Michigan Brewing Company - Peninsula Porter

This porter certainly looks serious, pouring a very, very dark brown with a thick, rich fluffy head that drops to a persistent collar. We found the nose spot-on for the style, offering plenty of roasty dark chocolate and coffee aromas. The flavor also supplies big, robust, roasted malts; look for strong notes of roasted coffee accompanied by dark chocolate, with black patent malt notes adding a charred, ashy quality. A bit of nuttiness hangs on in the finish to complete the flavor profile quite nicely, and overall there’s a nice balance between the residual sweetness and the bitterness from the somewhat spicy hops and roasted malt. An excellent pairing for all sorts of barbecue and roasted meat dishes, we also found it excellent with a spicy Thai sesame beef salad. You might also want to look at a dessert pairing, such as chocolate cake or even, perhaps, a porter float! Cheers!

Approximately 20 minutes to the east of Lansing, Michigan lies the city of Webberville, home of Michigan Brewing Company.  At one time it was easy to miss the brewery entirely, as its location was a bit hard to find: behind a gas station.  When founder and owner Bobby Mason began his brewery, he did so on a very limited shoestring budget, and decided to use a family-owned maintenance building/garage situated adjacent to a highway service station as the home for his brewing operations.  To visit the brewery’s small on-site pub, patrons would literally have to drive through the service station (Ding! Ding! “Fill me up Bobby!”).

The Michigan Brewing Company was originally built solely as a brewery and not a restaurant, so there was a tasting room and pub available, but no kitchen.  A barrel of fresh peanuts always greeted visitors, but if you wanted an actual meal you had to bring it yourself, or have a pizza delivered!  As the business grew it eventually became time to expand, and in late 2006 Michigan Brewing Company relocated to a new building approximately seven times the size of the original brewery.  Luckily for their local fans, the new building is situated only about 300 feet away from the old site, and, with the addition of a kitchen, you can sit down to a good meal while enjoying their fine beers at their on-site tavern, Pub 122 (Named after exit 122 off I-96, which you take to get there).  Plus, due to recent changes to Michigan state law, they’re now permitted to distill and sell liquor on site; enjoy Michigan Brewing Company’s vodka, gin, and other spirits when you visit.  While there’s no “ding! ding!” as you drive up, with all these excellent options, we think it’s still a full-service station.

For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (517) 521-3600 or check out their web site at www.michiganbrewing.com.