This was our 2^nd visit here, so we kind of knew where we were going.  When we reached Main St. there was major traffic.  Some kind of farmer’s festival and craft show was going on.  We were lucky to find a parking spot in the actual brewery parking lot – most were probably there for the festival.

We sat at the bar as usual and admired the huge vodka bottles they had behind the bar.  The interior is wide open with pool tables in the middle.  The old red brick and warehouse style seems to be common with micro-breweries.  They had TVs everywhere including a projection screen right in front of us.

We picked out a couple beers to sample.  We tried the Rochester Red, Paint Creek Porter, Sacri-licious Stout, Milk Shake Stout, Anniversary Scotch Ale, and Crisp Wheat.  We rated 4 to 5 stars on all the beers we tried, our favorite was the Paint Creek Porter, but, we ended up with a growler of Crisp Wheat – didn’t want to end up with too many heavy beers.

This was also our 2^nd visit, and, we remember the “stuffiness” from last time.  We parked our car again instead of using the valet.  When we entered the restaurant, we told the maitre d’ we’d just sit at the bar.  His response was “Good choice” - must’ve been because we were in shorts and t-shirts and didn’t meet the dress code.  They actually have signs that say “Proper Attire” at the entrance.  This place is very nice inside and the décor’ is outdoorsy at the bar area.

Once again, we sat right behind the taps and it must’ve been 5 minutes before we were even approached.  Feels almost like a country club where you must belong, else you don’t fit in.  The only thing the bartender could tell us is that they brew new beers all the time.  We tasted the Irish Dry Stout, Red Ale, & India Pale Ale.  We ordered a growler of Irish Dry Stout (we rated this one a 4, and the others averaged a 3).

The bartender didn’t know how to fill a growler at all.  She filled it to a point from the tap and then she couldn’t figure out how to top it off, so she filled pint glasses and poured it into the growler.  It was hilarious because she was out of direct eyesight, but the mirrored walls gave us a perfect view.  It seemed like we were there for hours,  Todd took this long wait and looked at a menu, as we didn’t do that the first time we were here.  They had Ostrich on the menu at $38.00 and hor d’vours averaged $12.00.  We do have to say there was one nice guy there who spoke to us about microbreweries when he saw Todd’s 2004 Summer Beer Fest shirt on. 

We already know how great their food and beers are.  We had to move on – still going towards Ferndale.  See previous post for more (King, Big Rock, WAB)

Appearance:  4 stars

           Beer:  5 stars

           Food:  (didn’t eat this time, but was great last time)

Atmosphere:  5 stars

We tried the Seminole Hills Red, Dr. Conger’s (these 2 we liked best), and Boberry Wheat which was ok.  They had two interesting brews, the Ambe Eisbock @ 12% and the Extreme I.P.A. @ 11%.  We decided not to try those at this time and you are only allowed one 8oz glass.

Knowing how great the food was from our previous visit,  we decided to take our appetites on to the WAB as we hadn’t eaten there and heard it was great.

Appearance:  4.5 stars

           Beer:  5 stars

           Food:  (didn’t eat this time, but was great last time)

Atmosphere:  5 stars

The bartender was very nice and she did a great job.  After looking over the menu, the Pesto Chicken Bruschetta and Honey Porter Roast Beef were ordered.  The food was excellent.  We would definitely eat here again. 

This time we decided to try just a few samples having two more Breweries to visit.  So we tried the Custom Blonde, Brown Ale, and the Custom Porter.  The best one was the Brown Ale, which we refilled our growler with. It was cool finding we had ordered the same brew on the first visit.  They had a special guest tap called Wittekerke (which means white church in Flemish).  We had a taste and thought  it was okay.

Appearance:  5 stars

           Beer:  4.5 stars

           Food:  5 stars

It was nice inside and they have a lounge downstairs with bands.  We sat at the bar in the restaurant.  It was quite small behind the bar leaving not much room for staff.  We laughed with the bartenders about it.

They have growlers, so we were excited, until we sampled the brews.  In the sampler we tried the Blonde, Pilsner, Belgian Pale Ale, Dubbel, and the seasonal Summer Ale.  As we rated these brews the scoring was a 1.5 overall.  Unable to leave without a growler we decided to get the Dubbel as this one was rated high at a 3.

The menu was very interesting and the food was French style, Belgian size servings.  Among the many items we found seafood waterzool which is like a stew, has lobster, salmon, clams, and mussels. Also, the Lobster Boagiaise looked great too.  They also have Café Habana as part of the building next door, it’s Cuban food.  We didn’t want to eat as we had one more stop to make and we were hungry for the Calamari at Copper Canyon.

Appearance:  5 stars

           Beer:   1.5 stars

           Food:  didn’t try yet

Only wanting to try a few brews we tried the Buffalo Jump Stout, Copper Canyon Alt, and Northwestern Gold.  We had the growler refilled with the Stout.  The brews, this time were average.

Appearance:  5 stars

           Beer:  3.5 stars

           Food:  2 stars based on what we had

Atmosphere:  3 stars