[Metromode] Beer + Bikes: A Match Made in Heaven

In recent years, cycling culture in metro Detroit has gone from nearly nonexistent to explosively popular, with significant cycling infrastructure being added in major metropolitan centers and small towns alike. At the same time, the same thing has been happening with craft beer culture, evolving from the niche realm of beer geekdom to mass consumption. Coincidence? Never. As bike culture and beer culture have grown exponentially in Michigan, they have also been growing together, in a symbiotic relationship of fun.

Stephen Johnson launched the Motor City Tour Company in 2009 as Motor City Brew Tours, offering guided brewery tours (with samples) by bus. Each tour would hit three different breweries, and was more than just a standard-issue pub crawl: designed for people with a real passion (or at least sincere interest) for craft beer, the tours also included a meet-and-greet with the brewers themselves and a behind-the-scenes walk-through of the brewing facilities. As Motor City Brew Tours grew, Johnson began offering different kinds of tour packages: first walking tours, then biking tours.

Read more.

[Beerie] Ron Jeffries on Sobrehumano Palena 'Ole

It may be one of the ugliest labels Jolly Pumpkin has ever produced (which is particularly unfortunate given that they are known for their artwork), but Sobrehumano Palena 'Ole -- a collaboration brew between Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales and Maui Brewing Company -- is 2012's Beer of the Year, and you might as well start believing me now because you're going to have to believe me later. (What, you think I saved this one solely for my blog? Come on.)

I recently had the chance to speak with Jolly Pumpkin's head brewer and founder Ron Jeffries, and after the obligatory background chat I then launched into the question I had been burning to ask: "ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE SOBREHUMANO AGAIN????"

But first some background.

Maui Brewing Company had been discussing their possible collaboration brews for 2012 and were tossing the names of some potential partner breweries around. Maui's lead brewer John Walsh is originally from Michigan and named Jolly Pumpkin as his number one pick. Ron (who likes to practice "Hawaiian time" himself) was into the idea, and together they decided to contribute the unique flavors of their respective home states to this collabobrew -- from Maui, lilik'oi (a native Hawaiian passion fruit); from Michigan, cherries.

"It was a really challenging beer to brew," Ron says, specifically because of the two fruits (the tartness of the lilik'oi and the sweetness of the cherries). "Every single barrel we did tasted different. I had to create 10 different blends that tasted the same; it was quite the challenge. The blends are all slightly different but really close. [Because the beer is non-pasteurized and non-filtered], with aging and depending on how it's stored you'll get different flavors still."

The result? A zippy-tart, lushly tropical, bright, effervescent summer fun time light-drinking treat for grown-ups. I would drink it on a plane. I would drink it watching Bane. I would drink it on a boat. I would drink it eating goat. I would drink it in a car (even though I wouldn't get far). I would drink it on a train. I would drink it in the rain. I would drink it on an ark. I would drink it in the dark. I would drink it on a mare. I would drink it here and there and everywhere.

So...will he make it again? "I'm not planning on doing it again, but I could be convinced." So...you're telling me THERE'S A CHANCE???

He offers that he could maybe do one batch and make it a pub special, but as of right now he just doesn't have the space to make any more. ****BUT**** once they're in their shiny new 70,000 square foot brewing facility there will be a LOT more room. And Ron has been convinced to re-brew something he had considered as a one-off before: the Baudelaire series' iO - a style Ron likes to think of as a "red saison" brewed with hibiscus, rose hips and rose petals - was meant to be a "one-shot" but then he was petitioned by fans to brew it again, and now distributes it still in limited release but much greater quantities.

So: there's a chance.

Whether Ron decides to do it again or not (could use a little help persuading him here, guys), it will still be about two years before we see it again. Because of the freak weather we had this spring (80+ degree temps which teased the fruit tree blooms out a bit too early, followed by a frost that decimated them) Michigan cherries are hard to come by this year. Plus the beer has to age in oak barrels for a year, so even if we're very convincing we still have a long wait ahead of us, which means it's time to stock up. I have a bottle of 2012 KBS and a bottle of 2012 Devil Dancer and I'm willing to make trades.

As for Jolly Pumpkin, it was the first 100% oak barrel-aged sour brewery in the country and still to this day is the ONLY 100% oak barrel-aged sour brewery in the country, though there are significantly more breweries experimenting with sours now compared to when Jolly Pumpkin first opened in 2004. "People will ask me, 'How big do you want the brewery to be?'" Ron says. "My answer has always been, 'I'll make as much sour beer as people want to drink.'" If my predictions prove true (sour beer: it's gonna be the next thing), Ron's about to get a whole lot busier.

[HOT LIST] Neapolitan pizza

Mani Osteria. All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.

There has been a growing trend in metro Detroit recently, and one that has been happening relatively quietly. No, it's not upscale BBQ or upscale comfort food -- those trends have been anything but quiet. But while we have continued to bow at the altar of the almighty mac and cheese, coal- and wood-fired pizzerias are increasing in number (not to mention overall quality), and more specifically, Neapolitan-style pizzas are quickly nipping at the heels of their Sicilian-born Detroit-style deep dish brethren.

Pizza gets a bad rep. Typically thought of as the garbage pail gut-bomb it has been bastardized into courtesy of America (USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!), when people think of "pizza" they think of grease-soaked dense pan-cooked crust gobbed with dripping piles of cheap cheese and piled over with a zoo's worth of animal flesh. While I have a certain passion for such pedestrian pizzas like the fat Midwesterner that I am, not all pizza is so offensive to refined tastes. Neapolitan-style pizza is defined by high-quality, fresh, simple and healthy ingredients -- unbleached flour, fresh mozzarella, exceptional produce, extra virgin olive oil. In its truest Neapolitan form, pizza is actually quite healthy.

There is a very specific set of criteria that qualifies a pizza as "Neapolitan," but there are only two pizzerias in metro Detroit that are officially certified as such. For the purposes of this Hot List, I'm looking at places that are Neapolitan in spirit if not 100% in practice. Taken into consideration is size, shape and flavor of the dough; the quality and caliber of ingredients (prosciutto, yes; Canadian bacon, no); whether the pizza ovens are coal- or wood-fired; and, as is the case with any Hot List, whether or not I like it.*

The Margherita pizza at Antica Pizzeria Fellini.

#1 Antica Pizzeria Fellini (Royal Oak)
For more about the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, scroll down to #4. Got it? 'k. So this place is metro Detroit's other VPN-recognized Neapolitan pizzeria, and it's the real deal. This place is the most like an actual restaurant in Italy out of any of the faux-Italian eateries I’ve ever been in – it’s just a space, a simple space they obviously made some effort to make it look nice but otherwise a room in a building, nothing more. The owner is ever-present, presiding over the restaurant from his post in the very open kitchen, making all the food himself and personally checking in with all the customers. (For a little added authenticity, he even has an Italian accent). There was once a time when Il Posto was the most "Italian" place in Detroit, reminiscent of the highly-orchestrated fussy fine dining at Michelin-rated restaurants in touristy Toscana. Antica is countryside Italian, a small family-owned spot that exists solely to serve good food to their "extended" family, the customers. This is hands-down the best Neapolitan pizza I’ve ever had in Michigan. The dough tastes like flour, salt and yeast with a bit of wood smoke – in other words, exactly what it is, a mere canvas for the superior tomato sauce and creamy mozzarella. Their house-baked bread used for their bruschetta would also make excellent fettunta, and I wouldn't be surprised if they would in fact make it for you if you asked.

#2 Pizzeria Biga (Royal Oak, Southfield)
The custom-built brick oven chef-proprietor Luciano del Signore had flown in from Italy is pretty much the Ferrari of pizza ovens. Actually I think I said it best when I said, "The showpiece of the place is the 6,000-pound Ferrari-red wood-burning oven hand-made in Naples, Italy by Stefano Ferrara who is (channeling Cher Horowitz), like, a totally important designer. (Of ovens.)" Also, I am apparently fond of the Ferrari comparison. Real talk: this is not the best Neapolitan-style pizza of the bunch; several others on this list and listed as "bubbling under" are better. But do any of those other places have 24 international craft beers on tap and a beer store in their basement? No they do not. Extra bonus for the use of their own house-made charcuterie like duck prosciutto, which if you HAVE to pollute your pizza with animal carcass then this would be the place to do it.

The Margherita pizza at Tony Sacco's.

#3 Tony Sacco's Coal Oven Pizza (Novi, Ann Arbor coming soon)
It's a casual joint that manages to strike the perfect balance between pedestrian pizza gluttony and European refinement. You can read more about their $50,000 custom-built oven that burns extremely expensive clean-burning coal here; see also all fresh ingredients and everything made from scratch with no freezers, no microwaves and no fryers anywhere in the building. For a place that feels like such a casual sit-down pizza place, their commitment to quality is unmatched. The pizzas themselves toe that line of excessive American meatiness, but their Margherita is the real deal and the Bianco is bang-on. And also also also also the garlic rolls.

#4 Cellar 849 (Plymouth)
As Michigan's first certified Neapolitan pizza recognized by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (VPN) -- the "pizza polizia" -- of Naples, Italy, Cellar 849 adheres to the strict regulations that respect the tradition of true Neapolitan pizza, including a custom wood-burning oven, hand-rolled dough, and fresh, all-natural ingredients. They use some of the highest-quality imported ingredients available, including Fior di Latte mozzarella, Denominazione di Origine Protteta (DOP -- the produce polizia) San Marzano tomatoes, Italian extra virgin olive oil, prosciutto di Parma and Caputo flour. Their Italian-built wood-burning oven is the same as those used at the flashier Pizzeria Biga joints, and the remainder of the menu is just as delightfully Italian, including the (somewhat predictable) wine and beer lists. Yes, I just plagiarized myself here.

#5 Crispelli's Bakery + Pizza (Berkley)
Make no mistake, this place is a clusterfuck. It is so much of a clusterfuck that I'm not even sure why anyone would even make the attempt to go there on a Friday night. Don't go on a Friday night. All the traffic controllers and little metal signs with numbers on them designating your assigned seats in the open-seating cafeteria-style restaurant cannot make this any less of an exercise in tedium, nor does it make up for the fact that you have to wait in six different lines just to cobble together a single meal and if you don't stand in the middle of the register area with all of the other blank-looking meat bags you'll have no way of knowing when your food is ready. Pizza? That's one line. Salad? That's another. Drinks? Look, don't make this complicated: go on an off day at an off time and order one of their "Authentic Italian" thin crust pizzas. Despite all of the MANY inconveniences of ordering, their pizza is worth the hassle. (Just not on a Friday night.) Another thing I like: the self-serve structure means your $10 pizza really is $10 -- none of the added charges of sitting down in a restaurant with a server, ordering drinks, having to tip, so on and so forth until your $10 pizza becomes a $25 pizza. If you want to stuff your face on the quick without the fuss but still have high standards, this is the place to go.

Bubbling under Terra Cotta Pizzeria (Windsor), Tomatoes Apizza (Farmington Hills, Novi), Spago Trattoria E Pizzeria (Windsor), Vito's Olde Walkerville Pizzeria (Windsor), Mani Osteria (Ann Arbor), Fresco Wood Oven Pizzeria (Rochester Hills)

*Gas ovens have been excluded. Supino uses a gas oven. Is that a bad thing? Certainly not. The best pizza I ever had in my life was made in a gas oven. But that is not for this list. I have to draw the line somewhere, and I drew that line at coal. Because...I did. Because I can. So there. Still more places not listed here -- Vinsetta Garage, Union Woodshop, Bad Brad's BBQ Shelby Twp., J. Baldwin's, Motor City Brewing Works -- use wood-fired pizza ovens (as I said, this is becoming quite the trend), but their pizzas didn't quite meet my very loosely-defined Neapolitan-ish criteria. 

The Week We Ate (The EID Week in Review)

Steak!!!

Sounds like the New York Times is getting ready to run its annual "Detroit on the rise" story! A photographer was at Great Lakes Coffee Co. on Monday "shooting the place up" (not in the way that can sometimes mean for Detroit; the good way). Maybe this time they'll lay off the Phil Cooley fellating. [GLCC FB/Twitter]

Tired of the Great Steakhouse Boom of 2012 yet? Of course not because despite the fact that a million new steakhouses are opening no one really cares that much and why? It is no longer the Clinton-era '90s and we've all moved on. (To upscale comfort food!) That being said, Prime29 in West Bloomfield has a female executive chef and given the rarity of that (rare? get it?) in metro Detroit, this one is worth caring about. [Crain's]

Speaking of steakhouses, Matt Prentice will open Detroit Prime, a "value-driven" steakhouse, on August 31 with long-term plans to grow the concept as a chain. With Matt Prentice at the forefront of Detroit restaurant news it really is the Clinton-era '90s again, apparently. [Freep / Matt Prentice FB]

Speaking of upscale comfort food, Local Kitchen + Bar in Ferndale finally opens this week. [Local FB]

Prentice or Dickson, Dickson or Prentice ... who will win in this epic restaurateur slap-fight rush to open the greatest number of restaurants in the fastest amount of time? (And how many of these places will even still be open two years from now?) Gastronomy opens next week. [Freep]

Hantzlandia continues to entertain. Not as much as Prentice v. Dickson though. [Crain's / Curbed Detroit]

New Belgium Brewing hits Michigan shelves on August 27 and if THAT weren't exciting enough, New Belgium and Michigan's own Brewery Vivant have teamed up for a collaboration brew named "Escoffier" (paying homage Georges Auguste Escoffier, considered by some to be the greatest chef who ever lived), a high-gravity Belgian amber ale aged with wild yeast. Yup ... it's a sour. FTW. Escoffier will be available in September. [MLive]

If you say it enough times it becomes true. [Curbed Detroit / Fox News]

No, but really. [Business Week]

OH MY GOD YOU MEAN THERE'S STILL CRIME IN DETROIT AND THE ARTISTS/HIPSTERS/10-YEAR-OLDS WHO WORK FOR QUICKEN HAVEN'T SAVED IT????? Ohhhhhh, wait, it's just the part of Detroit we don't talk about when we talk about Detroit's renaissance. *whew* [Metro Times]

Michigan: the great boozing state. Food + Wine loves The Mitten Bar: A Michigan Ideology in Ludington (which they spelled really, really wrong), while The Street is all about Short's in Bellaire. [Food + Wine / The Street]

FALL BEER FEST: now two days of fun, still in Eastern Market, and no longer the same weekend as Theatre Bizarre. There is no one happier about all of this than me. No one. [Michigan Brewers Guild FB / EID FB]

Phil Cooley (et.al.) takes his Midas touch to Gold Cash Gold in Corktown a year(erso) from now.  [MLive]

This wins the Internet possibly forever. [Eater National]

Food trucks: still a thing. [Eastern Market Corp. FB]

Detroit: one big parking lot. And also OH MY GOD YOU MEAN THERE'S STILL CRIME IN DETROIT? [Crain's]

[EID Feature] Beer and Pizza ... Brilliant! Jet's Sportsroom

All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.

You know how the only thing that could possibly make Jet’s Pizza better is if it came with beer? There is a magical place where that dream is a reality, and that magical place is in Chelsea, Michigan.

The Jet’s Pizza in Chelsea originally added their “Jet’s Sportsroom” full service restaurant two years ago. The Sportsroom serves all Jet’s menu items but in a restaurant/sports bar setting – booths, tables, a bar, servers, the whole works. About a year and a half ago, they were approved for a beer-only liquor license (and wine, but meh) and started serving beer with their pizza. But not just ANY beer: craft beer. And not just ANY craft beer: they’ve got 21 taps with 50 more labels by the bottle and an emphasis on Michigan brews.

After hearing rumors of an Arbor Brewing tap takeover happening next Wednesday, and as a long-time devotee of Jet’s Pizza (and also hi Michigan beer, are you new here?), I simply HAD to investigate this for myself. I’m a big believer in “If it sounds too good to be true, it is,” and, well, this just sounded TOO good. Driving down Main Street through downtown Chelsea, Jet’s Sportsroom appears like a shimmering mirage just past the train tracks. (Or maybe that was the optical illusion effect of the heat radiating off the hot asphalt parking lot. Either way.) YES. YES, IT IS REAL. IT IS A REAL THING.

And it’s also the only one of its kind in the country. Jet’s corporate viewed this location as sort of a prototype and as it stands there are no further plans to transition any of the 260-or-so Jet’s Pizzas across the country or model any of the new stores (opening at a rate of about one per week) after this location. So not only is it the answer to every pizza and beer lovers’ prayers, it is THE ONLY PLACE LIKE IT IN THE WORLD. (I mean, other places serve pizza and beer, this is hardly anything new … but JET’S pizza and MICHIGAN beer? It’s like when those Taco Bell/Pizza Hut combos started opening. Like, holy shit, how does this not exist on every corner?)

Partners Joel Northam, Jason Povlich and Jason Bendinelli are all craft beer fans. Together they own four Jet’s franchises (the Chelsea location and four more in Toledo) as well as Back to the Roots, a sushi restaurant also in Chelsea. When they expanded their Jet’s carry-out to a full restaurant in the empty space that just so happened to be next door, they wanted to created a kind of comfortable community space for everyone to enjoy. “We realized that Chelsea is a small town,” Northam says. “We wanted to do something to bring the community together. It would be nothing to see the mayor come in here for dinner; we just wanted to create that sense of community.”

As business owners, they are known for being very passionate about their community and they try to support it in any way they can (Back to the Roots helps fund a number of different philanthropic nonprofit organizations, including the Asha House, a home for neglected and abandoned children). The decision to carry craft beer was as much a decision for the community as it was for themselves. “Jet’s is a Michigan corporation,” Northam says. “We want to feature as much of Michigan as we can here and the best way to do that is with Michigan beer, being the great beer state that we are.” While they still carry the macros for those who just can’t be converted (one day…), they also have an ample selection of Michigan (and some non-Michigan) craft beers from the likes of Founders, Brewery Vivant, Atwater, Arbor, MillKing It, New Holland and more. And now they’re hosting regular beer events.

Next Wednesday, August 8, Jet’s Sportsroom is hosting an Arbor Brewing Company VIP dinner and tap takeover from 6 p.m. to close. From 6-8 p.m., Executive Chef James Woodward from Back to the Roots, who was previously the Executive Chef for the Ritz Carlton, will prepare a four-course dinner with a beer pairing for each course. Guests will get a beer for the “reception,” then four 6-oz. pours during the dinner … all for a $25. TWENTY FIVE BUCKS, because that value actually needs to be spelled out. Arbor Brewing owner Matt Greff will be on hand to discuss the beers, then afterwards it becomes an Arbor Brewing tap takeover with 12 different Arbor beers including Sacred Cow, Ypsi Gypsi, Ypsi Jack, Fat Abbott, Sodibo (Arbor’s stellar sour), plus a firkin of Imperial Rye.

These beer dinners will become more frequent, with Founders hosting one on October 3 and Bell’s in November. After that they hope for it to be a regular monthly occurrence. In the meantime, Jet’s Sportsroom has built a very strong relationship with their suppliers and being the biggest craft beer bar in Chelsea they are able to get their hands on some serious labels. Right now they’re still sitting on bottles of Founders' Frangelic Mountain, which are currently going on eBay for $50 a pop. Stop on by and enjoy a bottle in the Sportsroom for $20. (WITH JET’S PIZZA!)

The space was recently remodeled and is comfortable and just a bit nerdy – the walls are decorated with Batman and Spiderman posters, and there are ET and Yoda figures scattered about. “[All three of us partners] were born in 1976,” Northam explains. “For all the people who were born around our time these are the things they grew up with.” They also have a “76er wall” honoring their collective birth year, and a house "76er" beer from Arbor Brewing (known elsewhere as Tally Wacker).

Northam says another motive for carrying craft beer is perhaps a bit selfish (but probably no one’s going to be mad about): “We think of this as our living room. We spend a lot of time here.” As craft beer drinkers themselves, it only made sense to carry the beers they want to drink. And their customers have been amenable to the cause. “We wanted to expose people [to something that maybe they don’t know about or aren’t familiar with], and they love it. I think we’ve hit a good stride.”

You guys, it’s a Jet’s Pizza that serves Michigan craft beer. I mean. Come on.

Want to see more? Check out the Flickr set here.

[Beerie] Master Brewer and Helluva Bloke: Mike Hall of Northern Michigan's Northern United

Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.

Mike Hall is a Master Brewer and senior member of the International Brewers’ Guild. He’s also a shitwit, which explains why I took an immediate liking to him.

As a partner of Northern United Brewing Company – a partnership that includes Greg Lobdell, Jon Carlson and Ron Jeffries and encompasses Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, North Peak Brewing Company and Civilized Spirits – Hall lives in northern Michigan and oversees brewing operations at what is currently the Civilized Spirits distillery and North Peak brewing facilities on the Old Mission Peninsula (though that will soon be changing as North Peak’s brewing operations will be moved downstate into Jolly Pumpkin’s new 70,000 sq. ft. brewing facility).

Mike is quite the character. Like so many other world-travelled, accomplished brewers, winemakers and chefs living and working in the Traverse City area, Mike’s background doesn’t instinctively scream “Will one day end up in northern Michigan.” He’s got an unidentifiable lilt of an accent, which if you have spent some time talking to other food and drink artisans in the area you might assume he too is from South Africa, much like Old Mission winemakers Coenraad Stassen and Cornel Olivier (of Brys Estate and 2 Lads Winery, respectively). Northern Michigan just seems to have that global draw.

But to answer that question, no, he’s not from South Africa like his vitner peers. Mike was born and raised in Nova Scotia and from there has lived and worked in the UK, Berlin, Amsterdam, Russia, and all over the United States. He has also helped open over 50 breweries and trained more than 200 brewers, but despite being among the most prolific (for lack of a better word) Master Brewers in the world, he is every inch the embodiment of northern Michigan approachability and conviviality.

Photo from here.

Mike started brewing with his dad at the age of 13. “My dad didn’t like the beer he could get at the store in Nova Scotia and figured he could do the same at home,” Mike explains, joking that his dad figured he couldn’t do any worse on his own. His dad got his brewing equipment at the local pharmacy and they started making their own beer at home. Then Mike went off to college – he started off studying medicine – and he started making beer in his college dorm “so I could drink more than I needed to.”

Halfway through school, one of his college buddies (and fellow student of hops) started talking to Peter Austin, founder of the Ringwood Brewery in the UK. Mike decided that after going to school and working full time, he needed a break, so he took a year off and went off to Europe with just $5,000. He remembers having to sleep in train stations and bushes (bumming around Europe for a year with only $5,000 means no boutique hotels or charming B+Bs). “There is something to be said for waking up in a park [on a bench] and seeing the Alps [right behind you].” But, lest he start sounding too wistful, he adds, “I was not plagued by average intelligence at that age!”

But his brazen, ballsy, and perhaps somewhat slightly insane European experiment would eventually take him to the Ringwood. Peter Austin was still running it so Mike stopped in “to say hi and have a few pints.” Mike’s career path was decided right then and there.

Photo from here.

“He saw I was into it,” Mike says. “I showed the appropriate enthusiasm.” And so Mike had the opportunity to train at the Ringwood for free, the kind of opportunity that is not only rare but almost unheard of. Maybe Austin took pity on the broke kid slumming it out in Europe who showed huge potential; maybe it was Mike’s inherent likeability that compelled Austin to help him out. But from there, the doors were opened. After that he immediately went to Granite Brewery in Halifax to work under Kevin Keefe, the owner/brewer who had also trained at the Ringwood. Mike started his apprenticeship there and was thrown right into the deep end, spending the bulk of that year doing things himself with Keefe acting as his support when needed.

So then Mike finished a degree in fine art and sculpture and got a studio in Berlin. Yes, we’re skipping around a bit, but to be fair so did he. “I was bartending, making sculptures, having fun, brewing beer at home,” basically living the good life. Then he got a job in Amsterdam (hang tight, we’re going to skip around some more), then went to visit his dad in England and under the auspices of his father’s almighty beer-sniffer found the (now defunct) Ash Vine Brewery in Somerset, which was looking for a head brewer and manager. So now we go from Somerset to Amsterdam to Berlin and back to Somerset, where Mike stayed for two years when his apprenticeship “really picked up.” “I was a student member of the [International Brewers’] Guild and was working under the head brewer every day with my senior member mentor in the Guild telling me what I should be focusing on.”

During the last year of his Guild apprenticeship he came to the States. His final “test” came two years later when he traveled with Peter Austin to help open a brewery in Russia. After that he was recommended for a full senior membership in the Guild, making him a Master Brewer. Since then he has helped build and train some of the biggest-name breweries and brewers in the States – Shipyard Brewing, Dogfish Head, Magic Hat and Arcadia Ales, just to name a few.

Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.

“One year I spent only 35 days in my home state,” Mike remembers. “I had a mummified piece of pizza in my fridge and I was using that as a gauge of time.” It was a lot of travel time and a lot of sky miles to travel all over the States as a consultant and trainer, but “it was good fun. I totally enjoyed it.” He would help train brewers, help set up equipment, help develop recipes, and basically do everything to get start-up breweries started up (what they did after that was on them). That particular year he helped open 13 breweries.

In the meantime he was also working as a carpenter. Yes, he’s a carpenter too. “Consulting is not very lucrative. You spend a good deal of time trying to find work and competing with others. It’s kind of hard to make a living on it … [you have to be in it] for the love. When you go to sleep, you go to sleep exhausted and happy. It is satisfying work.”

Eventually he got involved with Northern United, helping launch Grizzly Peak, North Peak, Blue Tractor, Bastone, and even training he-of-sour-infamy Ron Jeffries. “His dirty kegs are not welcome in my brewery!” he jokes (sours are made by using wild yeast strains, something that brewers otherwise work very hard to keep OUT of their beer by maintaining sterile brewing environments). “He’s made an arc out of everything I’ve told him not to do!”

Photo from here.

After starting six breweries under Northern United they asked him, “Why do we keep paying you as a consultant? Why not join our team?” He told them to make him an offer he couldn’t refuse, and they did. He officially joined the team in 2009 and has been overseeing the brewery and distillery since then.

With the changes afoot at Jolly Pumpkin/North Peak, Mike is anxious to let Ron oversee all of the brewing so he can focus all of his energy on Civilized Spirits, Northern United’s craft spirits line. “It’s time for me to have some fun and get the creative juices flowing again,” he says. “It was always part of the original plan to merge the two breweries but we wanted to make sure we could walk first before we run.” Mike will also be in charge of specialty one-offs and North Peak’s “Nomad” hard cider.

So what are some of the things Mike has planned? A biere de garde. A gluten-free IPA (“just because someone is gluten-sensitive doesn’t mean they can’t like big beers”). A beer with Omega-3 fatty acids derived from flaxseed (“I have this perverse desire to make a highly nutritional, vitamin-rich beer endorsing that beer is good for you!”). And also doing some really traditional lagers. “I want to push the envelope on a few things but also get back to some really old-school classics.”

He jokes about the compulsion in the American craft beer industry to push “extreme” beers. “People say, ‘I want to be into extreme brewing.’ So try brewing all day with a razor blade in your mouth, THAT’S extreme. Just because you put too many hops in doesn’t make it extreme, it’s just stupid.”

Mike has plans for Civilized too, like making a “rum” made from Michigan sugar beets. (They’re calling it “Rhumb” because it is legally not allowed to be called “rum” unless it is made from sugar cane.) He also wants to start experimenting with local medicinal plants to make a gin, drawing on Native American homeopathic remedies using local materials “but drinkable instead of just being able to say we did it … herbal but not herbal like Jagermeister; something that tastes good and doesn’t make you puke out your nose.” He also wants to try distilling prickly pear juice for a tequila-of-sorts, a flavor that he always recalled fondly after staying in Mexico. (Yeah, add Mexico to the list.)

Oh, and did he mention that he also went to distillery school in Lexington, Kentucky (aka Bourbon Country)? So yeah, there’s that too.

Mike can’t wait to start mad-scientisting his many ideas once the Jolly Pumpkin/North Peak transition is complete. “I’ve been chomping at the bit to do this. It’s been a long time coming but the gears have been going in my head for a long time.” Ron Jeffries might be Northern United’s star of the moment with all the buzz Jolly Pumpkin is getting, but Mike Hall is easily one of the most interesting blokes you could ever hope to meet. Which is really just yet another reason to love Old Mission.

[HOT LIST] Poutine

Brooklyn Street Local. 

Last week both the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News ran stories on Detroit's sudden poutine craze. Seeing as how I've been Pied-Pipering the poutine scene for the better part of a year now (while the bulk of that was covered on Facebook, there are also searchable archives here to support that), I feel it a matter of unfortunate timing that the results of my diligent research for this particular Hot List -- which is, make no mistake, the most thoroughly-researched Hot List I've ever published -- should come out after both of those stories. Let us remember who asked to henceforth be referred to as the Queen of Poutine before either of them ran. In other words what I'm really trying to say is FIRST.

Poutine is the most magical of comfort foods. Authentic ethnic cuisine from the exotic foreign lands of Canada, poutine is in essence French fries covered in gravy and cheese curds. And it must -- *MUST* -- be cheese curds; shredded cheese simply will not do. Perfect for the late-night drunchies, homeopathic hangover treatments and all hours of comfort food cravings, poutine is sovereign. With Windsor closer to Detroit than Royal Oak, it's a bit befuddling as to why poutine never became a "thing" until now. (Sidebar: If I had a dime for every time I've said "Poutine: it's gonna be a thing," well, I'd actually be getting paid for doing this which would be awesome.) But these dark days are now behind us and the poutine prophecy has been fulfilled.

Mercury Burger Bar.

Some things to note before we move forward, as this one has been particularly near and dear to me: with no fewer than three of the four hyper-trendy eateries in Corktown serving the stuff, Corktown can now be called Poutine Town. (Someone tell Slows that they're falling behind.) Some places serve what can only best be called variations on the theme of poutine (like Woodbridge Pub, which uses potato wedges with mushroom gravy and cheddar cheese cubes, or the Rattlesnake Club, which uses a bleu cheese sauce served on the side of their truffle fries), others need to go back to the drawing board (sorry, Mac Shack), and others still have been vastly improved upon after a little constructive criticism (Mercury Burger Bar before; Mercury Burger Bar after). And the trend shows no sign of stopping: Local Kitchen + Bar will have poutine on their menu too.

And finally, some might question why none of the Windsor joints are in the top 5. Easy: no one is paying $8 roundtrip to cross the border and deal with American customs for a $6 order of fries. Agree or disagree; that's just reality. Windsor will gets its due soon enough, promise.

#1 Vinsetta Garage (Berkley)
Yep. Number one. It isn't even called "poutine" on the menu, but their "Disco Fries" are no doubt of Canadian lineage. House-cut fries dolloped with perfectly melty gooey Ellsworth cheese curds and slathered in piping hot whole grain mustard gravy, chili flakes and scallions. How did this place beat out those of authentic Canadian pedigree? Well this restaurant is nothing if not a comfort food house of worship and while their mac + cheese is most exalted, the poutine is secretly king. Also, I have a bias towards spicy foods and the addition of whole grain mustard and chili flakes shot this over the top.

Vinsetta Garage.

#2 Brooklyn Street Local (Corktown)
Welcome to our country you lovely Canadians and thank you for sharing with us this part of your culture! Brooklyn Street Local serves the best traditional Canadian poutine: hand-cut fries with organic cheese curds and homemade beef gravy. Vegetarian? They'll swap out the beef gravy with a tasty homemade mushroom gravy. Bacontarian? They'll add caramelized onions and bacon. (That's the special house "BSL Poutine.") And and AND ... if what you really want is one of their other many fantastic made-from-scratch hearty diner eats, you can get a side of poutine for only $3. AND! As of this week, they now accept credit cards.

#3 Grange Kitchen + Bar (Ann Arbor)
No one's ever going to accuse their poutine of being pretty, but Chef Brandon Johns's duck confit poutine with goat cheese curd and duck sage gravy (all locally-sourced and made in-house, the cheese from Four Corners Creamery and the duck from Back Forty Acres) is not just awesome -- it is aw-awholelot. Grange, and quite possibly this dish in itself, is well worth the trip to A2.

#4 24grille (Detroit)
Kind of glad I kept this one in my back pocket. Executive Chef Christian Borden is from Toronto. This is important because, as we know, poutine is an indigenous Canadian cuisine and Canadians do it best by nature. The poutine at 24grille is something of a best-kept secret: only available on their lunch menu, it's $6 for an order of proper poutine made with hand-cut Idaho potato, gravy, cheese curds, herbs, and then cranked up with a pile o' pulled pork.

#5 Green Dot Stables (Corktown)
How much do we love them? Let's count the ways! (1) Owners Jacques and Christine Driscoll are simply outstanding people (ditto Chef Les Molnar). You'd want them to do well even if their product sucked. While there is certainly no shortage of nepotism in Detroit, thankfully their product does not suck so you can support awesome people doing equally awesome things. (2) Cheap beer! (3) Cheap food! (4) Cheap GOOD beer! (5) Cheap GOOD food! (6) And also poutine! "Le poutine" is $3 in the classic Canadian style: homemade gravy and cheese curds over their crispy shoestring fries. For added emphasis, it's $3. In fact, nothing on their menu is more than $3 ... and that includes all their craft beer and cocktails. LOVE.

Bubbling under Sardine Room (Plymouth), Frenchy's Poutinery (Windsor), Woodbridge Pub (Detroit), Toscana (Windsor), Mercury Burger Bar (Corktown), Rattlesnake Club (Detroit), Pita Grill (Windsor)