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 edition 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 obsession - to visit every microbrewery, 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; Oregon for sure is in that list). 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. The goal is to write reviews for all locations, plus sprinkle in some beer fun facts, history and definitions along the way.
The greatest things about this adventure (beyond drinking beer): 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.
