What’s on tap in Leelanau County
A tour of brewpubs along the Sleeping Bear Ale Trail
By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
2016 has been a banner year for the craft beer scene, particularly here in northwest Michigan.
In August, two of six breweries on the recently minted “Sleeping Bear Ale Trail” made the top five of MLive’s Best New Michigan Brewery search. Frankfort’s Stormcloud Brewing Company won the gold medal, and Hop Lot in Suttons Bay came in fourth.
The Ale Trail celebrates half a dozen (relatively) new breweries along the M-22 and US-31 corridors in Leelanau and Benzie counties. Patrons could foreseeably visit all six over the course of a weekend. The Ale Trail complement’s the region’s already well-established wine tourism pilgrimages and traditional drinking holes.
“We are kind of the outliers of the Traverse City region,” Matt Therrien, owner of Lake Ann Brewing, told MLive. The six breweries, which include Big Cat Brewing in Cedar, Green Bird Organic Cellars in Northport, Hop Lot, Lake Ann Brewing, Stormcloud and St. Ambrose Cellars in Beulah, wanted to set themselves apart from the more urban Traverse City Ale Trail. “The name was kind of a no-brainer,” Therrien added. “With the popularity of Sleeping Bear Dunes, to latch onto that made sense.”
The brewpub owners pooled their money to produce a brochure rack card that describes the beverages at each establishment along with a map that shows customers how to get from one drinking hole to the next. Plans for a website are in the works.
“It has given us a great deal more of a reach to attract people we wouldn’t normally see,” Big Cat Brewery owner and chef Aaron Ackley told the Sun. “It helps too because it gives people an activity, a trail to follow, where they can hit five breweries in half a day.”
In part two of this two-part series along the Sleeping Bear Ale Trail, the Glen Arbor Sun visits Big Cat, Green Bird and Hop Lot. (In August — with help from our sister publication, the Betsie Current — we featured the three Benzie locales, Lake Ann Brewery, Stormcloud and St. Ambrose Cellars.
Big Cat Brewing Co.
Cedar Rustic Inn became Big Cat Brewing Co. in early 2016 after Ackley became more interested in microbrews and decided he wanted to broaden the restaurant’s appeal to also include the millennials and young professionals who have grown more numerous in the Traverse City region.
“The inspiration was my continuing appreciation of craft brews and my ever improving abilities as a home brewer,” said Ackley. “We also wanted a new and interesting challenge. We had been doing the same thing here for almost 10 years and really needed to make things more interesting for ourselves and our guests. Brewing has also made me get more excited about our food and to try some new things in the kitchen.”
Ackley reports more traffic and increased beer sales, which has boosted wine and liquor sales, too. He has upped the amount of small plates on the dinner menu in order to cater to beer tasters who may want munchies instead of full entrées. Big Cat also draws more people who are on wine tours, because of Longview Winery next door.
Currently on tap are: Indian Summer-cherry/strawberry wheat; The Crowd Pleaser-blonde ale; Greyfriar’s Bobby-Scottish wee heavy; Hoppy Hoppy; Joy Joy-American IPA, and Peninsula Porter-English style porter. New items will be added soon to the dinner menu, and Ackley plans to redecorate the bar area to create a pub atmosphere. That will include installing dartboards and adding high top tables.
“We love being able to get so many high quality hops from our peninsula and take pride in being able to make local beers with local hops. Now we just need a local maltster!”
Visit BigCatBrewingCo.com for more information.
Hop Lot
Over on the east side of Leelanau County, Hop Lot is winning awards and earning a reputation as providing a quintessential “up north” experience. Why sit inside at the bar when Hop Lot’s beer garden features an expanse of outdoor picnic tables, several fire pits, s’mores for those too young to drink, a kids play area that includes wooden blocks and toys and a wooded bike parking lot, all watched over by a mini forest of 20-foot-tall hops vines.
This summer and fall the picnic area was packed, but the friendly atmosphere made Hop Lot feel like the setting for a family reunion. Pizza slices flew off an outdoor grill, and satiated a cross-section of revelers — Yale and U-M graduates, Bernie Sanders supporters, hippies in Westphalia vans, jocks, parents pushing baby strollers. This felt like an outdoor music festival.
Visit HopLotBrewing.com for a list of the delicious beers on tap.
Green Bird Cellars
Down a windy dirt road off M-22, 2 miles south of Northport, a treasure awaits amidst rolling vineyards and orchards. The farm boasts 6 acres of apples, 10 acres of grapes and a half-acre of lavender. Green Bird Cellars replaced Good Neighbor Organic Winery this spring because the new owners wanted a fresh, clean slate. Green Bird, which is Michigan’s only organic vineyard, offers wine, cider and beer all made on-site.
During my autumn visit, parents chase toddlers through the back yard, while 20-somethings from Grand Rapids sip pints of Blackberry pear noiret rose sangria at the bar. Like at Hop Lot, Green Bird patrons can sit on picnic tables outside and play lawn games, or belly up to the bar inside. Local snacks such as Red Heads’ hummus and Carlson’s whitefish are available, and co-owner Ben Crow plans to unveil more food choices next year. Crow, a Traverse City native, has been a chef at restaurants in from Michigan to Hawaii to Alaska, where he cooked at a Japanese fishing lodge.
“The Sleeping Bear Ale Trail has created another loop for us, another opportunity to bring folks off the beaten path,” said Crow. “I see couples bringing in the Ale Trail map and making a stop. We have to create these unique marketing experiences that anyone can see and try.”
The other co-owner, Court Wengreen, plans to launch a hot sauce company this fall, featuring peppers, carrots and garlic grown here on the property.
Learn more at GreenBirdCellars.com
Cherry beer in Glen Arbor
Cherry Republic plans to add small brewing operations with taps flowing some time next summer.
“We are working with our pals at (Bellaire-based) Shorts,” said owner Bob Sutherland. “We will make a little in Glen Arbor but mostly Shorts will be making our beer for us — some under their label and some under ours. The beer will all have an element of cherry, of course, but our core beers will all be mainstream enough to meet all palates.”
Sutherland said that the expansion into microbrews will include a big renovation of Cherry Republic’s café, including a beer garden and an overhauled kitchen. This could lead to Cherry Republic adding beer in its other locations: Traverse City, Charlevoix and Ann Arbor.
Also on tap
In downtown Northport, the Northport Brewing Co. merged with Grand Rapids-based Mitten during mid-summer 2016 when it struggled to keep up with local demand. The doors remained open, the crowds kept coming, and an on-site food truck continued to produce tacos on the grill. The bulk of the beer is shipped from Grand Rapids, though brewing (particularly Belgian-style sours might resume here come May.
More information at LocalBeerisBetter.com.
