A beer interlude

You might not think a road trip is conducive to beer tasting, but that's where you'd be wrong. Beer samplers – flights of 4-7 beers in 4 ounce tastes – are perfect for a pair of beer lovers traveling the country. You get to taste what the brewery has to offer in 20 minutes or less, without worrying about blindly ordering a bad pint, the cat in the car, or getting back behind the wheel. It's good for the road trip budget too – they typically cost $5 or $6.

Great Lakes Brewing Company (Cleveland, OH)


We stopped at Great Lakes because they're one of the country's most renowned breweries that doesn't distribute on the coasts. On our way to Michigan, we stopped in for a quick sample of 4 to see what all the fuss was about. At their downtown Cleveland location, they've got a full-on complex: Restaurant, brewery, tasting room, pub, patio, beer garden and gift shop. It's definitely a popular place for downtown professionals, for weekday lunch and after-work drinks. Somehow at around 3PM, we ran into both of these crowds. The bar has dark wood paneling, and decorations reminiscing about beers from yesteryear.

Beers tasted:

• Dortmunder Gold
• Commodore Perry IPA
• Edmond Fitzgerald Porter
• Moondog ESB

Trevor's favorite: Dortmunder Gold
Ashley's favorite: Commodore Perry IPA

Overall rating: B+. We would definitely rate this higher if: We had been able to sample more beers, enjoy some of their outdoor seating (the bar area just wasn't our thang), or if they'd had branded bibs in the gift shop (Sorry Tyler & Dulcie!).

Grizzly Peak (Ann Arbor, MI)

We hit up Grizzly Peak primarily for dinner with our friends/hosts, Emily and Nathan. As soon as we heard it was a brewpub, visions of sampler glasses started dancing in our heads. Its one location is a downtown Ann Arbor hotspot. The digs were pretty standard brewpub – same kind of pre-prohibition décor as Great Lakes – with a good amount of space for both eating and drinking. Before we get into the beer, it's important to note that Ashley's mac and cheese was among the best ever tasted – creamy and herby and sharp and delicious.

Beers tasted:

• Bear Paw Porter
• Pale Ale
• Steelhead Red Ale
• Anniversary ESB
• American IPA (On cask)

Trevor's favorite: Steelhead Red Ale
Ashley's favorite: Pale Ale

Overall rating: A-. With their rotating beer list and seasonally appropriate food menu, we would be definite regulars at this bar/restaurant.

Katie & Jason's (Pacific, MO)


Who knew that a residence in Pacific, Missouri was greater St. Louis's official tasting station? Aside from the amazing St. Louis-style, white and traditional pizzas that Katie prepared, we sampled some Missouri-made suds, some of which were brewed on the premises.

Beers tasted:

• Schlafly's Summer Lager
• Schlafly's Raspberry Hefeweizen
• Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat Beer
• Homebrewed Tripel
• Homebrewed English Brown Ale
• O'Fallon 5 Day IPA

Trevor's favorite: Homebrewed Tripel
Ashley's favorite: Schlafly's Raspberry Hefeweizen

Overall rating: A+. We're moving in.

Left Hand Brewing Company (Longmont, CO)


We'd had – and loved – Left Hand's Milk Stout before, so we were anxious to see what else they have to offer. Colorado knows how to make consuming local beer awfully convenient: The tasting room serves as a bar, gift shop and package store. The bar is unpretentious and bright, and the barkeep, friendly and Austrian. We paid for a sampler of 6, but wound up tasting 8, either because it was our first time, she likes the beers so much, or because she was flirting with us. 2 freebies? We're fine with any reason. We were there on the release day of their Oktoberfest – is it that time of year already?

Beers tasted:

• Pro Am Brown
• Pro Am Brown (Cask)
• Juju Ginger
• Deep Cover Brown
• Imperial Stout
• Black Jack Porter
• Oktoberfest
• Jackman's Pale Ale

Trevor's favorite: Juju Ginger
Ashley's favorite: Oktoberfest

Overall rating: A. The fact that Trevor's choosing a spiced beer as his favorite, and that we didn't even miss tasting an IPA, speaks to the non-wavering quality of their catalogue. Translation: We liked it.

Oskar Blues Brewery (Longmont, CO)


We're longtime fans of Oskar Blues's well-distributed offerings, Dale's Pale Ale & Old Chub. You know them – they're the ones in the can. We hesitated to enter the tasting room, because it looked like a door to their factory – and it was. The neat juxtaposition of their brewing and canning facilities with their tasting room made for the hippest atmosphere yet, which made up for the fact that, after the Left Hand tasting and a large lunch of Mexican food, our appetite wasn't quite as fierce as it had been earlier that day.


Beers tasted:

• Dale's Pale Ale
• Gordon (Imperial IPA)
• Old Chub (Scottish Ale)
• Whiskey barrel aged Old Chub
• Doppelbock
• Mama's Little Yella Pils
• Bonus: Oskar Blues Root Beer

Trevor's favorite: Dale's Pale Ale
Ashley's favorite: Gordon

Overall rating: B+. Had we not tasted four of these beers before, we may have been more blown away. As is, we were expecting quality, and they delivered. If we lived in the area, we would frequent the room, because its quirky atmosphere is right up our alley. And Trevor would like a job driving their bus:


In addition to these samplers, we did have a few regular-sized beers, including an Illinois-brewed Goose Island Honkers Ale and three local New Mexico brews (Santa Fe Brewing Company's 94 Rock Dirty Blonde and Chama River's Rio Lodo Brown & Jackelope IPA). Ashley also sampled a new Midwest beer you might not have heard of: Budweiser. The start-up operation is trying, but the quality just isn't there yet. Oh, and we also did a wine tasting. Chilled red dessert wine infused with bittersweet chocolate? Actually very good.

This will likely become a regular feature on the blog – 5 beer samplers in a week, imagine what we could do in a year!