Tag: September

September 2017: Lift Bridge Brown Ale – Keweenaw Brewing

The September 2017 Beer of the Month is Lift Bridge Brown Ale from Keweenaw Brewing in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. An ode to the Portage Lake Lift Bridge, one of only 26 vertical lift bridges in the US, which spans the Keweenaw Canal between Houghton and Hancock. It is reportedly the widest and heaviest double-decked lift bridge in the world.

So, we’ll lift a full glass and cheers to this American Brown Ale with its “rich, dark brown color, complex malt flavor” and hints of chocolate and caramel with a mild hop finish.

From bulk_carrier on ratebeer.com, “the appearance was a dark amber close to brown color with a finger’s worth of sustaining white foamy head. Some lace. The aroma had some toast, caramel, toffee, earthy hops, light grassiness. Ends with a little bit of woodiness. The flavor mildly leaned towards the malts trying to pull in some light sweetness. But some light roast and some bitterness came in for a decent balance. Nice malty aftertaste. Some wood dryness and earthy hops in the finish. The feel was about medium bodied with a decent sessionability about it. Good carbonation. ABV felt right. Overall, pretty good brown ale to me. I’d have again if I could get it.

Looking to take a trip north to Michigan Tech to drop our your college student? Keweenaw Brewery’s taproom is located in Downtown Houghton on the north side of Shelden Ave. (US-41). They feature a daily selection of fresh beers brewed right on the premises. They even provide roasted peanuts for guests in their welcoming environment. The 3400 sq. ft. taproom includes two bars, a seating area around a fireplace and an outside deck.

But don’t confuse Lift Bridge Brown Ale by Keweenaw Brewing with Lift Bridge Brewery in Stillwater, MN. Stillwater is home to a lift bridge with spans the St. Croix River northeast of St. Paul, MN, a mere 300+ miles away from Copper Country.

The newest brew at Keweenaw is Point Trail Ale. The beer was crafted specially to benefit the Copper Harbor Trails Club, which maintains 40 miles of single track trails in the Keweenaw Peninsula. 25 percent of profits from Point Trail Ale will support constructing its namesake, the new Keweenaw Point Trail. The trail is “going to be, eventually, about 30 miles. We currently have phase 1 and phase 2 on the ground for a total of about 8 miles. We’ve got another 16 miles in the plans, and that’s what this product is going to help support is the next 16 miles of trail,” said Lori Hauswirth, executive director of Copper Harbor Trails Club.

September: Creston Brewery goes back-to-back with Polar Bear

Packing up the cars, clubs and the coolers before the Labor Day weekend to travel south of the Pure Michigan border to play golf at Blackthorn, visit Touchdown Jesus and find our September Beer of the Month became a much easier crusade once the party found out that Creston Brewery in Grand Rapids was already filling crowlers.

Sent on a mission to the northeast corner of Plainfield Ave. and Sweet Street to chaseBlackthorn Golf Club down some fine ales for our weekend adventure to South Bend, I quickly found a seat at the bar when I arrived at the former DeKorne Furniture building in the recovering Creston neighborhood on Grand Rapids’ northeast side.

After a celebratory cheers to August and the hoppy GRale, it was off to the land of Hoosiers. We held off on the Polar Bear brew with enough patience to count to ten in latin or spell Iehovah in Hebrew, but it felt like they were ripping the hearts out of our chests.  If you need the skinny on the GRale, click here.

Polar Bear by Creston BreweryWe each found ourselves with crawlers of Polar Bear, a multi-grain brew with citrus and midwest hops and a 4.20% ABV. Knowing the holiness we were searching for and what was at stake, it was time to test our fate.

Our taste buds quickly informed us we had chosen wisely. And so, Polar Bear by Creston Brewery in Beer City, USA was named our September 2016 Beer of the Month.

The rest of the story belongs in a museum.