215 E. Lake StreetI’ve been excited about this Petoskey vacation for some time. I really, really needed a break from work. I don’t get enough long breaks where I have no responsibilities, so I’ve been counting down to this for a while.
There’s also two breweries that I’ve really been wanting to make a pilgrimage to. When we decided we were going to Petoskey this summer, I told J I had two places I had to go. She likes breweries as much as I do so I didn’t have to do much arm twisting to get her to agree.
The first full day we were in town, we kind of relaxed around the cabin, played at the playground at Bayfront Park, then, after naps, headed out to Petoskey State Park to swim and look for Petoskey Stones.
We actually did find a handful of Petoskey Stones so that part of the afternoon was a success, but the swimming….pardon my french here, but holy shit is that a terrible beach. I mean, I literally thought we were swimming in shit. It was so insanely dirty and my feet still hurt from the rocks along the shoreline. I guess we’re so spoiled with South Haven because every time we’ve went to a state park, we’ve left wondering why people would ever go swimming there. Our original plan was to swim, change at the park, then go straight to dinner, but L had so much garbage (literally) in her hair that it took two showers and a lot of combing and screaming to get it all out. We had to go back to the cabin and take full on showers before we could go out downtown. There won’t be a next time at Petoskey State Park.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand, dinner. After showers and getting cleaned up, we headed back downtown to eat.
Beards Brewing is visible from US-31 right on the edge of downtown on Lake Street. The large building is both a pub and a small production facility. They moved to this building last spring after operating at a different, smaller building without in downtown for five years. Parking is along the street or in public lots around downtown. At 5:00 on a Wednesday night, the closest spot we could find was about two and a half blocks away.
The entrance to the brewery is on Lake Street and it comes right into the merchandise shop. They have a huge selection of apparel, glassware, and of course, their beer. The host stand is in the gift shop and two women were working to run people back to tables as fast as they could.
The dining room is spacious and they pack a lot of people in. There are two levels for dining and almost all of the tables were full when we were taken to our table.
The table situation is interesting. They use more of a communal table setting with a few booths along the wall. We were taken to a table that easily could have been separated into two tables with four chairs. Instead, the tables were together with eight chairs. It was a little odd….I’m not super social and would have preferred some space so my kids don’t bother people but the couple next to us had a kid too and they kept to themselves while we kept to ourselves.
At the front of the dining room is a small stage. We were early enough and during the week so there was no music although both kids wanted to go dance on it and put on their own show.
The bar is back where the merchandise area turns into the dining room. It’s not really anything fancy but there is a pretty great view of the bay…which is actually true for most of the dining room. The bar is built from large stone blocks and topped with what almost looks like a butcher block. There aren’t a lot of seats at the bar as they really seem to want you to be social. The bar area leads to a large outdoor patio which also looked pretty full.
I asked our waitress about a flight and she said I could pick how many I wanted. I went with five not knowing how big their flight board was. Turns out, they have different flight boards for different numbers. I picked five so I got a metal beard with five holes and the name of the beer written in green dry erase marker.
J also found four beers she thought sounded good on the large beer menu so she also did a flight, but she picked four. Her flight board was the same as mine but with four slots instead of five. I saw another wooden tray come out with six tasters on it too. I love how they let you pick how many beers and have the means to accommodate several sizes of flights.
I didn’t pay attention to J’s beers, so I’m only going to discuss mine. I will say she loved the fruit beers they had on tap and she doesn’t typically drink beer. This might be the first time she’s ever done a beer flight at a brewery.
I started my flight with Molasses S. Grant. Why? Just cause I loved the name. This beer is a stout. Nothing out of the ordinary but super tasty.
I then moved on to Orange Haze. I like Wheat Wines so I usually pick one when I see it. This one wasn’t super boozy and went down a little too easy.
The third beer I chose was Silent Planet. I don’t drink enough ESB’s. Hell, this is the one that finally got me the Untappd badge..that’s how little I drink them. Not sure why. I enjoy them, but they’re not on menus very often.
Selection number four was Copperstar Galactica. Again, loved the name, but it’s also an American IPA so I had to order it. This one is made with Michigan hops and comes off a little fruity. Delicious, sippable IPA
My final pick was Grizzly Adams. You know I’m going to say this was my favorite because it’s the hoppy DIPA. Citruy, piney, and just a little boozy. Good finish to the meal.
I went with a burger for diner because it’s been a few days since I’d had a burger. I picked The Beards Burger. This sandwich is served on a house made bun. The meat is a 6 ounce blackened patty with Plath’s bacon, a honey-sriracha aioli, bleu cheese, carmelized onions, and spinach. I missed the onions on the menu or else I would have left them off. They were on the bottom bun so easy to pull off. The meat was so tender and crumbly and the bread was the same so this sandwich was a mess to eat but it was so tasty. I’ve been trying more and more to leave all of the toppings on, including the aioli’s and I’m finding I’m enjoying different things about sandwiches than I used to. The honey-sriracha aioli added such a subtle hint of sweet and spicy that I wouldn’t even know it was there if I didn’t know it was there. The sandwich is served with chips and a spicy house-brined pickle, but I upgraded to the house cut french fries and that’s an upgrade you absolutely must make. The fries are crispy, golden brown fries with soft, fluffy insides. I could have eaten a whole plate of just the fries and called it a meal.
J’s sandwich of choice was the House-Smoked BBQ Pork Sandwich. This sandwich, also served on a house made bun, is BBQ pork that is smoked in house, Plath’s bacon, shredded mozzarella, a lemon poppyseed coleslaw, and a house made apple BBQ sauce using Luna which is a pale wheat ale. The meat was too much for the soft bun to hold on to which made eating a little difficult. The meat was covered in that sweet BBQ sauce with just enough of the slaw to give it that delicious crunch. J also upgraded to fries which she also says is an absolute must if you’re going to eat here.
We actually decided to make the kids share a meal because neither of them ever comes close to eating what we get them. We got them the Chicken Tenders with fries and asked for ranch so they could dip the chicken. The chicken looked and tasted to be frozen tenders that were fried up. The fries were the same delicious fries J and I got. Even splitting a meal, they couldn’t muster the energy to finish it so we made the right choice. It has nothing to do with the taste and everything to do with my kids and this phase they’re going through right now.
Our bill for dinner was around $60 before tip. Beards Brewing was one of the places that I absolutely had to get to if we were going to be vacationing in Petoskey. I’ve had the beer in the past and always enjoyed it and this pub serves up delicious food that pairs up well with the huge tap list they bring to the table.