The rules

Until last month, we'd never had to set any rules about checking places off our list.  But such an occasion arose that I was going to be stopping by a brewery and Jeff wouldn't be with me.  So, would this visit count, or do both of us have to be present in order to check it off our list?  After some back and forth, we decided that just having one of us there would suffice (otherwise it might take us longer to clear the list).  Thus, Rochester Mills Brewing Co. was checked off the list.

And how was Rochester Mills?  Not too shabby!  Big spacious interior, bar seating, restaurant seating, multiple pool tables....I was there with a coworker (we were at a conference at a neighboring hotel) and we arrived late and starving after doing a college fair.  We each ordered a sampler, which meant 10 beers - the exact number they had on tap.  So we tried them all.  The double IPA was pretty solid - probably my favorite.  Strong, a tad fruity.  They also had a special coriander wheat that I quite enjoyed: it was smooth and a little spicy.  I can't remember if I liked the Porter or Stout....I'm inclined to say I prefered the Stout.  The other beers were fine.  Not great by any stretch, but fine.  The food was pretty tasty.  We just did salads and crudite, but the homemade hummus (3 different kinds) was delightful.  The rest of the menu looked pretty tasty.  I would say this is a good place to go if you want something a litle more than just bar fare, and a cold beer.  But I wouldn't go there if I really wanted a great brew.

Our favorites and a brief history

You'll notice as we go through this blog that Jeff and I have our favorite kind of beers.  So naturally, those are the ones we gravitate towards when we're sampling at breweries.  Interestingly enough, we rarely get samplers (though perhaps we should).  As Jeff once told me, "You know what you like, so just get that."  True, but I like a lot of kinds.  He does too, but his favorite is by far the IPA (India Pale Ale), followed probably by the Brown Ale.  Me, I like a good IPA, but I also enjoy Weizens, Pales and lately, Stouts and Porters. 

What is an India Pale Ale, Brown, Weizen, etc.?  Well, over the course of this blog, I plan to educate myself and others about beer styles.  Compared to many, I know a lot about beer.  Compared to the experts...I'm a beer neophyte.  As I am wont to do, I've been reading about beer so that I can talk the talk and not just walk the walk.  I bought Jeff a beer book for Christmas that I've almost finished reading; it's called Tasting Beer: An Insider's Guide to the World's Greatest Drink by Randy Mosher.  It's a LOT of information to swallow, so I plan to revisit it over the course of writing this blog. 

According to Mosher, "Beer is the great family of starch-based alcoholic beverages produeced without distillation."  Years and years ago (well, not ALL that many years ago), beer was the beverage of choice because of poor sanitation causing unsafe drinking water.  It has also been consumed because of its relative nutritional value.  Mosher contends that beer evolved at the same time as civilization because when people were crammed together in cities, societal tensions could be "eased by a social lubricant like beer."  Many ancient cultures even had gods and goddesses of beer (in fact, in ancient Sumeria, the brewers were women and therefore their deity of beer was a goddess, Ninkasi).  The people of the Middle East were particularly fond of beer (with the exception of the Semitic people).  The Greeks and Romans were not big fans, but northern Europeans and inhabitants of the British Isles have been drinking beer from the beginning (and its worth noting, in the Middle Ages in Europe, beer was also brewed by women).  There have been quite a lot of changes to beer and brewing over the years, but it's pretty cool to think that beer has been a part of society for....well, basically forever.

So there you have it.

Let's start at the beginning

It was June, 2008.  We were in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on a little road trip.  We found a brewery in Escanaba that seemed like a good option for dinner and a beverage.  We had already realized our love of well-crafted beer (gone were the days of Miller Lite and other cheap, tasteless brews), and had started "unofficially" tracking down breweries when we were on road trips.  Jeff got a call from his friend, Tom, who lives in the UP, but needed a ride to the meet us.  Rather than go with him, I decided to stay at the bar; I noticed there were some free publications at the end of the bar.  Needing some reading material to keep myself occupied, I picked up my first copy of The Great Lakes Brewing News, a quarterly publication about all things beer in the Great Lakes region.  In the middle of each addition is a state by state listing of all microbreweries, brewpubs and tap rooms.  When Jeff and Tom returned, we started talking about the places we'd already been and realized that we were already able to check several off of their list.  That gave us an idea: What if we checked them ALL off the list.  Thus began the obsessions - to visit every microbreweries, brewpub and taproom in the state of Michigan!!

For those who don't know, Michigan has the 5th most microbreweries of any state in the US (Colorado is number 1, but I can't seem to find out numbers 2-4).  With the popularity of craft brewing on the rise, there are microbreweries popping up all over the place, so our list is ever growing.  But we're bound and determined to achieve our goal.  Over the course of the summer, we'll be posting about the places we've already been (I think we're up to 36), and hopefully be checking some new places off the list.

The greatest things about this adventure - spending time together and going on road trips!!!  Friends are always welcome....join us for a beer, comment on our beer assessments, and send us feedback on beers we've yet to experience.