Beer-vana: Greenbush Brewery, Michigan

I’ve written about some of Michigan’s finest offerings, from blueberries to bike routes, from great small towns, to lakeshore college towns, and even to historic beaches with a bit of controversy, but one of Michigan’s best products or places has yet to be a focus of a blog post. I suppose I was just waiting for the right moment, like waiting for the beer itself, to focus on what, for some folks, is yet another reason to spend time in Michigan.

There is no getting around the fame of Bell’s Beer — with good reason. Larry Bell consistently produces a superior beer, no matter the genre. We’ve not explored the other Michigan offerings, though, until this weekend when we made a visit to Greenbush Brewery in Sawyer, Michigan, and we’re glad we did.

Greenbush Brewery opened in June of this year, and by Labor Day Weekend, the word was out among craft beer fans, and the place was packed. JM, KDM, EE and I sampled the craft beers and walked away content with all but one (out of 8 or so). I am not great at describing beers, but these beers were tasty — different than many beers I’ve tried, with no wonky aftertaste, and even when they challenged the palate, it was a pleasant excitation.

We plan to go back, and not just for the beer — but also for the Legos! We had to admit, we weren’t sure whether the place would be kid-friendly, but the Legos in the window put all doubts to rest.  What’s better than a sunny afternoon of building helicopters with tiny plastic pieces while sampling some of the best brewed beer around with great friends? See, you can’t think of anything, can you?

Not only does Michigan inspire and center, it also helps one enter a state of Beer-vana.  We had certainly entered it,  as JM noted.

I suppose this post sounds deliberately playful and silly, and it is meant to. We do like beer — but, even more, we like out friends, and we enjoy spending time with them. Enjoying these small things, a really good beer, a sunny afternoon, building Lego helicopters with Monkey Man — these small things are what matter.  If some committed and passionate folks can keep people in Michigan working, content, using local ingredients, well, then we’re on the right track to something.

Since this post is silly, I’ll just mention the film Locally Buzzed, about the thriving craft beer production (NOT industry) in Michigan. This trailer, silly as it is, makes the point about supporting local products, supporting a local workforce, and well, at the same time enjoying the moments we have to enjoy.

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