Author Archives: Nik Bronder

B1G Championship: OSU – MSU

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This past weekend Julie and I headed down to Indianapolis for the BIG Ten Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium between Ohio State and Michigan State. The outcome was not what we had  hoped for. Michigan State took an early 17 point lead in the first quarter and while Ohio State came back and took the lead in the 3rd quarter it wasn’t enough. Michigan State scored the final 17 points to win the game 34-24. It’s really hard to get a feel for everything that is going on during a game when you are in the stadium. I would like to know the crowd breakdown, but from our perspective it seemed about 65% Ohio State, then again we were in the 200 level and couldn’t see anything above us.

Pre Game
Last time we were in Indianapolis for the Championship Game it was almost impossible to get into any place downtown, outside of a hotel bar, and if we got into a bar it was probably one that still allowed smoking.  This time around we decided before heading to the game that we would spend some time at a couple of the breweries in Indianapolis’ growing beer scene.

Flat 12 Bierwerks
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Our first stop was Flat 12 Bierwerks which is doing a ’12 Beers of Christmas’ releasing a new specialty beer each day. I tried their Pale Ale, IPA and their Porter, Pogue’s Run Porter which I liked the most. Flat 12 has a simple tap room and a growler fill station but by no means is a bar. Like most of the breweries in Minneapolis there was a food truck stationed out front, the Pierogi L❤ve Indy truck. We tried the pulled pork pierogi which was perfect.  The tap room was in what seemed to be an unheated garage so we really weren’t able to stay more than a couple beers without freezing.  During our time there, we saw a couple of the Beer Bus Tours that operate in Indianapolis making stops at Flat 12.  There was  also a holiday sweater brewery run that was making its way to the brewery.  The place was always busy from the time the doors opened at noon.

Fountain Square Brewing
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From Flat 12 we headed over to Fountain Square Brewing which was about a 10 minute ride across town. Fountain Square is more of a bar with people ordering in food and a couple of televisions. Once again I had their Pale Ale, IPA and the porter. The Backyard Porter being my favorite.  The temperature outside could be why I was leaning towards Porters all day.

Side Notes:
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* B’s PO BOY is located directly across the street from Fountain Square Brewing so we picked up an order of Beignets.

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** A couple months back I had the foresight to make an Open Table reservation for St. Elmo Steak House.  Considering the line out the door it was a good move.

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*** The view from my seat.

Ohio State – Michigan 2013

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This weekend a group of us Ohio State and Michigan fans headed up to Ann Arbor for both the hockey and football games between the two schools.

Yost Ice Arena
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Friday night we headed over to the Yost Ice Arena for the Big Ten Opener between Ohio State and No. 3 ranked Michigan. Yost seats around 6,600 people which is a considerable difference from the 17,500 that Value City Arena in Columbus holds. The small size creates a very intimate environment. We ended up standing at the back of the arena above the goal instead of using our seats as the view was nearly the same. Michigan was clearly the better team but Ohio State’s efficient power play kept them in the game until the final minutes of overtime. The game was heading to a shootout until Michigan’s Andrew Copp scored on a breakaway with under two minutes left in OT. A great game until the very end and it was cool to see the handshake line afterwards.

Tailgate
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Before the game we marched about 3 miles from our hotel to a church parking lot for tailgating. The crowd was 50/50 around the lot and then it was about a 15 minute walk to the stadium so it all worked out.  We had a couple of growlers from Mitten Brewing Co. in Grand Rapids and a backpack of Hamms.

Michigan Stadium
Untitled I have been to Michigan Stadium 3 previous times (2001, 2002, 2007) but not since the most recent stadium renovation so I was looking forward to seeing what has changed and if the audio level was any different.  The stadium seems to have only two entrances making it a challenge to tailgate until the final minutes.  We ended up funneling in and working our way to our seats in the West end zone.  We did notice the students didn’t quite fill in until about 5 minutes into the 1st quarter but that is very common at most of the large BIG Ten Stadiums.  The new pressbox/suites that were recently added look as if they fit the original structure but I don’t think they did anything to increase the intensity (i.e. volume level).  Granted, we sat in row 84 so maybe closer to the field the level of sound was much greater.

The Game
Ohio State - Michigan: To recap the OSU band honored Lincoln and Gettysburg. Michigan honored Miss America-
The game was reminiscent of the 2006 No.1 vs No.2 game, hardly any defense, scoring up and down the field. I can’t say I disagree with Michigan going for the 2-point conversion to win the game, but I was completely surprised. In the stands it seemed like Michigan was just trying to force Ohio State to use their last timeout so they didn’t score in the final 30 seconds. Then they lined back up and went for it. Watching the game in person, it felt like that was the only time Ohio State stopped them. Combining this ending with the hockey game on Friday it was one hell of a sports trip. Great games.

Ann Arbor Breweries
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Ann Arbor has four breweries in about two blocks in the heart of town.  We stopped at all of them on Friday.  Blue Tractor Brewery we didn’t hit until after the hockey game, but it was by far the best.  $8 pitchers of all of their beers, decent BBQ and live music in the basement.  We spent the better part of the evening there.  Before the hockey game we stopped at Jolly Pumpkin, Grizzly Peak Brewing Company and Arbor Brewing Company.   We only had one drink at Jolly Pumpkin but that’s mainly because their beer list consisted of mostly sour beers which I’m not a fan of.  Grizzly Peak was probably the most disappointing of the group.  Arbor Brewing was solid and the food looked great.

Side Notes:

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* We took the Wolverine Line Amtrak train up from Chicago Friday morning which got us into Ann Arbor around 1pm.  The train ride was great:  comfortable, clean and no hassle.


** Before catching our train back to Chicago we picked up sandwiches for the road at Zingerman’s Delicatessen which is about a 10 minute walk from the train station.  Yes, the sandwiches are expensive but I think they’re worth it.


*** Michigan Short Bus outside Yost Ice Arena.
**** No one stayed in the Victory Inn Suites.

Pullman and Argus Brewery

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This past weekend Julie and I once again took part in the CAF’s Open House Chicago and headed down to the Pullman neighborhood. Pullman is a former company town built by George Pullman to house the employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company. The town of Pullman was built in the late 1880’s and is known for it’s historic Victorian row houses.

Historic Pullman Center
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Our first stop in Pullman was the Historic Pullman Center which used to be the Masonic Pullman Palace Lodge. The Center currently houses all of the salvaged furnishings from the Hotel Florence and various pieces from George Pullman’s Prairie Avenue Mansion.

Greenstone United Methodist Church
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From there we walked a couple of blocks to the Greenstone United Methodist Church. The exterior of the church is a façade of green stone that was quarried from Pennsylvania and shipped to Pullman. The Church sanctuary is original to the 1880’s including the pews and organ.

Hotel Florence
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Across from the Arcade Park and not far from the church is the Hotel Florence. The hotel served the town/company of Pullman as a destination for businessmen and groups visiting the town, and was named for Pullman’s daughter Florence. I believe it also housed the only bar in Pullman. The hotel is currently shuttered and undergoing renovations. There was talk about reopening the bar.

Pullman Factory Complex
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What remains of the Pullman Factory Complex after a fire in 1998 is still pretty impressive. The scale of the remaining buildings and the grounds gives a good impression of what 6,000 workers would have experienced on a daily basis.

Argus Brewery
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After our stops in Pullman we took a brewery tour at the Argus Brewery which sits just outside Pullman on the other side of the train tracks. This was by far the best brewery tour I’ve ever been on and I highly recommend it. As soon as we arrived we were handed a beer and then Argus’ Brewery Historian took us outside the building to explain the area. The brewery sits on what was once called Shlitz Row after the Shlitz Brewing Company purchased the entire block to serve beer to the Pullman workers. George Pullman made sure that his town was completely dry outside of the Hotel Florence so the Shlitz company setup shop just outside the town. The Argus Brewery is housed in the former stable house for the Shlitz operation. After taking in the street scene we went up to the top floor of the brewery where all of the fermentation tanks are held along with a bar. Since the building was a horse stable previously, the 2nd floor is structurally sound and there was even a horse elevator. The majority of the ‘tour’ consisted of us hanging out in the bar with free reign over the taps. The brewers also provided us with pizza that is made from their spent grains and we basically were give a history tour of the place. After several beers and quality stories we were showed through the actual brewing and bottling process before we were sent on our way.

Really one of the best tours I’ve taken.

Side Notes:
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* We had breakfast at the Cal-Harbour Restaurant & Lounge. There really weren’t many options in the area but this is a legit diner.
** We actually saw the Brewery and the Pullman Factory from the train on our way to the Gary Railcats game. That’s how we knew to book the brewery tour.
*** Previous CAF Open House Chicago: 2012