The Mackinaw Brewing Company

If there’s a lesson that public schools fail to teach kids, it’s that not everyone is great. Not everyone is perfect at wood shop, not everyone is a great singer, and not everyone is a great chef. And that’s okay; there is a whole world of mediocrity out there, supplying thousands of jobs to people who just aren’t the best at what they do. Most people are average, despite what their schoolteachers tell them, and there’s nothing wrong with being a C student. Look at the macro breweries. No one claims that they sell a perfect product. No one even claims that they sell a great product, and yet more people drink Miller Light and Budweiser than...

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Ichabod Pumpkin Soup

The brewing of pumpkin beer goes back to the time of the our founding fathers in the colonies of North America. Having an ale for breakfast was not an uncommon practice at that time because the drinking water wasn't always safe to drink. During the autumn harvest, brewing a beverage from the produce of the harvest was just thrifty good sense as pumpkin was plentiful as were some of the spices. Brewing these spiced ales reflected the necessity of using the harvest in as many ways as possible to store for the winter without wasting anything. Although pumpkin doesn't actually add that much flavor to a beer, the spices that are added by the brewer...

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Right Brain Brewery

I have this thing for little breweries mysteriously ensconced in the oddest of places. Old factories, abandoned dairies, ancient mills -- if you've built a brewery in one of these places, you can be sure I'll hunt it down.  So you can imagine my interest in visiting the latest addition to Traverse City's brewing scene: the Right Brain Brewery.  What could be more eccentric, after all, than a brewery located in the back of a salon?  You can get a haircut and sample a brew at the same time -- what a great idea! And so Seth and I made the trip up north to the warehouse district of Traverse City, and were not disappointed. ...

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North Peak Brewing Company

Traverse City is beautiful any time of the year, all 8 months of it. Taking a color tour through the deciduous trees lining some of the streets really cements why people brave those other four months nobody really talks about in order to live here. The trip up to Traverse City showed a landscape where more than once I was convinced that the trees were actually on fire. The shades of crimson and saffron and burnt orange are breathtaking. Nothing helps a person enjoy the colors more than a delicious Michigan beer, however. Traverse City is perfectly set up for a local brewlover, with all three of their famous breweries within walking distance...

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Dark Horse Reserve Special Stew

It seems my time in the kitchen has been short and sweet these days, so lately I’ve been focusing on making large amounts of one thing, and then eating it for a few days. I guess it’s the price I pay for working full time and having to visit all these wonderful Michigan breweries on my days off. But I don’t mind, especially when it means I get to enjoy this fabulous stew for days at a time as the cold weather here in Michigan is finally starting to stick.This is not a quick stew. All told, it took me about 3 hours to make. But the house smelled divine all day, and the end result (especially the day after) was a warm and wonderful, hearty stew...

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Bottled Michigan: Short's Hangin' Frank IPA

Not only is summer over here in the Mitten state, fall has swept down upon us with a vengeance. The leaves have curled and succumbed to the season's brilliant double rainbow of colors, the weather person is triumphantly warning of frost, and the seasonal summer wheat and IPAs have given way to Oktoberfest ales and Pumpkin Spice beer. Screw that noise. I'm having one last taste of summer before I let it go. And Short's, I give you the honor of the last IPA I have this season. Short's has no shortage of original ideas for beer. Some of them are failures and some of them are epic successes. They already produce one of the best and most respected...

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