The Vierling Restaurant and Market Harbor Brewery

As you can tell from our brewery list, getting our facts straight on The Vierling restaurant and Market Harbor Brewery took a real life voyage (go check the list, I'll wait). Despite rumors to the contrary, they are the same facility, serving the same beer and the same food. So, yes, naysayers, we padded our list.

Located in the heart of Marquette, Michigan, The Vierling represents another Upper Peninsula brewery Laura and I visited during our first exploration of that beautiful piece of land we stole from Wisconsin in 1836. Downtown Marquette is beautiful, with the sweet little touristy shoppes you'd expect on any coastal Michigan town (with a much higher emphasis on fudge and fresh whitefish).

First opened as a saloon in 1883, and then reopened in 1985, the Vierling possesses no end to its charm. Antique wine and beer bottles adorn the walls and shelves, giving the traditional and overdone "flair" theory a decidedly old timey flavor. My party sat close to the front door where a picture of George Washington smiled down at us and an antique sconce lit our faces.

Antique wine and beer bottles adorning the walls and shelves

George Washington smiling down on Laura

The food was fresh Lake Superior whitefish that I am certain was still swimming in its natural environment hours before, and the beer was the perfect temperature. While the Vierling offers several varieties of beer, I tried but two. . .and those two were fantastic.

The Blueberry Wheat, a gorgeous wispy straw colored wheat beer with an assertive but gentle taste of blueberry, performed fantastically. This beer is now my favorite fruit flavored wheat beer. The addition of real blueberries to the glass gives it a great balance of flavor, with the sweet blueberries juxtaposed against the hops. I happen to prefer non-citrus fruits in my wheat beers, though, so if you're of the opinion that only a strong orange or lemon should be dancing in your wheat (see: Oberon), then this possibly is not for you.

I ordered the Vierling's Plank Road Pale Ale to pair with my grilled whitefish. I prefer a dry, hoppy ale with my fish, and this pale ale did not disappoint; indeed I would almost consider it a light IPA, given its strong hops flavor and hints of grapefruit and apricot. It pours a deep amber with a solid white head that dissipates quickly to leave an attractive lacing effect as you drink. Another big win for the pale ale category, and a beer I would recommend to anyone.

Seth with the Plank Road Pale Ale

Atmosphere, service, food, and beers all receive extremely high marks at this gem of Marquette's eating establishments. Don't expect to leave for cheap, though; the price for extremely fresh fish is reflected by the menu. All things considered, however, I have no hesitation rating The Vierling as a 150 mile brewery; it's certainly worth a 150 mile trip out of your way.

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Short's beer at HopCat

Seth and I made a Sunday evening trip to HopCat in Grand Rapids last night. Every Sunday at 8:00PM, they tap a new cask of a beer from Short's Brewing Company. Being that Short's is one of our favorite breweries and we both had today off, we decided we had no choice but to go. Once we stepped in the door, we couldn't believe that we had never been there since their opening in January 2009. They're rated "The #3 Beer Bar on Planet Earth" by Beer Advocate Magazine, have over 200 beers (including 48 taps), and they're only about a five minute drive from our house!

We didn't actually try any of the HopCat brews (shame on us), but we tried four different Michigan beers, so I figured it was still blog-worthy. We will return soon to try the actual HopCat beers, and when we do, we'll spend some more time describing the actual bar. One thing I feel I should mention if you're thinking about going is that the staff are very fast, friendly, and are clearly a bunch of beer lovers themselves, which only makes the place that much better.

Anyway, on to the beer!

Seth started out with the Short's Bourbon Barrel Huma. We both instantly agreed that it was one of the best beers we've ever tasted. It was served in a tulip glass, and poured a clear orange with a white head. There was a definite aroma of bourbon and a faint grainy malt. There was also a perfect hint of bourbon flavor with sweet malt and citrus.

I started out the evening with Short's Black Plum IPA. It appeared maroon, almost black, with not much head by the time I received it. It had a ripe plum aroma, with hints of dark chocolate, and faint hops. Honestly, not much of an IPA flavor, but a pretty strong chocolately plum flavor. It was not really my favorite, but it was very drinkable and great for those that aren't really huge IPA fans.

Next up for me was Short's Caramel Apple. I was leery at first, but our bartender assured me that it wasn't too sweet, so I decided to give it a go. It was served in a wine glass and poured a hazy light brown color with a frothy off-white head that dissipated quickly. Heavy tart apple cider aroma, with a bit of underlying cinnamon and caramel. Caramel and cinnamon were more apparent in the start of the beer with tart apple coming out in the finish. Medium body with a soft carbonation. Another interesting beer from Short's. I'd drink it again.

The final Michigan beer we sampled (thank God it was only a sample), was the Holistic Healing from Short's. Our bartender warned us that it tasted a lot like Jägermeister, and I would honestly rather just drink straight Jäger. I wish I had a picture of the face our bartender made while she was describing it, because I would post that right here, and not have to make myself think about it ever again because that would suffice as a description. The appearance of it was nice enough; a deep reddish-brown with a solid medium head. That pretty much constituted the highlight of the beer for me. You know, I guess the aroma wasn't awful either. It was sort of sweet and fruity and very spicy smelling (cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger being the most obvious). I realize that it's supposed to be that type of wintery, spicy beer, but this one went way overboard for me. There were far too many sweet and bold flavors that all just jumbled together into a gingery spice-bomb explosion. In case you haven't gotten the point, I would not recommend it.

The final beer of the evening for Seth was not from Michigan, but it was pretty tasty, so it deserves mentioning. It was the Good JuJu Ginger Ale from the Left Hand Brewing Company in Colorado. It poured a clear amber color with a very small head. The aroma has a lot of ginger in it, but it was backed, very slightly, by a nice malt with a caramel smell. The flavor was all ginger. Probably too much if you're not a big fan of the flavor of fresh ginger. It was actually a little difficult to detect many other flavors because the ginger was so strong, but that was fine for me because I love that flavor. As it warmed, there was a bit more of a hop base to it, wtih some citrus flavors coming through, but the nose was still all ginger. It seemed like it would pair well with Indian or Asian food, but it's probably not something I would have in my fridge regularly.

So that did it for our beer tasting for the evening. All-in-all, a very good experience. We will return soon to tell you more about the HopCat itself, and hopefully after getting a tour of the actually brewery.

Oh, and do yourself a favor and try the Crack Fries:

--Laura

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Jasper Ridge Brewing Company

Laura and I don't get to the Upper Peninsula often, and our last trip served as a reminder for how much of a disservice the lack of visits does to us. Michigan's UP is beautiful to the point where I had a hard time believing such sights exist so close to home; Laughing Whitefish Falls, the Pictured Rocks, and the Black Rocks of Presque Isle serve to really cement the Upper Peninsula as home to some of the most inspiring views this side of a National Geographic special. I won't bore you with more exposition, though; the beer is what we're all interested in, anyway.

The Jasper Ridge Brewery in Ishpeming, MI, is an unassuming building located in a boring plaza on the side of a highway. It's not the first brewery I've been to that's not much to see from the outside; Schmohz is in what looks like an old factory, and the New Holland Brewery is smack dab in the center of the most touristy part of town, yet that does nothing to diminish the quality of their beers.

Laura, on left, pictured with her sister, Sarah

On tap, Jasper Ridge offered the following selections while we were there:

Rope's Golden Wheat

Red Earth Pale Ale

Jasper Brown Ale

Gallagher's Irish Stout

Rockin' Raspberry Wheat

Blastin' Blueberry Wheat

Jasper Ridge Iron Red

Pictured from left: Jasper Ridge Iron Red, Rockin' Raspberry Wheat, Blastin' Blueberry Wheat, and Rope's Golden Wheat

The blueberry wheat was excellent; the fruit taste wasn't overpowering but was still front and center. It begins with a strong yeast flavor, almost like a Belgian, with a gentle malty undercurrent to the blueberry finish. These types of fruity summer beers always ride that edge of sweetness for me; I would not be able to drink more than a couple in a given night. However, the addition of adding fresh blueberries to the beer to watch travel up and down the inside of the glass was very entertaining.

Their Raspberry Wheat had such a strong raspberry flavor I forgot I was even drinking beer. Much too strong for me to recommend, save possibly for that slice of America trying to switch to beer from those frightful flavored malt beverages marketed to college girls.

The Red Earth Pale Ale was their strongest contender; it was well hopped for a Pale Ale but didn't lose the smoothness I wanted; if I were to spend many hours here, with the promise of a cab ride home, the Pale Ale would be my longterm beer of choice.

Finally, the Jasper Brown Ale was a perfectly respectable brown. It was a sweet, malty beer with a caramel and light nutty undertone. It was well balanced but I have come to expect more in the traditional brown ales from Michigan.

Seth in front of the brewery

For being buried in the frozen north of the UP, tucked away in a building that looks more like a Ponderosa than a brewery, I was surprised and impressed by the offerings the Jasper Ridge Brewery displayed. That said, given their remote location and the fact that many breweries have superior options in many categories, I can't list Jasper Ridge as a brewery every beer connoisseur must visit.

Considering all these things equally, I rank the Jasper Ridge Brewery as a 20 mile brewery; it's worth driving 20 miles out of your way to visit.

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