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The
Livery (September 30, 2005) |
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This trip takes
us to Benton Harbor, a long drive from Midland.
This building is 100 years old and use to be a
livery (hence, the name).
Inside, the original freight elevator is still
there (click here
or on the picture to see more). Down in the brewery area where the horses were housed you can
see where they have gnawed on the beams.
We really like the places we go to with some
history behind them.
When talking with Leslie (part owner with her
husband), they had to do some excavating in order to make
room to put the stairs in and to change the direction from
the original way they were.
Steve (Leslie’s husband) is the brewer.
We sat at the downstairs bar and Everett waited
on us. We
ordered the usually sampler to try all the brews.
We tasted: McGilligan’s
IPA (hoppy), Cousin Jax Double IPA (8%, but not as hoppy
as the other IPA), English Ruby Red Ale (dark in color,
not much body to it), Yorkshire Brown Ale (not much body
to it for a brown), LawnMower Lager, Bungtown Export, and
Hefeweizen.
Benton Harbor use to be called Bungtown when they
shipped wooden kegs from this area.
At this time they do not have food, but will have a
café in the basement area where the brewery is.
We were able to get a pint glass here and we got a
growler filled with the Bungtown Export.
(We will post pictures of these later).
Their web page is www.liverybrew.com
There is also some nice artwork and beautiful
carvings. The
carvings were created by Brad Bigford - sculptor, and we
met Brad there. He gave us a business card and he also has a web page.
Check out www.bradbigford.com
if you’d like to see samples of his work
| |
Cheryl |
Todd |
| McGilligan’s IPA |
1.75 stars |
1.75 stars |
| Cousin Jax Double IPA |
2.5 stars |
3 stars |
| English Ruby Red Ale |
3 stars |
3.5 stars |
| Yorkshire Brown Ale |
2.75
stars |
3
stars |
| Lawn Mower Lager |
2.75
stars |
3
stars |
| Bungtown Export |
3
stars |
3
stars |
| Hefeweizen |
2
stars |
2
stars |
Ratings based on our personal
preferences - yours may vary.
Appearance:
5 stars
Beer: 3
stars
Food: no food
yet
Atmosphere:
5 stars
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Saugatuck
Brewing Company |
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Next on our list we traveled north to Douglas.
They don’t have a sign yet and without the web
site it is hard to find.
If you plan on going here you will need to go to
Saugatuck’s web site to get the map.
www.saugatuckbrewing.com.
This is located in a new office/warehouse
complex. A
small, cozy place – very open.
The bar area is basically a large garage with a few
tables and of course a bar.
Barry and his wife Kathy are the owners and they
opened about 4 months ago.
They purchased the brewing equipment from the
Detroit Brewing Company.
Barry went to Germany to learn the brewing process.
Barry had 6 brews on tap and we ordered a sampler
of them all. We
tasted: Clipsons
Union Ale, Christine’s Suffock Ale, Coal Porter, 3
Pig’s Pale Ale (dark in color), Main Street Wheat, and
Octoberfest. We
were surpised the brews did not have much of an aroma, nor
much body to them, especially the Porter.
We were happy they had growlers and had it filled
with the Coal Porter.
The pint glasses had not arrived yet.
This is a true micro-brewery, as they have no
food here. You
can also make your own brew here if you want to try your
hand at brewing. Barry showed us around and explained the brew your own
process. They
also do some bottling and it sounds like demand is high.
| |
Cheryl |
Todd |
| Clipsons Union Ale |
2.5 stars |
2.5 stars |
| Christine’s Suffock Ale |
2 stars |
2 stars |
| Coal Porter |
4 stars |
4 stars |
| 3 Pigs Pale Ale |
2.75
stars |
3
stars |
| Main Street Wheat |
3
stars |
3
stars |
| Octoberfest |
2
stars |
1.75
stars |
Ratings
based on our personal preferences - yours may vary.
Appearance:
4 stars
Beer: 2.75
stars
Food: no
food
Atmosphere:
5 stars
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New
Holland Brewing Company |
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We decided since we were close by we would travel
over to Holland and visit a couple of breweries we had
been to before. We
had not eaten here the last time we were here and we
thought about getting food. They were very busy and we decided that we would try some
brews and go over to Via Maria and eat there.
We tried: Tiny
Tim Light Brown Ale, Nitro Ichabod Pumpkin Ale, Sock
Knocker, and Red Tulip.
We really liked the Tiny Tim and when we asked to
have our growler re-filled with it, they said we could not
have any of the speciality brews in our growler. Cheryl was mad. Why
would you not fill a growler just because it’s a
specialty beer? Especially,
when you can’t get those beers in the store like you can
the others. Most
of the brews here are hoppy and since they’re available
locally, we said never mind and took our empty growler and
went to our next stop.
Their
website is: www.newhollandbrew.com
See
the previoius Grand
Rapids link (click here) for more!
| |
Cheryl |
Todd |
| Tiny Tim Light Brown Ale |
4.25 stars |
4 stars |
| Nitro Ichabod Pumpkin Ale |
2.25 stars |
2.25 stars |
| Sock Knocker |
3.25 stars |
3 stars |
| Red Tulip |
2 stars |
3 stars |
Ratings
based on our personal preferences - yours may vary.
Appearance: 5 stars
Beer: 3 stars
Food: did not eat
Atmosphere: 3 stars
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Via
Maria Trattoria |
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Again, our second time here, and since we did not
eat here last time we decided to have something to eat.
We were seated in Italy Street since we didn’t
want to wait 45 minutes for the dinning room. This was a great location, as we were able to watch the cooks
and see the nice presentations of food they served here. They definitely pride themselves with the quality and
presentation of their main courses.
They only had 4 brews on tap this time and 2 of
them were on tap the first time we visited here. We sampled the: Max
Power Imperial Lager (very hoppy with eleven additions of
spicy, floral Czech Saaz and American Crystal hops), and 9
Degrees (a copper brown Belgian abby style ale).
We ordered a pint glass of the D’Ambra to have
with our dinner.
Allen was our waiter and he was very
helpful and knowledgeable. To eat we had a specialty
pizza, named Choice pizza.
This came with game hen, butternut squash, spinach,
portabella mushrooms, and carmelized onions on a Reggiano
cheese base. This
was the best pizza we ever had.
It was cooked in an open fire, brick oven.
This place is a must to eat at and they change
their menu weekly, which gives them a lot of variety.
There is also a bakery here.
For dessert to go Cheryl ordered the baked fruit
which looks like a baked apple, but with peaches,
cranberries, and apricots.
She ate it later at the hotel and found it
scrumptious.
We decided not to get our growler re-filled as we
already had 2 we had to drink.
We must also mention that they have The Via Maria
Garden, which is rated as one of the most beautiful and
romantic places in western Michigan.
Todd took Cheryl out to the Garden to look at it
and it is very beautiful.
This would be an excellent romantic place to take
someone special – fountains, plant-life, flowers, and
large kerosene lamps.
See
the previoius Grand
Rapids link (click here) for more!
| |
Cheryl |
Todd |
| Max Power Imperial Lager |
2.5 stars |
2.25 stars |
| 9 degrees |
2.5 stars |
2 stars |
| D’Ambra |
3.5 stars |
3.25 stars |
Ratings
based on our personal preferences - yours may vary.
Appearance: 5 stars
Beer: 2.75 stars
Food: 5+ stars
Atmosphere: 5 stars
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Home
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Sanford Lake & Mountain Town (June, 2001)
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Big Buck & Alcatraz (Aug, 2001)
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Jamesport, Lighthouse, Mackinaw, Northpeak, Brewzone, Boyne River (Sep, 2001)
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Wiltse's (Nov, 2001) & Tawas Point (May, 2004)
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King, Big Rock, & WAB (July, 2001)
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Hereford and Hops (starting Dec, 2001, several trips)
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Harpers, Tuba, & MBC (Mar, 2002)
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Tahquamenon, Lake Superior, Jasper Ridge, Library brewpub (Aug, 2002)
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Quay Street, Dragonmead, Great Baraboo (Apr, 2003)
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Hair of the Frog, Robert Thomas, Grand Rapids, B.O.B.'S, Founders (July, 2003)
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Grizzly, Arbor, Leopolds (Aug 6, 2004)
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Sports, Traffic, Stoney, Kuhnhenn (Aug 7, 2004)
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Thunder Bay, Belle Isle (Aug 8, 2004)
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Jamesport, Salmon fishing (Aug 29, 2004)
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Rochester, Big Rock, King, Bo's, WAB, Bastone, Copper (Sep 11, 2004)
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Black Forest, Frankenmuth (Oct 1, 2004)
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Old Hat, Bilbos, Olde Peninsula, Bells, Kraftbrau (Oct 8, 2004)
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Arcadia, Dark Horse, Harpers (Oct 9, 2004)
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Midland St. Ale Tour, Bay City, 2004
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Old Boys, New Holland, Via Maria, Grand Rapids Brewing (Nov 12, 2004)
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The B.O.B., Founders (Nov 13, 2004)
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Thunder Bay, Kings, Bo's, CJ's (Feb 5, 2005)
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Great Baraboo, Dragonmead, Belle River (Feb 26, 2005)
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Boyne River, Shorts (Apr 30, 2005)
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2nd U.P. Trip - Part 1, Tahquamenon, Lake Superior, Vierling, Jasper (Aug 24,25, 2005)
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2nd U.P. Trip - Part 2, Red Jacket, Keweenaw, Library, Hereford & Hops (Aug 26,27, 2005)
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Mountain Town, Sanford - 2nd Trip (Sept 10, 2005)
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Michigan Brewing, Jolly Pumpkin, Redwood Lodge, (Sept 24, 2005)
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Livery, Saugatuck, New Holland, Via Maria (Sept 30, 2005)
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Middle Villa, Schmohz, Hideout (Oct 1, 2005)
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Redwood Lodge (Sep, 2004), Redwood Lodge (Oct 8, 2005)
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Kuhnhenn, Bastone, Lilys (Oct. 21, 2005)
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Bonfire, Etouffee (Oct. 22, 2005)
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Cork 'N' Ale 11th Annual Fall Beer Tasting (Nov. 3, 2005)
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Traverse City, North Peak (Dec. 2, 2005)
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Mackinaw, Shorts (Dec. 3, 2005)
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Lumber Barons' Charcoal Grill & Brewpub (Dec. 9 & 10, 2005)
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