Beer Trip

2007-04-25T20:23:00.000-05:00

Today was Kristen's most anticipated part of the trip: Holland, MI. We had a bit of rain in the morning, but it cleared up in the later afternoon, and it turned into a nice day. Our first stop in Holland was the DeKlomp Wooden Shoe and Deflt Factory. We spent some time looking at the Delftware, and checking out the garden store next door...which was pretty neat if you like bulb flowers. They had TONS of tulips bulbs and various other bulb plants for sale. I was a little disappointed though. Kristen told me she was going to buy a pair of wooden shoes and do a Klompen dance for me, but she decided against it...hm.

After the DeKlomp we headed to The Dutch Village; which is a Dutch-themed amusement park. Unfortunately, the park was closed, but the stores were open. We ended up leaving a stein, a decorative wooden plate, some imported Gouda, and fudge. The gentleman selling the fudge told me I was the spitting image of Brad Pitt...to which I agreed.

After The Dutch Village, we headed to New Holland Brewing Company...our first brewery of the day. We got some lunch, a sample of beer, and one of their high-gravity brews:

Lucid Kolsch
Sundog Wheat Ale
The Poet Oatmeal Stout
Red Tulip Amber Ale
Zoomer Wit
Mad Hatter India Pale Ale
Dragon's Milk English Strong Ale

My favorite was the Dragon's Milk.

After New Holland, we went to Windmill Island. The Windmill there is the only REAL Dutch windmill in the United States. The Windmill was purchased, taken apart piece-by-piece, shipped over here, and reassembled. The only part of the De Zwaan windmill that was imported was the brick base. The windmill is still used to grind wheat into flour, which is then sold at the gift shop.

While at the Island, and taking some pictures, we ran into a photographer from the Grand Rapids Times. He asked if he could take some pictures of us taking pictures. We agreed. After which, he got our names and some information about our trip. So, maybe we'll be in the newspaper.

After Windmill Island we headed South to Benton Harbor and our hotel in Stevensville. The Comfort Suits in Stevensville is definitely the nicest hotel we've stayed at on the trip. After some freshening up we headed to The Livery in Benton Harbor. Benton Harbor is kind of a worn-out resort town, but they have a FUCKING awesome brewpub in The Livery. Definitely one of our favorite brewpubs so far. The place has a GREAT atmosphere, and...OH(!), wow, the beer is out-of-this-world-good! Tonight was also Mediterranean buffet night! The Tebouleh was The Good. The beer we had:

Thoms Special IPA
Brandy Cask Aged Cherry Jubilee
Double Paw Imperial IPA
Liverator Dopplebock
Irish Stout
Doubt Stout
Laughing Dragon American Red Ale

The Brandy Cask Aged Cherry Jubilee was just off the wall...a PHENOMENAL beer.

The amount of beer we hauling around is beginning to reach the "retarded" level. There is pretty much no room left in the car. So, I've made a compromise with Kristen. We're going to look into renting one of those clam shells that you can strap onto the roof. We can through our luggage in there, and that will clear up A LOT of space in the car...for more beer of course. As you can see bellow, the car is quite full, and the back end is really starting to sag.

Tomorrow we leave the great state of Michigan and head into Chicago Land.

2007-04-24T20:59:00.000-05:00

Today was the much anticipated Bell's Eccentric Cafe. We managed to arrive right at 11:00am. The bartender congratulated us for beating all of the regulars in. The Cafe is a real interesting place. Very different from some of the other brewpubs we've been to. Lots of interesting art on the walls, and a real laid back atmosphere. If you're sitting at a table food is ordered at a window into the kitchen just as you walk inside the door. Kristen and I both had the soup and a sandwich. For beer I had:

Bitter
Two Hearted Ale
Porter
Oberon
Apple Mead

After lunch we headed to the general store and picked up some beer to bootleg to for the now Bells-deprived family in Chicago.

After Bells we set out to find a souvenir for a certain someone. After which we headed north to Grand Rapids. We found our hotel, checked in, freshened up a bit, and then set out to Founders. While the beer was delicious, Founders was some what of a disappointment for me. They barely had any beer for takeout, and they stop serving food at 2pm! I also thought it was somewhat over-priced. Oh well. We did get the beer they had for sale, and grabbed a couple of growlers. The beer we had:

Kentucky Breakfast Stout
Oatmeal Stout
Imperial Stout
Backwoods Bastard Bourbon-aged Scotch Ale
Bourbon-aged Maple Porter
Black Rye

The Kentucky Breakfast Stout is simply awesome. I tried to get them to sell me a growler, but to no avail.

2007-04-23T20:10:00.000-05:00

Today we were back on the beer wagon. We packed the car, and checked out at around 9:00am. And when I say we "packed the car," I mean...we "PACKED the car." The car is quite full, and there some noticeable sag on the back tires. I'm not sure how we're going to put much more beer in the car, but we've got quite a few more breweries to visit, so, I suppose we'll find a way. I'm try to talk Kristen into letting rent a U-Haul to hitch up to the car, but she doesn't seem to fancy the idea. I keep trying to tell her that we have an OBLIGATION to bring back as much beer as POSSIBLE, but she doesn't seem to be falling for it. I'm confident I can talk her into it.

Anyways, we headed towards to Battle Creek to visit Arcadia. So far, our travels through Michigan have gone quite well. In comparing the highway system here in Michigan with that of PA, my dislike of PennDOT and their highway system is only reinforced. The highways here are NOT riddled with pot holes, and are actually designed to handle the number of people living here. Even while traveling through the Detroit area during rush hour we didn't once stop due to a backup. Eight to ten lane highways around a major metro region (as opposed to four to six lane freeways around Philly, which is an even larger metro area with more people).

But back to our beer trip...if we don't get to Battle Creek again any time soon I won't be disappointed. Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh because of how early it was, and there was nothing going on, or perhaps it was the crappy beers at Arcadia. This was the first brewpub we visited that we were really disappointed with. The beers we sampled were:

Angler's Pale Ale
Scotch Ale
Nut Brown Ale
Starboard Stout
India Pale Ale
Whitsun
Cereal Killer Barleywine

The Starboard Stout and the IPA were both okay, but pretty much unimpressive.

After Arcadia we headed out to Gull Lake for a visit to the W.K. Kellog Manor House for a tour. We were the only two that showed up, so we were treated to an intimate tour of the house with just us and curator. The Manor House was the summer home of W.K. Kellog and his second wife. It isn't terribly large as far as mansions of the time period go, but the craftsmanship, design and detail put into this house are astonishing. The walnut trim and Rookwood tiling were beautiful and contributed to the incredible durability of the house.

After touring the Manor House we headed back towards Marshal to visit Dark Horse. We weren't keen on all of the backtracking, but Dark Horse didn't open until 3:00 and, with all the great things I've heard about their beer, I most definitely did not want to miss them. We were most definitely not disappointed. Dark Horse and Kuhnhenn are probably my two favorite brewpubs so far. The beers were phenomenal. We had:

Amber Ale
Crooked Tree I.P.A
Reserve Special Black Bier Ale
Double Crooked Tree I.P.A
Sapient Trip Ale
Too Cream Stout

All of their beers were great. My favorites were the Black Bier and the IPA. Kristen liked also liked the Black Bier. For dinner we shared a pizza: a Chicken Feta Pie.

After Dark Horse, we headed out to Kalamazoo and to the hotel. We have been lucky with our hotels so far, and have been completely satisfied...up until now. The hotel is nice, but we did not get the room we had reserved. After asking them about this, they said that their website often says they have rooms available that they really don't. I'm not sure why that should be my problem, but I intend on taking the issue up with them along with a discussion about their "100% satisfaction guarantee or the room is free" policy.

2007-04-22T19:12:00.000-05:00

We took a break from the beer today, and planned on doing some hiking through The Michigan University's Matthaei Botanical Gardens. We decided to hit up Zingerman's Deli in Ann Arbor to pick up some lunch for later in the day at Matthaei. Zingerman's is awesome. HUGE selection of gourmet cheeses, deli meats, fresh and smoked fish, olive oils, coffee, tea, fresh baked breads and pastries and much more. Kristen and I decided get a turkey sandwhich to split, two garlic pickles, a pretzel and some chips.

It turned out to be the perfect day to visit the Gardens...gorgeous weather AND an Earth Day festival. We started out walking through the conservatory. The conservatory is setup into three climates: tropical, temperate, and arid. We spent some time viewing the flowers and taking pictures. Unfortunately, the humidity in the tropical section fogged up the inner optics on the lens, which pretty much ended the picture-taking until it dried out. So, I stuck the camera back in the bag with a few silicon gel packs to try and dry it out. After the conservatory we took a two mile hike through one of their trails. After which we stopped at one of the picnic tables to eat our lunch.

After lunch, we contacted Anna and decided to meet her at the Nichol's Arboretum. We asked a staff member for directions, and set off. Unfortunately, the directions were wrong, and there were no signs ANYWHERE for the Arboretum. We got a hold of Anna again who was already there. She told us there was no parking and it was so full it wasn't worth it. So, we ended up going to Trader Joe's instead. After Trader Joes we said our goodbyes to Anna, and headed back to the hotel.

Tonight was dinner at The Common Grill in Chelsea. This was definitely one of the best meal either of us had ever had. The food was indescribably good. Kristen had the Lobster and Goat Cheese Ravioli, and I had the Louisiana Lake Perch with Lobster Mashed Potatoes and Grilled Squash. We both had a glass of the Stag's Leap Chardonnay to start. Later I had a Liberty School Cabernet, and Kristen had a Gewürztraminer. For desert we shared cream puffs with a mocha cream filling, and I had a 20 year old Tawny Port.

Basically, we had a nice, pleasantly boring day.

2007-04-21T22:01:00.000-05:00

Another fine day for beer hunting.

We got to Kuhnhenn at around 11:00am. And the beer sampling really didn't stop until about...well...now. The beers we sampled at Kuhnhenn:

Anneliese Amber
Apricot Pantie Dropper
B-Rad's Banana Stout
Classic American
India Pale Ale
Kuhnhenn Pilsner
Loonie Kuhnie Pale Ale
Simcoe Silly
Penetration Porter
Classic American Lager
Czech Pilsner

Usually when you go to brewery/brewpub you have an assortment of beers, and some you find to be good to great to extraordinary, but some...some are just mediocre. Kuhnhenn's beers blew me away. ALL of them were great. The Pilsner was one of the best Pilsners I've ever sampled. The Simcoe Silly was just so off the wall it was awesome.

I also met up with a fellow RateBeerian by the handle of "walleye." Very generous guy. Came in introduced himself to Kristen and I, handed us a bottle of Bell's Batch 4,000 and said, "welcome to Michigan." What a great state that people are handing you bottles of Batch 4,000! Incredibly nice fellow that walleye.

Our hosts at Kuhnhenn were also very friendly and generous. I was hoping to obtain a few bottles of their infamous Raspberry Eisbock, but unfortunately, it's sold out. HOWEVER, our host, while rummaging through a cooler under the bar found an unlabeled bottle of the Raspberry Eisbock, and shared it with the three of us. Finally! This beer is simply amazing. Just fantastic stuff. A new top five beer for me. Kristen didn't think it was bad, but thought it was a bit...odd. Kristen also sampled their Sack Mead, which is an 18% abv mead that is just out of this world.

At the behest of the folks of Kuhnhenn and walleye we made an unscheduled visit a fairly new brewpub called Sherwood. Apparently the brewer, Ray Sherwood, used to work for Kuhnhenn. Our host at Kuhnhenn was even nice enough to print us out directions to the brewpub. There we picked up lunch, and went through another sampler. We both had a turkey sandwich served on cracked pepper jack bread with swiss, avocado, field greens, red onion, and chipotle mayo. The beers we sampled were:

Black Pils Schwartzbier
Anisette Imperial Stout
1492 IPA
Cork County Red Ale
Asylum Amber Ale
Alaskan Sister Wit
Buxom Blonde Ale

The Anisette and the Red Ale were just astoundingly good beers. Their Red Ale is just amazing. Truly the best Red Ale I've ever had. We spoke with the brewery's wife Lisa at length. We told her about our trip, and she told us about their honeymoon (which, too, happened to be a beer trip). We left with a couple of growlers and a glass. Lisa also threw in a couple of other goodies. Sherwood is very young brewery, and is not very well known. But I don't think the secret about this place will last long. Their food their service and their beer are all top notch.

Our next stop was Dragonmead. We didn't have much time here, which is a bit of a shame; as, I would have liked to explore their beers a bit more. HUGE tap selection. Some thirty beers on tap. We sampled:

Leopold's Cream Ale
Lil's Grumpkin Pumpkin
90 Schilling Scotch Ale
Under the Kilt Wee Heavy
Imperial Stout

The Wee Heavy was a great beer, and definitely the best out of the beers we tried. Kristen enjoyed the Pumpkin Ale as well. I was not terribly fond of it, as I'm not big on clove and nutmeg.

After Dragonmead, and a brief stop at the hotel, we met up with one of Kristen's long time friends from High School, and left for Grizzly Peaks. There we met up with another Internet friend who goes by the handle of The_Whapper. To those of you who are familiar with Whapper, I can assure you, all of the stories are true. He really did get forked, he really does have a bionic metelbow, Night Train is a real person, and he really does hold the patent to wood. I would not lie about this.

Whapper was also, somehow, able to get us a table at Grizzly Peaks. I tried to make reservations earlier in the day, and was told they didn't have anything available until 9:00pm. Magically, Whapper got us a table for five with no notice. I did not question it.

Anyways, the beers we sampled at Grizzly Peaks:

Bearpaw Porter
IPA
Molokai White
Pale Ale
Cask ESB
Irish Stout
Farmer's Daugther
Steelhead Red
Centennial Pale Ale

Both Kristen and I agreed that the Centennial was the best beer in the sampler. We both very much liked the Porter. The Farmers Daughter was quite different. It had kind of a minty finish to it. We also got dinner at Grizzly Peaks. I had a smoked turkey and Gouda sandwich and Kristen had macaroni and cheese.

After our meal and beer, Whapper and his friend went to a UFC party. Kristen, her friend and I hung out for a bit and closed the night out just shooting the shit.

2007-04-20T22:01:00.000-05:00

Today was a very fortuitous day. We decided to give Rozi's another shot. This time I called to make sure they were open, and, wow, am I ever glad we went back. Awesome selection, friendly and helpful service, well organized...can't ask for much more than that.

After Rozi's we headed North into Michigan. Our first stop was Arbor Brewing in Ann Arbor. For lunch Kristen had a tempeh burger and I had their IPA Chicken Sandwhich which was served on an onion roll with goat cheese lettuce, onion and tomato. April is Great Britain beers month at Arbor Brewing; so, all but two beers were British in style. Kristen and I shared a sampler of the beer. The beer selection looked like this:

Huxell Best Bitter
Red Snapper Special Bitter
Triple Stone Extra Special Bitter (ESB)
Sacred Cow Cask Conditioned I.P.A
Bavarian Bliss Hefeweizen
Brassiere Blonde

The Huxell, Triple Stone, and IPA were all cask conditioned. Kristen liked the Huxell and the Brassiere Blond (a Belgian-style Ale). My favorite was the IPA. We left Arbor Brewing with two six packs of beer.

After Arbor Brewing we headed out Dexter, MI to one of my favorite breweries. Jolly Pumpkin. The brewery is really not much to look at. It's a cinder-block warehouse that's been converted into a brewery. We went inside and were greeted by Ron the founder and brewer. You couldn't ask for a better host at a brewery than Ron. Just a hell of a nice guy, and he graciously answered all of our questions. He's extremely passionate about his craft, and loves to talk about his beer and his business. After sampling a couple of their beers (Biere de Mars and Madrugada Obscura) we offered Ron and his assistant a couple of the beers we had brought from PA. They tried the Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA and the Sly Fox Odyssey IPA. We left Jolly Pumpkin with a case. I look forward to coming back to Jolly Pumpkin again one day.

After Jolly Pumpkin we headed back down to our hotel in Ann Arbor to unwind a bit and unload our stuff. I chatted with some guy I met out in the lobby about beer, computers, whatever for about half an hour, and then we left for Bella Vino Marketplace (another beer store), and dinner.

Bella Vino...another great beer store. Huge selection of beer, wine and gourmet foods.

After Bella Vino we headed into downtown Ann Arbor again to the Blue Nile Ethiopian restaurant. Last year when we went to Lake Seneca for our vacation we visited a winery called Lakewood. There we purchased a bottle of mead called Blue Nile Tej; which, is actually brewed for this restaurant. So, recognizing the restaurant from the bottle of mead we bought last year we decided to go there for dinner. Neither of us had been to an Ethiopian restaurant before. Very good. An EXCELLENT meal. All of the food is brought out on single round platter which is put on a round wicker stand. There are no plates or utensils. You eat by picking the food up with pieces of injera, which is an Ethiopian flat bread (and when I say flat...I mean flat like a crepe). And, of course, we both had a glass of Tej with our meal.

After the dinner, as we were walking back to our car, we stopped at Schakolad Chocolate Factory and picked up a few truffles for later. We also stopped at The Party Store, which is a liquor and beer store downtown. We got lucky here as well, and found a few nice beers to add to our haul.

2007-04-19T19:54:00.000-05:00

Our first day of the trip. Off to Cleveland. Since moving from Lansdale to Lebanon a week ago we had a bit of a change in our driving plans. We ended up taking the PA Turnpike through Pennsylvania. The Turnpike Commission should be ashamed of themselves for the state of that road. Horrible.

Our first stop was the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. What a gorgeous building in a great setting. The museum is almost overwhelming. The exhibit areas are not huge, but they are packed with memorabilia. In all, I thought it was a cool experience, but I don't think I need to go back.

Cleveland kind of has an odd layout. I'm not quite sure how to explain it. Just a tangled mess of interstates that seem to be constantly merging and then forking off. Streets in Cleveland are also rather poorly marked. Lanes will just suddenly end or turn into turning lanes with no other marking other than the painted arrow on the street. Streets are also rather poorly marked.

After the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame we went to Great Lakes for dinner and some beers. Kristen and I shared a sampler which included:

Burning River Pale Ale
Dortmunder Gold
Edmund Fitzgerald Porter
Eliot Ness Vienna
Holy Moses Wit
Commodore Perry IPA
Rockefeller Bock
Ohio City Oatmeal Stout
Honey Ale
Grassroots Ale

The Porter was the favorite of both of us. The Oatmeal Stout was a close second for me. Kristen enjoyed the Honey Ale as well. For dinner Kristen had a goat cheese and pesto pizza with broccoli, green peppers and zucchini. I had mahi mahi on polenta cake with shitaki mushrooms and basil. The food and beer were excellent. The restaurant had a great, laid-back atmosphere. In all, it was a great time. We left with a six pack of the Edmund Fitzgerald and Burning River and a glass.

From Great Lakes we headed to Rozi's...or at least tried to. Our directions from Google took us to an entrance ramp for I-90W that was closed. We drove around for a bit trying to find an alternate way on. When we were unable to find one we just followed a road that ran parallel with I-90. Eventually, we found a way onto the freeway. When we go off in Lakewood we encountered MORE closed roads and detours. We rolled up to Rozi's at around 7:45pm...and they were closed. They closed at 7:00pm. 7:00pm!? A liquor store? We'll try them again tomorrow.

That's all until tomorrow.

2007-03-04T20:40:00.000-05:00

This is the itinerary for our trip. Starting day one of the trip, this blog will be updated nightly with a summary and pictures of the day's activities.

DAY 1 - Thursday, April 19

Lots of traveling this day to start the trip. I'm thinking of taking I-80 the whole way into Cleveland. This will be one of the more busy days of the trip. We will stop for lunch on the road. Dinner will be at Great Lakes.

Leave: 7:00 AM
Arrive: 1:30 PM @

Beer Trip

DAY 1 - Thursday, April 19

DAY 2 - Friday, April 20

DAY 3 - Saturday, April 21

DAY 4 - Sunday, April 22

DAY 5 - Monday, April 23

DAY 6 - Tuesday, April 24

DAY 7 - Wednesday, April 25

DAY 8 - Thursday, April 26

DAY 9 - Friday, April 27

DAY 10 - Saturday, April 28

DAY 11 - Sunday, April 29

DAY 12 - Monday, April 30