Yesterday I blogged about some of the outdoor fun I had on my mini-vacation to Michigan....now it's time to talk about some of the things I did in the warmth of the indoors.
After my brother picked my up from the airport, we drove back to where I grew up and I met a good friend a brewpub I hadn't been to before.
I found it funny how the guy behind us smiled for the picture too. My favorite beer there was On Golden Blonde Ale. One thing I like about going to different breweries is seeing the crazy names people come up with for beers.
The next day, my brother and I went to a brewpub for lunch in "Beer City" Grand Rapids.
The place was called Thornapple Brewery. We sat at the bar and had our samplers....and the guy sitting next to us happened to be the brewer. We ended up chatting a bit, and he let us try some of their OTHER beers, including one that wasn't released to the public yet. He valued our opinion.
In fact, after we ordered the sampler I noticed that they had won a medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2018. So I asked him which one...and he said it was for the Brown Eyed Girl. Unfortunately, that wasn't one of the beer we chose for our samplers....FORTUNATELY the brewer gave us a free taste. We liked it so much, we got a growler of it to go!
After playing disc golf, we hit another brewpub....where I got another sampler.
My favorite beer there was the Four Stoplight Town Cream Ale. I liked the name (since it fit the city). Some other names I liked....."Oh Snap...Gingerbread porter" and "Conflux Capacitor IPA"
The next day, after some more disc golf, we hit yet another brewpub....this one looked like an old church.
I liked the stain glass window....unfortunately the service sucked.....we sat there for 40 minutes without seeing a waitress after we got our samplers.....PFFFT.
Now, a lot of the indoor part of my trip was visiting breweries, but not all....after the brewery. We picked up my brother's girlfriend and did an escape room.
Normally when you have a group of just 3 in an escape room, you get put into a room with other people.....but this time it was JUST US! Thankfully we escaped....heck I even saw an alien, which I wanted to take a picture of, but they wouldn't let me.
of course after wracking our brains for 60 minutes, we were hungry,....so we went to a brewpub for dinner, where I got another sampler
That place was a BBQ place. I got there brisket, but it was WAY to dry for me....guess I'm spoiled with all the great BBQ here in Texas. One of they beers they had was a "Weizenboch Texas" which is a weizenboch beer. I don't really like weizenboch beers, but had to get it because of the name.
That night when we got home, my brother brought out a special wine he had found...
Yes....it's a Detroit Tigers Wine! Apparently Major League Baseball has wines for ALL of their teams....including the Rangers and Astros (they have special Championship one for the Astros).
If you want to learn more....you can go to MLB.com/wine.
The next day, after more disc golf and the snow tubing, we hit a brewpub for lunch. We had been there before, so I just got the beer I liked....and for food we got a Canadian specialty...Poutine!
It's a bowl of french fries, meat, cheese (note the cheese strectching in the picture), an egg along with brown gravy. It's an interesting combination, but it tastes really good.
Funny thing about the brewpub we went to for lunch, right across the street from where we parked, we saw a distillery!
Nice play on "Michigan" to make it Michigrain Distillery.
And what do you know, they had a sampler...so of course I got it.
For my sampler holder, I could choose the lower peninsula or the upper peninsula. I choose lower (obviously).
Most of their alchol's were vodka's I got a rootbeer vodka, a potato vodka, a Chocolate Carmel Coffee Vodka (which smelled amazing), along with a bourbon and a whiskey.
The sample sizes are ALOT smaller then beer, but you get an idea of what it tastes like.
that night, we did another indoor activity....darts!
That was my game winning throw!
The next day, we hit a brewpub on the way to the airport for lunch....all and all we hit 7 brewpubs (5 of them new to us), and a distillery.
Seems like alot, but when you just get samplers(most samplers get you about a beer and a half)... and you space it out it isn't too bad.
Either way, I'm cutting back on my drinking...at least until St. Patricks Day!
K.C.-ya!