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BEER BARS ASHLEY’S RESTAURANT & PUB They advertise 65 beers on tap, there is really something like 70, with another three casks. With all those choices (plus whiskey and good food) we are left with the magical question, how the hell are these kids going to graduate from U of M or how the hell are we going to drive home all the way from Ann Arbor? ATWATER BLOCK BREWERY Detroit has always had a brewery over on the river, so we’re glad to see that after a not-so-brief hiatus, Atwater is back brewing in Rivertown. Atwater was one of the first microbreweries on the scene and always cranked out quality craft beer, including the legendary Hell Pale Ale. At 18,000 square feet, the brewery itself is pretty enormous, even by microbrewery standards. This renovated turn of the century building is on the swank side with rich woods and high ceilings in the dining area, and a state-of-the-art brew house behind glass. There’s an all-new menu, focusing on fresh fish, steaks and pastas in addition to soups and sandwiches. BASTONE Belgium is known for fine bière: Royal Oak for its beer drinkers. This roomy Euro-style micro bistro puts the fun in French. The buzz on this boisterous brasserie is big; a stylish sandwich-to-supper menu that highlights all things Belgic has made it a hit. The beers range from learned-continental to novice-friendly lagers. A multi-glassed beer sampler is available to enjoy each one. BERKLEY FRONT Riding the crest of the ’90s beer boom, The Front is what the marketers call an early adoptor, coming out with the longest line of tap handles in town and not a major brand in sight, it was all imports, micros and designer brews. Eventually the rest of the world caught on (OK, they kind of knew this in Europe first, but when we say “world” we more or less mean America) and drinking flavorful beer became stylish and then just common sense. Today, the Front has 42 varieties of beer on tap, 80 brands in bottles and lots more female patrons than when they first started out. BLACK LOTUS When it comes to microbreweries, it’s encouraging when the brewer has a stained shirt and a distinguished belly. Brewmeister Mark Harper fits the bill; his biochemistry degree combined with genuine love of all that ales us, puts Lotus in the authentic class. Beer-savvy yet laid back staff pour for a mishmash of beer nerds, working-class ilk, and local trendsetters in the cavernous and comfy room. Food is evolving—burgers fill the bill, but most amazing is the BYOF policy: the owners encourage you to bring your own eats from what non community-minded types would call competitors. BO’S BREWERY & BISTRO Bo’s has been brewing up a storm in downtown Pontiac for years. A favorite lunch spot with a nice patio. BONFIRE BISTRO & BREWERY While the stacks of wood are no longer part of the décor, the wood-fired oven is definitely the iconic anchor here; it’s all about the food. Consider it casual gourmet—upscale with a creative reach and reasonably priced. The place is lively, eclectic and light-years better than any of the chain restaurants that choke the surrounding area. There are usually eight meticulously crafted English-type ales and European lagers. COPPER CANYON BREWERY Highly visual open design with copper accents everywhere and great graphics; it is as professional as any chain. There’s a beer garden and free Internet hook-ups. The food is fantastic, as are the seven house brews. DRAGONMEAD MICROBREWERY The beer guy’s brewery. Sometimes smaller works; it gives Dragonmead the ability to offer more brews than just about anyone, and perfect their formulas to garner respect and awe from those in the know. There’s no kitchen in ye olde medieval tavern, but you can always get a pretzel to munch on. Besides having the coolest carved dragon tap-handles, Dragonmead has over 25 different handcrafted small-batch brews. Yow. DETROIT BREW CO. It was hard enough trying to find a free parking space for Small Plates, now with the Royal Oak Brewery guys opening this next door, we have another reason to visit and will probably have to pay to park. GRIZZLY PEAK BREWING COMPANY Stripped down to the bricks and beams, this historic building still hangs on to the ghost vibe of Treetown’s legendary Old German Restaurant. There are at least eight beers on tap. The kitchen rocks, starting with way-above average burgers and sandwiches through a gamut of upscale American creative cuisine—wood-fired pizzas, inspired pastas, fish and steaks. GUSOLINE ALLEY A classic. “50 seats and 50 beers” started it all. Now there are 85 seats and the number of beers has more than doubled. Gus’ has done more with a jukebox and a cool staff than most bars can do with a half-million-dollar budget and a creative consultant. MOTOR CITY BREWING WORKS The real thing. Art and local music collide at what must be the least corporate brewpub on the planet. Located in Midtown since it was the heart of the Corridor, it’s a laid back bar with a very inviting patio on the roof giving you a stupendous view of Canfield. The décor is do-it-yourself artsy, cool stuff like hand-poured cement done before trendy decorators co-opted the style. John Linardos—artist, brewer and local music tycoon—is the go-figurehead; he’s been into brewing since brewpub prohibition (this wave didn’t start by itself). There are five MCB beers to choose from. Ghettoblaster, a personal favorite has an eye popping Glenn Barr label and a CD by the same name. You’ll also find it at virtually every boho happening—from art shows to the Dally. They also make wine. ROCHESTER MILLS BEER CO. Big—make that huge—make that 18,000 square feet of brew-powered fun in what was, in the late 1800s, a mill. Built from the sweat and success of the Royal Oak Brewery—so you know the food is outstanding. ROYAL OAK BREWERY Drew and Mike were pioneers on the microbrew scene, and their joint on Fourth Street has blown up into an empire. They not only have countless pints under their belts but two more breweries as well: Rochester Hills and the Detroit Brewing Company. The food is as good as it gets in a microbrewery—creative American cuisine that would keep the place packed even if they didn’t brew just over a half-dozen exceptional beers. There is a patio beer garden secreted away in the back. SLOW’S BAR BQ Besides having the best barbeque in the city, perhaps even the Midwest, Slows has a collection of beer that plays like a fine wine list. Among the 20 tap handles and 100 plus bottles are scads of rare imports (a stellar Trappist collection) and hard-to-find hand-crafts (such as Oregon's Rogue). It's the only place east of the Mississippi that carries Chef Masaharu Morimoto's (aka: Iron Chef Japanese) amazing signature suds with the silk-screened clay bottles. WOODWARD AVENUE BREWERS Hip, young and lots of fun, this bare-brick-meets-window-wall two-story has the open-air feel of a NY loft with a Woodward view. Leave the suit at home; WAB seems art-savvy and less corporate than the typical brewpub, the kind of place Brando might have hung out at if he were alive and lived in Ferndale. Monday nights are the hit with the half-off food special. YE OLDE TAP ROOM Detroit’s King of Beers—there is a reverence here that goes beyond “your friendly neighborhood tavern.” Before there were microbreweries, heck, before any bar had more than three tap handles, there was the Tap Room. The Tap Room has always given great head (the foamy stuff on top of the glass to you teetotalers) and remains the mecca for good beer. More importantly, it is what you look for in a bar. It’s a real place, you would hang here if all they served was Schlitz in a can. That’s why it’s always worth the trip, be it from the bordering Pointes to the great unknown West. MICROBREWERIES BASTONE Belgium is known for fine bier; Royal Oak for its beer drinkers. This roomy Euro-style micro bistro puts the fun in French. The buzz on this boisterous brasserie is big; a stylish sandwich-to-supper menu that highlights all things Belgic has made it a hit. The beers range from learned-continental to novice-friendly lagers. A multi-glassed beer sampler is available to enjoy each one. Black Lotus When it comes to microbreweries, it’s encouraging when the brewer has a stained shirt and a distinguished belly. Brewmeister Mark Harper fits the bill; his biochemistry degree combined with genuine love of all that ales us, puts Lotus in the authentic class. Beer-savvy yet laid back staff pour for a mishmash of beer nerds, working-class ilk, and local trendsetters in the cavernous and comfy room. Food is evolving—burgers fill the bill, but most amazing is the BYOF policy: the owners encourage you to bring your own eats from what non community-minded types would call competitors. BO’S BREWERY & BISTRO COPPER CANYON BREWERY Highly visual open design with copper accents everywhere and great graphics; it is as professional as any chain. There’s a beer garden and free Internet hook-ups. The food is good, as are the seven house brews. DRAGONMEAD MICROBREWERY The beer guy’s brewery. Sometimes smaller works; it gives Dragonmead the ability to offer more brews than just about anyone, and perfect their formulas to garner respect and awe from those in the know. There’s no kitchen in ye olde medieval tavern, but you can always get a pretzel to munch on. Besides having the coolest carved dragon tap-handles, Dragonmead has over 25 different handcrafted small-batch brews. Yow. DETROIT BREWING CO. It was hard enough trying to find a free parking space for Small Plates, now with the Royal Oak Brewery guys opening this next door, we have another reason to visit and will probably have to pay to park. GREAT BARABOO BREWING COMPANY Voted the best microbrewery by Real Detroit, it is both a family favorite and a place to party. GRIZZLY PEAK BREWING COMPANY Stripped down to the bricks and beams, this historic building still hangs on to the ghost vibe of Treetown’s legendary Old German Restaurant. There are at least eight beers on tap. The kitchen rocks, starting with way-above average burgers and sandwiches through a gamut of upscale American creative cuisine—wood-fired pizzas, inspired pastas, fish and steaks. MOTOR CITY BREWING WORKS470 W. Canfield, Detroit 313-832-2700 www.motorcitybeer.com The real thing. Art and local music collide at what must be the least corporate brewpub on the planet. Located in Midtown since it was the heart of the Corridor, it’s a laid back bar with a very inviting patio on the roof giving you a stupendous view of Canfield. The décor is do-it-yourself artsy, cool stuff like hand-poured cement done before trendy decorators co-opted the style. John Linardos—artist, brewer and local music tycoon—is the go-figurehead; he’s been into brewing since brewpub prohibition (this wave didn’t start by itself). There are five MCB beers to choose from. Ghettoblaster, a personal favorite has an eye popping Glenn Barr label and a CD?by the same name. You’ll also find it at virtually every boho happening—from art shows to the Dally. They also make wine. ROYAL OAK BREWERY This place was a pioneer on the microbrew scene, and their joint on Fourth Street has blown up into an empire. They not only have countless pints under their belts but another brewery as well: the Detroit Brewing Company. The food is as good as it gets in a microbrewery—creative American cuisine that would keep the place packed even if they didn’t brew just over a half-dozen exceptional beers. WOODWARD AVENUE BREWERS Hip, young and lots of fun, this bare-brick-meets-?window-wall two-story has the open-air feel of a NY loft with a Woodward view. Leave the suit at home; WAB seems art-savvy and less corporate than the typical brewpub, the kind of place Brando would hang out at if he were alive and lived in Ferndale. Monday nights are the hit with the half-off food special. OTHER MICROBREWERIES ARBOR BREWING COMPANY BIG BUCK BREWERY & STEAKHOUSE CJ’S BREWING COMPANY GREAT BARABOO BREWING COMPANY LEOPOLD BROS. OF ANN ARBOR BREWERY & GREENHOUSE LILY’S SEAFOOD RESTAURANT & BREWERY QUAY STREET BREWING COMPANY SPORTS BREW PUB TRAFFIC JAM & SNUG & WINE CITY CELLARS Ground zero in Birmingham’s Palladium is home to City Cellars, one of Detroit’s grandest nods to wine and cuisine. With a cellar ascending floor to ceiling, literally thousands of bottles are available to balance an ambitious menu by Chef James Leonardo, to whom Gourmet magazine offered grand kudos in 2003. MOTOR CITY BREWING WORKS Now making hand-crafted small batch wines; including an elderberry, made from a hundred year old plus recipe, which we will be checking on every day to see when it is ready. NECTARS Mike and John Karcho get it. Having successfully parlayed Vintage Wine Shoppe into one of the areas best sources for blockbuster Burgundies and Bordeaux, they decided to lop their store in half, devote part to retail sales and the other to a by-the-glass wine bar that oozes intimacy and sophistication. Pours are between ten and twenty dollars a glass, and include cruvinet-fresh top vintage selections from around the globe. Wine-friendly, French-Italian inflected appetizers and nearly five hundred bottles of sterner stuff—liquor and liqueur—round out the experience. RED HAT MICRO-WINERY Relaxing with a little wine is not just fun, but a way of life at Red Hat Micro-Winery. This small winery imports juice from the West Coast and abroad to handcraft wine in low volume fermentations. After sampling, you can walk away with one of their 12 retail wines, or you can become the winemaker by bottling, corking and labeling a two-and-a-half case batch. Personalize the label, barrel-age the wine, participate in the process and Red Hat will help you build your own private reserve. Wines start at around $6.50 (we did say “walk away”) a bottle in custom batches, and the menu boasts 40 wines from a variety of grapes and countries. VINOLOGY Designed to reflect every aspect of wine production, it is both educational and visually striking. Vinology is a grape lovers paradise—without pretension. You can drink, shop, eat and experience every aspect of wine. (Sommelier’s Hint: For the most fun, stick with the drinking part.) This is one of the best menus we have ever experienced—upscale, creative and not too pricey. Created by the Jonna family, the same folks who brought you Mechant’s Fine Wine and Vinotecca. If you are serious about your wine, or if you would like to learn why people are serious about wine (they are all about education) you owe it to yourself to visit. VINOTECCA So synonymous is the name Jonna with wine in the Detroit area that Roget’s Thesaurus was seriously considering adding “Jonna Juice” under the category. We exaggerate? Having conquered the retail world of wine with the incomparable chain of Merchant of Vinos, the Jonnas mostly sold up, but retain a toe in the crushing vat. The latest Jonna joint is the poetically named Vinotecca; a wine bar extraordinaire perched on the far side of Royal Oak’s Bastone (whose brews are available there as well). Manager Kristen Jonna offers a kaleidoscopic array of vintages by the glass in a pretension-free environment, so if you’re a wine snob, check your ego at the front door. ZINC BRASSERIE & WINE BAR So popular has this suburban eatery become with its eclectic spreads and super-efficient management that the truth is, Zinc needs no ink. But sometimes overlooked among the specialties like halibut Basquaise and gorgonzola dry-aged steak is the phenomenally sophisticated wine bar. Zinc specializes in nearly impossible-to-find Mediterranean wines and the ever-changing selection is poured by a staff that includes three sommeliers. Each month features a Monday wine tasting—bargain priced and all-you-can-eat tapas. © 2008 Guide to Detroit, LLC |