The Beer Traveller

Due to the weather or lack there of, Dad wanted to take the family over to Kingston Ontario.  It was a good excuse to hit their local brewpub.  I had left my passport back on the left coast to keep from losing it on my travels.  Due to our evil Canadian neighbors, you now need either a birth certificate or passport to travel across the boarder.  We figured we would try anyways & I could always play the stupid one from out of town; this role actually comes quite naturally to me.  Getting into Canada was quite easy.  I was asked why I didn’t have a passport & responded with I forgot it.  No worries!
It was than off to Kingston…actually off somewhere else…than my parents who have been over there numerous times realized things didn’t look as they had remembered.  Yep, wrong turn! 
It was a dreary day, but actually decent weather for sitting outside on Kingston Brewing Company’s covered patio.  The 1st shock to my system was the waitress informing me they don’t have a ‘sampler’.  How the hell does a brewery not provide a sampling to the discerned customer.  My father, w/ his “it’s good enough attitude”, said well looks like you won’t be able to try them all.  I, with my it’s never good enough attitude, started the hamster wheel in hopes something would happen.  They had 7 beers, no way I could pint them all.  But, they did serve 10 ouncers. My mom than came out of no-where & ordered Framboise Royale from the waitress while the hamster was still getting up to speed.  See she’s never been a beer drinker, but I turned her on to Linderman’s Framboise.  She recognized that funny Belgium word & was in the game before anyone knew what was happening.  It than occurred to me the ol’ man could do 3 ten-zees & I would do the other 3 ten-zees.  Than we all could do a little family style beer tasting.
The Kingston Brewing Company was est in 1986 & they know their shit.  Both the flagship Dragon’s Breath Pale Ale & their Whitetail Cream Ale ranked Exceptional.  Dragon’s Breath Real Ale was a little too watery & was given a Drinkable.  Both the Dunkelnacht Dark Lager & Pooh’s Brew (Speciality honey lager) were graced with a likable.  Service was just ok, but both the food & Beer were excellent.

Good news was I was now going to hit a brewery & both my ride & my roof would be taken care of. This translated to a more thorough sampling of this establishment’s beverages.  Pearl Street was hopping, probably at least partially due to the fact that it was Saturday night. Overall their beers were about average with an Undrinkable (Lighthouse).  Usually a light beer doesn’t have enough flavor to be bad, but this was an exception.  Canal Lock Bock, Don Cherry, & Lake Effect also ranked towards the bottom with a Drinkable. Their better beers included Obstructionist, Street Brawler, Train Wreck, & Wild Ox Wheat. Food was decent, atmosphere was great, & Sean the bartender was knowledgeable.  Other than that, things were a little foggy.

More like Hiding Bison.  This place in located on the back side of what looks like an abandoned warehouse.  I don’t believe there was a sign out front either.  Luckily Stuckey called to give me a heads-up.  It was only about the 5th time the PITA had called me in the last 20 minutes (just kidding, we love ya Stuck). Stuckey (good friend from college) had arrived early & had been giving the lay-up to Tim (brewer).  Tim was more than accommodating & a great guy as well.  He gave a tour to Stuck, Melissa, & myself. Flying Bison isn’t exactly a brewpub, but they have a mini-bar & taps in the back of the brewery & they don’t mind doling out some free samples.  Great group of regulars & completely laid back atmosphere. 
The Dawn Patrol Gold was a golden Kolsch that did not fit the mold of the Kolschs I had been drinking along the way.  It was golden in color & had a lot more flavor than my other Kolsch experiences.  The Buffalo Lager was a little plain for my tastes, but the Blizzard Bock was Exceptional.  Literally bursting with the perfect balance of flavor.  Barn Stormer Pale was a Likable pale w/o the usual bite that some Pales have.  Blackbird Oatmeal Stout was a good stout, but boilerplate with nothing truly unique about it. 
Tim gave me another surprise when he packed up a sampler 6 pack for my travels.  Thank you Tim!  Flying Bison is not exactly a place to bring the wife for dinner, but they made some good beers & it’d be a great stop after work w/ the boys.

Once again I lost some points w/ sis for showing up @ the bar before they opened.  What can I say…I’m passionate about my work.  Luckily for us there was a motorcycle rally in town. Evidently the night before was a good one b/c the crowd was a little thin & those there were moving a little slow.  There was a beer tent in the middle…& they had bud & bud light.  I didn’t stop. 
We finally made it over to the Brewerie & were extremely impressed w/ the atmosphere.    It was an old train station that still had the looks of the original stop.  I thought this was rather unique, but Gino (bartender) informed me that there are a handful of brewpubs that have chosen to take up in vacant train stations.  The inside was roomy & painted as if the station was still in full swing. He also informed me of the struggles that a brewpub has in a blue collar town.  I don’t want to paint broad brush strokes here, but blue collar usually equates to macro American piss beer (i.e. bud).  See ‘Craig the Asshole’ blog entry for further proof.  There were many humorous stories of bikers/etc. coming in & asking for bud.  After being told this establishment doesn’t serve macro brews, they proceeded to ask for a Labatts or Heineken. Some people just don’t get it.  The great news is this pub not only represents their own brews on tap, but they also have a great assortment of other local craft breweries in the bottle. 
Unfortunately their beers were not quite as good as the stories.  Three our of five ranked Drinkable.  I was happy w/ their Half Wit (Belgium wit) & gave it a Likable.  The one that was completely unexpected was Uncle Jackson’s Blonde.  I’m usually not a fan of Blondes (beer anyways) due to their lack of flavor, but this one was Exceptional.  They were out of the Major McNair’s Nut Brown (named after Erie’s 1st brewer) & Apparition Amber.  AA was named in honor of a young girl named Clara, who had fallen down the back stairs back in the 1900’s & died.  Apparently there is some weird shit that happens in this place. Both Gino & the cook mentioned that they have personally witnessed some strange things including cold chills, wind from nowhere, noises, flashes of people, etc.  If it was later in the night I may have blamed the booze, but both gentlemen were completely sober & sincere.

Cleveland ChopHouse & Brewery is actually part of the Rock Bottom family of restaurants.  For the Cleveland location, the same brewer brews for both ChopHouse & Rock Bottom.  It was a beautiful night & Melissa & I decided to drink outside on the patio. The inside was that of a typical steakhouse; dimly lit w/ slightly more elegant decor.  Our table was outside by the front door & provided a night’s worth of entertainment as we watch patrons come & drunks leave.
Beers were what you would expect from Rock Bottom, decent but safe.  Unlike Great Lakes, they has beers on both end of the spectrum. The Seasonal Wheat was a sweet wheat & ranked Exceptional, while the Cleveland Comet (seasonal) had a vinegar flavor & was ranked Undrinkable.  Our waitress Stephanie was a cheerful young lass that was willing to help with all my needs & even offered up a brewery tour.  Manager Jaime later fit me in for a tour while juggling her many other duties. 
Some interesting quotes from the patio included “Is that our girlfriend” one guy to another.  Also “Hey sweet lips” from an 80 yr man yelling to his wife at the front door as he was standing by his car.  We also became acquainted with Cleveland’s safety ambassadors.  Ours happened to be a 300# gentlemen w/ a voice of a southern blues man; he was also on a bike that he probably should have been on.  He stopped by to inform us to move both the camera & purse (sister’s) away from the edge of the table.
ChopHouse had a great atmosphere; probably best to skip the birks & T-shirt if you decide to stop.

Great Lakes Brewing Company has their brewpub & brewery within a stone’s throw of each other, but not on the same block. There’s a parking lot over by the brewery w/ ample (paid) parking.  The brewpub appears to have 3 separate & distinct areas to get your swerve on.  An inside which I never did make it to, the outside patio that sits out front, & the beer garden. The beer garden is of course where you would have found the Beer Traveller & in my opinion was the best spot.  It was located behind the patio & to the side of the building.  It was basically a little courtyard w/ retractable awning roofs & a stone fireplace.

Although Great Lakes was one of the nicer facilities I’ve visited on this trip, their beers were average.  My guess is they went the safe route; meaning nothing too extreme, which means less likelihood of an undrinkable, but also less likelihood of an Exceptional.  Not much else to say other than good beer selection, nice place, good service, & acceptable beers.

We arrived in Toledo about an hour early, Maumee didn’t open till 11:30AM.  Melissa wasn’t exactly happy about having to get up early & than spend additional time in Toledo.  For those of you who have been there, you understand.  Personally it was a sunny day & I enjoyed having nothing to do (but not nothing to drink).
Maumee is a bit confusing as it is actually about 4 different places wrapped in one.  They have a brewpub, premier steakhouse, sports bar, & ‘multi-dining complex all at the same location.  For the brewpub, which is what we were waiting for, you have to walk around back, down some stairs, in through a common door, & than up a flight of stairs.  Meanwhile everything looked closed.  I asked the bartender if it was always this dead (we were the only ones there) & she said they just opened.  It still seemed a lil’ quiet to us.
The inside was awesome.  Mile high ceilings with beer paraphernalia galore, visible copper kettles, & beer history saturation.
The good news is that the wait was well worth it.  Not only did the place have a great atmosphere (minus the lack of people), but they also knew their way with the barley & hops.  The flagship Buckeye beer wasn’t exactly flagship, but I can definitely see how the tailgaters could favor a beer of this drinkability.  Both their Oatmeal Stout & Steam were Exceptional. The other impressive & surprising brew was the Nasby Raspberry.  It’s a high powered double wheat that contains 100# of raspberries/barrel.  The bartender, who was a girl, mentioned that she was not a fan of the Nasby.  However, I thought it was an exceptional fruit beer.

I cannot comment on the food or other restaurants, but will say that this is a must stop when in Toledo.  And for the locals who have yet to find this jem, wake the hell up!

Traffic Jam helps give some street beer cred back to Michigan.  They hold the 1st brewpub license in Michigan & the quality has obviously kept them going. The downside is that they only had 4 beers to try.  Ok, maybe a couple of downsides.  The other, sitting outside & getting hustled by Detroit street walkers/crack addicts/& meth heads.  It really wasn’t too bad & it gave Melissa & I the opportunity to keep an eye on the Beer Travelln’ mobile.
Service, food, & Beer were great.  The Centurion was a Belgian Style Grand Chu that was in honor of the brewer’s 100th barrel of beer brewed.  The Doppelbock was Exceptional, extremely smooth with a hint of richness.  Inside looked to have less atmosphere, but more room than outside. It should also be noted that Traffic Jam has their own dairy & bakery.  They make most of their food on-site, including salad dressings, ice cream, breads, desserts, & of course Beer.  Overall I would say there probably isn’t much else worth anything in Detroit.  So if you have to be in Detroit, than you may want to make a pit stop @ the Traffic Jam & Snug.

Stopped @ Grand Rapids Brewing Co. on July 17, 2008.
Not much to look at from the outside, the $5.99 lunch special banner really classes the joint down.  Upon entry, there’s a lot of wood & character.  Although brewers, they definitely appear to focus more on the food.  There was a plethora of beer information, both local and general, laying out for those needing more education.  Found out that Michigan is 6th, in the country, in number of brewpubs.  Got to love a place that lists the health benefits of beer on their beer list.  Got to hate a place that still allows smoking!
Their food was decent, but their beer was sub-par.  All beers, with two exceptions, were given a Drinkable.  One exception…a barley wine that was Undrinkable & the other was the Lumberjack Red, Likable, that was close to a stout. 
Centennial Silver Foam was a pilsner that tasted as if it came from a fire extinguisher.  Clockwork Orange was a poor name (& taste) for a wit.  Wild Berry Ambrosia was the brewer’s 6th tap; looked like a glass of Boones Farms & tasted like a glass of Bartles & James.

Place has a lot of potential, but needs some quality beers.

Shoreline was only located about 15 minutes from out campsite so we decided to check it out.  We were both a little skeptical as we pulled up.  It looked like a funeral home or crematorium.  I was actually looking around for the ‘condemned’ sign.  I could tell Melissa was ready to go, but she wanted to support me & my cause & sheepishly followed me in.

We were surprised once we got in as the place was nicely done w/ vaulted ceilings & light colored wood throughout.  Downside was the number of smokers.  The brew equipment could be seen through a window behind the bar & they had a small stage off to the side for live entertainment. It was our server’s (Nichole) 1st day; this was not my 1st time getting a 1st timer on the trip.  She seemed a little flustered, but had a great attitude & did a good job.  We were even more surprised after trying their food & beer; it was fairly good.

Shoreline gets extra points for great names (i.e. Cluster Phuch IPA, Dim Wit Belgian, & Don’t Panic English Pale).  Surprises were the Sum Cens IPA, which was an Imperial IPA that had none of the usual Hop bite & the Stella Blue.  This is the 1st fruit beer that I would actually order & drink a pint of.  Just the right tinge of bb w/o overpowering the beer taste or being too sweet; ranked Exceptional.

Some notable events were Trevor (one of the local drunks) dropping his full mug club stein & breaking it.  The bartender immediately poured another one which Trevor immediately spilled.  Turns out that’s what happened when you start drinking @ 12…at least according to Trevor. The other entertaining moment was when Nichole brought out the dessert tray to show us, but didn’t know what the desserts were .  I should have asked her if it was like picking out a hooker where names don’t really matter…you just point at what looks good.  I choose to filter for the 1st time in a while.