So I guess we should do a quick line on Detroit, since that's where people might actually go, assuming you trolls can get together enough scratch for a Greyhound ticket. Once again, I find myself without personal experience of the Motor City's beerholes, because the last time I was in Detroit, I had driven there in a 1968
Kaiser with a cracked fuel pump, and I holed up in a cheap hotel in Greektown with a liter of Smirnoff. (It wasn't as ugly as you might think, but it wasn't a moment of tender beauty, either.)
Luckily, I've got friends all over, and in this case, it's Darren Proctor. Darren is a beer-drinking music lover (anyone who would bring up The Godfathers' classically cynical song "
Birth School Work Death" as an example of the kind of tune he favors is okay by me) who runs a podcast alt-rock website as his alter ego, Buddy Culver [www.buddyculver.com]. Check it out: I don't have a MePod either, but the stuff plays just fine on the free PC down at the library. Gotta get a pair of earphones one of these days – I'm waking up the librarians.
But enough about Darren and me. Let's get to the beer.
The first place to hit has got to be the
Cadieux Café (4300 Cadieux Road). No, it's not a sports bar, but you can
play a sport there: feather bowling. Feather bowling is a Belgian game that combines bocce, shuffleboard, quoits, and ... throwing cheese at a feather. Picture bocce with a feather instead of the small ball, a pitch that has a shallow, curved depression through the middle, and balls that are shaped like small wheels of cheese. Oh, hell, just go there, get some of their great Belgian beer and food, and play.
New to Detroit is Slow's BBQ (2138 Michigan Ave.), down the street from the old Tiger Stadium. Real slow-n-low BBQ and a beer menu Darren says "will blow the socks off a beer lover."
Lest you think I'm only going to give you beer-geek places, how about these two: the
Old Shillelagh (349 Monroe St.), in Greektown, is Detroit's best Irish pub, Guinness and all, within walking distance of the stadium. And if you just want to get down and watch the game – any game – you're not far from The Detroiter Bar (649 Beaubien St.). With a name like that...it's standard beer, TV, a boatload of "real bar" atmosphere ...
and the occasional shooting.
I love German places, and Detroit's got 'em. Check out
Jacoby's Biergarten (624 Brush St.) in the Bricktown District. They've got German food and beer, and (Darren notes) "they feature great, local indie Detroit bands." If you're more an oompah kinda guy, try
The Dakota Inn Rathskeller (17324 John R. St.) for what Darren calls "German food that rocks" and plenty of good German beer to go with it.
If you want fresh, American-made German-type beer, Detroit has one place that makes it into Pennsylvania grade on that angle: the
Atwater Block Brewery (237 Joseph Campau) was well-known for their lagers a few years ago, and according to Darren, they've got their groove back. "I love the Hell, Rost and Dunkel. All are excellent," says the local expert.
There are two microbreweries just north of Detroit in Warren, Michigan, that deserve special mention; look for their beers on draft in Detroit or make a trip out. It's well worth the ride. They are great enough, special enough, that I've heard of them here in the East.
Dragonmead (14600 East Eleven Mile Road) has no food, just a brewery, but the other,
Kuhnhenn Brewing (5919 Chicago Road), has a small menu. Remember: both in Warren, superb beer, keep an eye out.
One last recommendation, and again, this is one that I've heard of from beerfolk talking about it.
The Traffic Jam and Snug (511 W. Canfield) is a microbrewery and bakery, with great food and beer and a bunch of small "snugs" like you would find in a British pub – small rooms or nooks with semi-private tables. "This has been a hidden gem for 40 years," Darren says.
Enjoy the city. Sounds like I'm going to have to get out there ASAP. Maybe on a Greyhound.
