-fruited IPAs are very in line with New England breweries. The Veil's IPAs also hold up. Then I have some Bearded Iris out of Nashville that I had was mediocre. Side Project's Shared Proof of Concept was not good. Anyway, this is a round about way of saying I'm interested in seeing how these Michigan NEIPAs stand up. Supposed to get a package soon. We'll see.

Joined: 10/02/2010

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BrownJuggernaut

December 27th, 2017 at 9:22 PM ^

That's my main problem with what's going on. Breweries are jumping "in" but they're not doing it right. It's become a marketing term and all breweries think they need to do is add some oats or wheat and make it hazy/unfiltered. If you know anything about the background of the style, these beers were demonized when they came out because of how they looked. It's an unintended byproduct. The feel, the aroma, the flavor are everything. It stinks to see poor representations around the country.

I've heard Monkish is good. My first impression of them was their awful collaboration with Trillium that is easily the worst beer Trillium has ever released.

Joined: 10/02/2010

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TrueBlue2003

December 28th, 2017 at 1:23 AM ^

but I know that the typical impression of them is that they look terrible and taste great.

One interesting thing about the style that may contribute to all the mediocre attempts is that, at least in California, they seem to mostly be offered by smallish and/or semi-struggling breweries that are trying to find a foothold.  And so a lot of those types of breweries just might not be that good at brewing beer!

Monkish, as the name suggests, started out doing primarily Belgian Abbey style beers.  And they did them really well.  The problem is abbey style ales aren't that popular, especially in Southern California where it's always "summer" beer season and IPAs dominate.  So they started doing NEIPAs and since they have an incredible head brewer, they nailed the style.  They're making so much money dedicating their capacity to NEIPAs that they've stopped brewing a lot of their usual stuff (which was sad for me because abbey style ales are my favorite and Monkish did them better than anyone this side of Ommegang).

Brouwerij West has a similar story (as the name would suggest once again).

I wonder if a lot of the bigger breweries see it as a fad and don't want to dedicate their capacity (which is presumably being used for beers that are doing just fine) to the style yet.  We'll see.

Joined: 01/05/2010

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B-Nut-GoBlue

December 27th, 2017 at 7:00 PM ^

Any interest in sending some of those Treehouse and Triullium to Iowa you let me know!!!  And actually, Iowa is doing some decent hops, and I don't mean Toppling Goliath.  I stopped drinking them, for reasons I won't get into, but also becasue their hops are not what they once were.  I'd rather go buy Grapefruit Sculpin than shell out for TG hops (they're fine and some are still good, but again, I've my reasons).

HOWEVER...Pulpit Rock is cranking out some down right delicious IPAs/DIPAs.  The most recent being at the BA $ticker $hock release, Rhyme Animal.  Saftig is their main beer and actually sees some distro to some areas.  They're "different" than the NE stuff but every bit as good in my mind, and I'm a not one for hyperbole and can be a curmudgeon at times!  Regarding Michigan hops, I've had some Transient and it was quite good.  M-43 is damn good too and if Boss Tweed is better than M-43 it very well sounds like it'd be on the level of the real NE hops.

Always enjoy adding some of you guys on Untappd.  "Sean B." is my username I think, or B-Nut...both are on my account so search me out and give me an add if interested!  That goes for you too, TrueBlue (and anyone else)

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BrownJuggernaut

December 27th, 2017 at 9:30 PM ^

Was able to try Psuedo Sue in DC. I know it's probably produced at the Florida facility, but it was good.

My main objection with the proliferation of NEIPA is that I don't want the style to be sullied by misrepresentations. I haven't had BT or M-43 (soon hopefully), but I wonder how much locals are hyping their local NEIPA because they think they have to. There's a promiscuity with craft beer that everyone wants to try everything. There's trading. There's hype. I don't take NEIPAs at face value. I take it with a "oh yeah, what do you got?" I've been disappointed plenty of times by NEIPAs both here and outside the region. There are certainly breweries outside the region producing some good ones.

Joined: 10/02/2010

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mmjoy

December 27th, 2017 at 9:07 PM ^

I second M-43. It is amazing. Another one to checkout from my town, if you can find it depending on where you are, is Cloudy with a Chance of Hops from Grand Armory Brewery Co in Grand Haven. 9% and is delicious!

Joined: 09/27/2010

MGoPoints: 399

a2bluefan

December 27th, 2017 at 11:28 PM ^

Not gonna hate on M-43, it's a tasty beer. But I've had several NEIPAs that I like better (all Michigan-brewed):

Witch's Hat - Defloured

Witch's Hat - This Guy

Wolverine - Shore Storm

Perrin - Cosmic Apparition

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