Woohoo! Goose Island is not Closing!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - 10:58 AM
Well, I’m happy that Goose Island will not be closing at the end of the year.
It really would have been stupid of the landlord not to deal with them, even without the downturn in the real estate market. But, none of that really matters now.
I think I’ll celebrate by going there for dinner some time this week/weekend.
Cheers!
Traverse City Part 2 - Wine, Cheese and Jerky
Monday, September 15, 2008 - 10:48 AM
On our second day (first full day) in TC we took a trip up the Old Mission Peninsula. The plan was to start at the “top”, at the lighthouse, and work our way down, hitting some of the wineries along the way.
To get to the lighthouse, we took Center Road (Rt. 37) up with a detour along Bluff Road, keeping most of the drive along the shore of the east bay. It was very scenic. (It’s good to get off the main roads once and a while.)
We spent a little bit of time at the lighthouse, taking pictures and just enjoying the scenery. (The lighthouse itself is nothing spectacular, apart from the historical aspect, but the surrounding scenery is wonderful.)
Our first stop on the way back was Old Mission Tavern/Bella Galeria, which, as the name implies, is part tavern part art gallery. We checked out the art, some of which was very nice, but some of which was a bit amateurish. We decided not to stay for food or drinks at this point, but just to continue on our journey.
From there we went to Chateau Chantal. Situated on top of a large hill, the views from there were wonderful. Before going in we spent some time walking around taking photos. Inside, of course, the main attraction is the wine tasting. We each tried a few different wines, but weren’t particular impressed by any of them. One of the ones I tried had a very nice “nose” to it, but lacked the flavor to back it up. Carrie found one she thought her parents would like and bought a bottle to give to them.
Next, we made our way to Chateau Grand Traverse Winery. (Nearly driving past, as the sign out front is easy to miss.) This time there were a couple of wines we both liked, and we bought a few bottles. Overall, though, they weren’t all that impressive. (And these two wineries are supposed to be the top ones on the peninsula.)
We stopped for lunch at The Peninsula Grill (which seemed more “tavern” like than the Old Mission Tavern). They had a decent selection of beer and a huge selection of wines (not just the local wines). The food was excellent.
After we ate, we popped into the Peninsula Market (right next door) to pick up a few things (and do some browsing). We were told this was a “foodie’s paradise”, but we were not impressed. (The following day we stopped at Burritt’s Fresh Markets in Traverse City, which blew Peninsula Market out of the water. btw - These were the two places I referred to in the earlier Traverse City post that had a small but overpriced selection of craft and import beers.)
After dropping some stuff off at the hotel and getting out guide book, we headed up the Leelanau Peninsula to find the Leelanau Cheese Co. (which is part of Black Star Farms). We were eager to try locally made cheese, but were disappointed that they only had a small selection in a cooler in the back, and you could only taste one of those. It’s a shame, really, as Black Star Farms has the opportunity to really set themselves apart from the other wineries by showcasing the cheese and offering the wine as a compliment to the cheese, and not the main focus. (We didn’t try any of the wine, as we were a bit “wined-out”, especially since none of the wines thus far has been exceptional.)
Still, Black Star does set itself apart by being an actual farm (mostly horses, from what I could tell) with a petting zoo and a farmer’s market (but again, the market here was nothing extraordinary).
On our way back into town we stopped by Deerings Meat Market to sample and pick up some of their famous jerky. This was the one stop of the day that I would consider a do-not-miss. Even if you think you don’t like jerky (and maybe you’re thinking of that crap they sell in convenience stores), you have to try theirs.
All in all, even though the wines were not that impressive, and the cheese was nothing to write home about, the trip itself was a good way to spend half of the day. My only regret is not buying more of the jerky to bring back with us!
Traverse City Part 1 - Beer
Thursday, September 11, 2008 - 01:27 PM
One of the things we did on our first day in Traverse City (Saturday) was to visit Mackinaw Brewing Co. We had a couple appetizers and a couple beers. Both the beer and the food were excellent. The bartender even gave us a sample of his “fake chocolate stout”, which was actually their porter with a shot of Godiva Chocolate Liqueur in it. (It was really, really good, btw. I’m going to remember that recipe!) We got a growler of the Nut Brown Ale to bring back to the hotel and enjoy later.
We enjoyed Mackinaw Brewing quite a bit and went back two more times on our trip: once just for a quick beer, once for dinner.
On Sunday we stopped by North Peak Brewing, which was a little further down Front Street, and away from the main, “touristy” area. (The clientele at North Peak seemed more like locals and college kids - but that could have just been due to the time we were there.) Since we were on our way back from (trying to go to) Grand Traverse Pie Co. (it was later on Sunday and they were already closed), we just stopped in for a quick beer to check it out (actually, Carrie only had an iced tea and I had a beer). It seemed like a nice place and the one beer I had was good, but we never ended up going back. (We liked Mackinaw better, and it was much closer the hotel.)
Other than the brewpubs, there’s not much to get excited about beer-wise in TC. The couple of markets we visited had a small selection of import and craft brews, but what was there was overpriced. That’s too bad. If you’re into wine, however - well, that’s a different story. (I’ll get into that in a later post.)
Kalamazoo
Friday, September 05, 2008 - 09:00 PM
Carrie and I are on vacation in Michigan. Our first stop: Kalamazoo. One of the main reasons we wanted to stop here was to visit Kalamazoo Brewing Company, brewer of Bell’s Beers.
Kalamazoo is a nice little town. We’re just staying the one night, but I could definitely spend more time here. However, we were a little disappointed when we got to Bell’s Eccentric Cafe. I guess we were expecting it to be somewhat like Goose Island is in Chicago. It’s really just a bar with a kitchen in back. It wasn’t bad, really. And, of course, the beer was good. It just wasn’t what we were expecting. (The food was just decent, nothing special.)
On our walk back to the hotel, after stopping in the park to take some pictures, we stopped by Olde Peninsula Brewpub & Restaurant. This was more what we were expecting Bell’s to be like. The beer was good. I had a Black and Tan, which was a mixture of their Midnight Stout and Haymarket Light. I was expecting them to pour it like a traditional Black & Tan - ale on bottom stout on top - but it was just mixed together. Even mixed it tasted very much like a stout. If we had stayed I would have tried the stout on it’s own, but we grabbed a growler to go (dirt cheap growlers - $8.99!!!) and headed back to the hotel. (We got the Dunkelweiss in the growler, which I haven’t tried yet.)
Tomorrow we head out for Traverse City. I’ll update (or not) as our trip progresses.
Weiss and Belgian
Saturday, July 19, 2008 - 11:26 AM
Last night I cracked open the Belgian Ale that I brewed a while back. This one’s really good. I’m very pleased with the way it turned out, it’s probably my best brew to date.
We also bottled a Weiss the other night that I brewed a couple weeks after the Belgian. I forgot to post the recipe at the time, so I’ll post it here. I’m doing the same recipe tonight (mostly because I harvested the yeast from that batch and really couldn’t think of anything else to do with weizen yeast). It’s a very simple recipe that I put together based on what I saw in other weiss recipes, and whatever hops that the home brew supply had on hand. Anyway, here’s the recipe:
Simple Summer Weiss
3.3 lbs. Muntons Wheat LME
1 lb. Muntons Wheat DME
1 lb. Bavarian Wheat malt
1 lb. Carapils malt
1 oz. Hersbrucker 2.4% @ 60 min.
.25 oz. Liberty 4.0% @ 60 min.
.75 oz. Liberty 4.0% @ 5 min.
WYeast #3068 Weizen Yeast
Steep grains in 1.75 gallons of water @ 152º for 35-40 min. Rinse with 1 gallon of 170º water and top off to 3 gallons. Add DME and half of LME and bring to a boil. Add hops according to schedule and add the rest of the LME with 20 minutes left in the boil. Cool and pitch yeast. Ferment at 77º for one week, then transfer to secondary for two weeks.