The Great American Ale Trail - Christian DeBenedetti [102]
Now the commercial production is housed in nearby Comstock, Michigan, cranking out a wide array of beers 24/7 on a system that brews 1,500 gallons per batch, around 170,000 barrels per year—or 5 million gallons, double the output of 2005. The original brewery location in Kalamazoo is home to the Eccentric Café, with a ten-tap bar, beer garden, and newly expanded, warehouse-sized music venue.
PHILOSOPHY
The official motto is “Inspired Brewing,” but Larry himself is a no-nonsense kind of guy, more focused on the business of brewing beer than flights of commercial fancy. Inspired by the successes of Sierra Nevada and Anchor, his goal was to open a brewery that made at least 30,000 barrels a year. Mission accomplished, and a whole lot more.
KEY BEER
Bell’s Expedition Stout is one of the early American versions of a Russian imperial stout, chewy and laced with flavors of black patent brewers’ malt, chocolate, licorice, and stone fruit (10.5% ABV).
BEST of the REST: MICHIGAN
ASHLEY’S RESTAURANT & PUB
338 S. State St. • Ann Arbor, MI 48104 • (734) 996-9191 • ashleys.com
With seventy-two taps and fifty bottled selections, this cozy and often crowded college bar with an unremarkable interior has one of the best tap rows in the state. The sponsors of a Michigan cask ale festival (held at the newer Ashley’s location, twenty-five miles away in Westland), Ashley’s is credited with bringing the level of Michigan craft beer appreciation up overall since 1983, when it first opened. There’s a rotating selection from the excellent Short’s Brewing Company in Bellaire, Michigan, which ought to be your first choice.
ARCADIA BREWING
103 W. Michigan Ave. • Battle Creek, MI 49017 • (269) 963-9520 • arcadiaales.com
The centerpiece of Arcadia brewing company is the impressive wood- and brick-sided brewing system visible from behind glass in the British-style restaurant and T.C.’s Pub in the back, where you can snack on wood-oven pizzas and pita bread with hummus. Take a free tour of the brewery most Saturdays at 1 p.m. (and please call ahead). Built by influential British brewer Peter Austin, it’s the birthplace of a wide selection of ales, like the 7.2% ABV Arcadia London Porter, which is sweet and full bodied with notes of cocoa and smoke.
Minnesota
St. Paul
THE HAPPY GNOME
498 Selby Ave. • St. Paul, MN 55102 • (651) 287-2018 thehappygnome.com • Established: 2005
SCENE & STORY
With its façade covered in climbing creeper vine, a spacious patio, vintage-inspired interior of plush brown leather booths, acres of dark and unvarnished wood surfaces, and framed poster art, the Happy Gnome is getting it right on multiple levels before you even sit down.
PHILOSOPHY
Beer is happiness. The beer and edibles will make you even happier, with seventy adventurous, fresh taps, four hundred bottle selections, and occasional firkins (the nine-gallon British vessels used to dispense cask-conditioned beers through a hand pump). There are monthly brewery dinners and a chef-driven menu daily, featuring expertly prepared fare like chestnut-stuffed quail with roasted squash puree, braised kale, and cherry-rye whiskey reduction.
KEY BEER
Look for the Furthermore Fatty Boombalatty Belgian pale ale (Wisconsin), which, besides being a lot of fun to order, is a 7.2% ABV brew of amber with wheaty, zesty notes and peppery bite.
DETOUR
JOSEPH WOLF
BREWERY CAVE TOURS
402 S. Main St. • Stillwater, MN 55082
(651) 430-0560 • lun
arossawinebar.com/tours
Just like brewers in old Germany before the advent of mechanical refrigeration for brewing in the 1840s, the cleverest Minnesotans used to age their beer in caves. Dating back to the late 1800s, these vaulted sandstone caverns belonged to Wolf’s Brewery, which used to lager (German for “store”) beer here before and just after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933. Wolf’s closed soon after The Great Mistake, but the brewery buildings were maintained, and