The Fort at Ponshewaing - Up North Beer Paradise

Finding a truly great beer store can be a difficult process. After moving to Cleveland last spring, I heavily relied on Beer Advocate to guide me to the most hidden and well-stocked beer stores in Northeast Ohio. But Cleveland is also a large city, so even its specialty groceries like Heinen’s are deliciously stockpiled. That is not the case in Northern Michigan, where many towns are so small that they don’t have a grocery store. So imagine my concern when, on my drive through Indian River, Michigan (population 2000), I received a text from the friend I was on my way to visit: bring more beer.

I thought for certain I’d be stuck snagging a case of PBR or comparable. With no instruction as to where to pick up this additional beer, I was flying blind. My co-pilot also had limited knowledge of the area. As we cruised down M-86, things looked desperate. But I was so wrong.

“DRAGON’S MILK” a sign proclaimed, just under a larger sign, calling out “The Fort at Ponshewaing”. The place looked quaint, and I was surprised to see it still open right around 10 P.M. I pulled a hard left to enter the parking lot, nearly giving my driving companion whiplash. I had to see what this place had to offer.

Upon entering, it was Up North paradise embodied. The store was clean but very homely, and a friendly woman was behind the counter. Their wine and liquor selection lined most of the shelves, while a majority of their beer was in the back, refrigerated. Considering we were only 10 minutes from our final destination and a bonfire, I appreciated that almost everything I wanted came pre-chilled. While the store boasted 275+ varieties of beer, I don’t think they had that much in stock. Regardless, they did have some treasures. Being less than an hour away from Short’s Brewery, I was excited to see a nice selection of their beer, sold in Michigan only. A lot of Michigan favorites were there, including Bell’s, Arcadia, Dark Horse, Mt. Pleasant, and many more. The store offers mixed six packs, so I was able to bring a larger selection to the bonfire.

I should note that they had a pretty nice “big bottle” selection, and these come both chilled or straight off the shelves. I didn’t snag anything from there, but I would recommend taking a look at what they offer – you’d find some real gems.

Once I finally narrowed it down to a few different brews, I had a nice chat with the salesperson. She was incredibly friendly and pretty knowledgeable about what I was purchasing. I find this is always nice, because I often will buy a few random beers I’ve never heard of. It was nice to get a second opinion before dropping about $2 a bottle.

While I know that not all of my readership will be heading to the northernmost regions of the Lower Peninsula, I felt that it was my duty to spread the word about this diamond in the rough of a beer store. I highly recommend you plan it into another northern Michigan vacations you have planned this summer. Cheers!

Michigan Beer & Vacation Recap

The blog’s been a little quiet, which I’m hoping won’t become a trend. Reason being, I finally took a vacation. If you don’t know already, I’m a transplanted Clevelander – originally from West Michigan. The adjustment wasn’t too difficult – moving from one area ripe with craft beer to another. For my extended Fourth of July weekend, I headed back to my native land for a lot of lakes, laughs, and oh yeah…beer.

Foolishly, I didn’t stock up for beer before heading to Michigan. This may seem like no big deal because Michigan is so well known for its breweries. However, I was headed to Harbor Springs, Michigan – way up at the top of the Lower Peninsula. Luckily, I was saved by some stroke of grace. Just as the words had left my travel companion’s mouth about how we’d never find good beer in such a remote area, I saw a sign from heaven. Or from the beer gods, anyways. “DRAGON’S MILK” it proclaimed. I nearly gave my co-pilot whiplash as I swerved into the parking lot of The Fort of Ponshewaing – a quaint little store boasting over 275 varieties of beer.  I fully plan on going into more detail about my experience there in a future post, so I’ll press onward by saying that I found some great Michigan beers, as well as some out-of-state favorites.

Harbor Springs was beautiful and gave me an opportunity to knock back a few brews, including the Oarsman Ale by Bell’s, Dark Horse Raspberry Ale, and a few others. Nothing really says summer for me quite like sitting around a campfire with some friends, sipping some quality brewed beer. That is, unless you tempt me with 80’s music and darts.

My journey took me just there. After departing from Harbor Springs, I headed back to Grand Rapids, where I hail from originally. That is where my love of craft beer began. Situated so close to Founder’s, Bell’s, and New Holland, its hard NOT to fall in love with beer.  Immediately upon arrival, I met up with my favorite home brewer, affectionately called The Yeti. He and I peeled through a few beers while we danced like fools to 80’s music and attempted to play darts (I’m awful, for the record) with another fellow beer lover. It was an exciting chance to show The Yeti some Cleveland-brewed beer that he can’t get at home – Indigo Imp’s Blonde Bombshell. In exchange for my gift from Ohio, I was allowed a few sips of Founder’s Devil Dancer, a delicious triple IPA that packs quite a punch and flies off the shelves. If you can find it near you, I strongly suggest you pick up a bottle or six. 

Next, I headed back to The Yeti Cave to check out a few beers that he had brewed with his roommates. While I wasn’t able to try anything he brewed himself, I did have an amazing oatmeal stout. Nearly as impressive as the beer was their Kegerator, which is pictured on the left. Seven taps of homebrewed goodness flows on the regular in the basement. If any of my readers have a kegerator of their own, I’d love to hear about it (or try it out!). But seriously, if you own a kegerator, you should consider entering this contest.

The weekend sailed onward with more outdoor fun, a trip to the local artisan’s market, and a delicious treat from Short’s Brewery – the Black Licorice Lager. Let me preface this by admitting my biases – I personally dislike the taste of black licorice. Furthermore, lagers are one of my least favorite styles of beer – typically because there isn’t much to them. However, as usual, Short’s took an interesting idea with tons of potential to fail and made something truly beautiful. The lager is lighter on the anise – the flavor that turns me off to black licorice candy, and had great notes of the chocolate mint leaves they used for flavoring. It was refreshing, not too sweet, and certainly one of my favorite lagers to date.

As the vacation drew to a close, I knew I had to get some fireworks in. Sunday, a good friend was kind enough to invite me along to a family get together on Big Pine Island Lake. There, I enjoyed some delicious food and beverage, including a Moose Drool Brown Ale from Big Sky Brewing. Even more fortuitously, I got to enjoy the brew while viewing the sunset pictured at the right. 

The last thing I did on my way out of town was stop at my former local beer store, which has recently expanded. I’m hoping to cover that more once I can snap some pictures, but let me just say (again) that I highly recommend stopping into Siciliano’s Market if you ever want anything beer, wine, bread, disc golf, cigar, or tea related and are even remotely near the store. I’m mentioning them now for a few reasons other reasons. First, they are hosting the kegerator contest I mentioned above. Secondly, they not only have one of the best beer selections around – but they have homebrew supplies as well. And lastly, they have a greatly expanded book selection – where I finally bought one of my favorite beer reads, “Tasting Beer” by Randy Mosher.

Anyways, I’m now in somewhat of a post-vacation depression, but at least I have a nice selection of rare beers in my fridge and some great memories of my travels. Cheers!