Video 321, HOW TO: Grow your Brewery.

January 20, 2016

Or: Blackrocks Brewery, 5 years later.

First came the beer: Two home-brewing pals that made terrific beers in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Next came the Nano: The Happy Hour Guys first started following Blackrocks Brewery in Marquette, MI in late 2010, when Andy and Dave had taken the leap of faith and had a tiny 1 barrel Brewery, just out of the gate, impressing their community and regularly selling out of beer each week.

Then came the growth: Just 5 short years later, Blackrocks has changed incredibly: Join us at their production facility where they let us in on their personal (and highly specific) manifesto for Success in the Brewing Industry. Enjoy!

Craft, Yoopers and Waterfalls: Tahquamenon Falls Brewery & Pub.

May 25, 2015

Over and over again on our show, we've proven the Rule of the Exceptional: You'll find Craft in amazing places. Even in the middle of a 50,000 acre State Park in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Tahquamenon Falls, near Paradise, MI. The Upper Peninsula, y'all. It's magical.

The Tahquamenon River's tannin-rich, tea colored water flows through the northeastern Upper Peninsula, old canoe/portage shortcut for the natives that were traveling along the southern shores of Lake Superior to trade in Sault Ste Marie to the west. And unbeknownst to many, in the midst of that river line is the second highest waterfall east of the Mississippi, beaten in height only by Niagara Falls. The entire park contains wonder after wonder - stunning views, hiking and cross-country ski trails, nature as varied as moose, martens, black bear, wolves, and... Craft Beer?

Jack Barrett of the Barrett Logging company purhased the land adjacent to the falls because he and his wife, Mimi, enjoyed the beauty of the area so deeply. In the 1950s, he built a road to the site near the falls and gifted most of the land to the State for use as a Park, with a detail in his instructions that the road must terminate 3/4 of a mile from the falls, near Camp 33. If you want to see the water, you've gotta walk.

With "Brewster" Lark Ludlow at the Brewery. Jimmy's drinking the Stout, BTW. Nice.

"People come in the restaurant and say, 'Oh, I can't see the falls from the window here,' laughed Lark Ludlow, the Owner and 'Brewster' of Camp 33, or the Tahquamenon Falls Brewery. "And my answer always is, 'Nope. No, you can't.'" They want it that way.

Lark is Jack's granddaughter - the family set aside a 2 acre parcel at the termination of the road into the Park that they still own - a rare private property inside of a State Park - and perhaps the only one in the US that has a Craft Brewery on site. The structure was christened Camp 33 when originally built, as most logging camps are numbered instead of named, and it would be the 33rd logging camp of the Barrett Logging Company. The grandkids rebuilt it in 1990 to serve the Park, and in 1996 Lark had the idea that maybe this 'Craft Beer thing' might be a good addition. But who would brew? Well, she did. And still does.

She started brewing onsite with a 10 barrel system in 1996, making her only the 3rd Craft Brewer in the Upper Peninsula, after The Vierling Brewpub in Marquette and Lake Superior Brewing in Grand Marais (also a brewpub). She offers a rotating lineup of beers, and had 4 taps running the day we visited. Our favorite was a lovely Stout that leaned towards the sweeter side, with plenty of roasty/chocolate-y notes. A full restaurant with a menu of local items (get the whitefish!) offers plenty to pair with.

Camp 33 is an unusual and extremely welcoming part of a trip to a gorgeous area - The Happy Hour Guys recommend a beautiful drive, an even prettier walk to the thundering falls, and the capper (as always) a terrific pint to make the day even more memorable.

And we'll see you next time. Cheers!

Video #287: Good News in Detroit - Atwater Brewing.

June 19, 2014

Sure, there's plenty of bad news coming out of the Motor City these days - the largest American city ever to declare bankruptcy, images of ruin porn, and on and on. But we have some good news from Detroit - and it has to do with Craft. Join Mark, Jimmy, AJ and Joe at the Atwater Brewery in the historic Rivertown District in Downtown Detroit City, where a warehouse from 1919 and brewing techniques that are over 200 years old continue to do their part to revitalize a city. Cheers!

Pils. Grimage.

June 13, 2014

PilsGrimage! Thanks to our Michigan correspondents the Loud Guy and the Science Guy, here's a Happy Hour Guys motorcycle excursion to Northern MI, and Short's Brewing Company's original brewpub in Bellaire, MI. A true PilsGrimage indeed: People travel from all over the world to sample the bounteous brews that are only offered at this location.

And thanks to Hydroflask, we're taking some home!

Hopefully we'll see more updates from this quest. Keep 'em comin' guys. Now everyone, get out there and BEV-TOUR!

Video #279: BEERmuda Triangle in EL with Arcadia and Dark Horse.

March 31, 2014

It's a brewery-off! The Team takes on the 8th stop on the BEERmuda tour in East Lansing, MI with breweries Arcadia and Dark Horse joining in the fun. What a day!

The 14 Best USA Craft Beer Bars.*

March 6, 2014

*That we've visited.

Alright, keep your shirts on. We know there's a bewildering number of mind-numbingly awesome Craft bars there are out there, and we're aware of how many more there are for us to visit. And it is our QUEST to get to every single one of them - (oh hey, do us a solid and add your suggestions to the comment section, will you?). In the meantime, it's time to celebrate some great locals. Check out these terrific Craft Stops:

First, one of our most recent stops, in Midtown Manhattan; Beer Culture. Just next to the Hirshfeld Theatre in the Broadway District, this new watering hole is also a bottle shop.

Winner of Best Beer Bar in NY in 2013? Check. Long Island City? Check. Amazing owners? You've gotta meet the folks at Alewife NYC.

We happened to stop in to this spot in Hollywood a few years ago, and even though it's weathered some storms it's still going strong: The Blue Palms Brewhouse.

No NYC Craft Beer Bar experience is complete without a visit to Jimmy's. And if you're very lucky, you'll get to hang out with owner Jimmy Carbone, (or Jimmy Pots & Pans), a legend in the NYC Craft Community. Come home to Jimmy's.

HOPCAT. The Midwestern Craft Beer Mecca in Grand Rapids, MI. We didn't shoot video here, but dammit, we visited. And we came away very, very happy. By the way, HopCat is opening a new location in Downtown Detroit this year, and we hear it's going to be massive. Beer hear!

Pacific Standard, on 4th Ave in Brooklyn. We're pretty sure that this is what the dorm rooms at Beer Appreciation College look like.

Tucked away in the Berkshire region of Western Mass, MOE's Tavern is the bar you always dreamt about. No seriously, it is.

Adobe Blues - This may be the best reason to ride the Staten Island Ferry. Over, and over, and over. You'll 'flip' for this place...

Pizza and great Craft in Amish Country? Yup. We've seen rare beers at The Fridge in Lancaster, PA, that we have a hard time finding in a city of 8 million people!

Truly not to be missed, Proletariat is a tiny (and we mean tiny) place in the East Village of NYC that sports some of the rarest worldwide Craft we've ever seen. A bucket list bar.

Ah, the Pony Bar Hell's Kitchen on 45th and 10th Ave in Midtown Manhattan; the bar that helped turn the Craft Beer wave in this part of NYC into a Tsunami. We were there at the beginning.

This place in Minneapolis was Craft long before it was cool: Mackenzie, the Bar Next Door to the Theatre is the place you've always wanted in your neighborhood.

Ever been to Portland, Maine? Once you've seen our episode featuring The Great Lost Bear, you'll be looking to book your ticket.

And lastly, in memoriam: The Collins Bar, which sadly is long gone now, reduced to a hole in the ground on 8th Avenue NYC that's on its way to becoming a tall shiny expensive set of apartments. We fondly remember discovering flavors of Craft here that we never knew existed. Still one of our favorites, and deserving of the memory. And as you can see, also one of the first places we ever shot.

That's how our list starts. What's on yours?

Bell's Brewing is in NYC!

February 10, 2014

The entire New York City area craft beer community has been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Michigan's Bell's Brewing...and it's here. Jimmy caught this picture of kegs of Kalamazoo Stout and Two Hearted Ale rolling into Beer Culture in midtown Manhattan just minutes ago. The Bell's launch event is ON!