Author Archives: Nik Bronder

Lakeside, Michigan

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This past week Julie and I rented a house with four other friends in Lakeside, Michigan. This was our first experience using Airbnb and it worked out really well. The house was walking distance to a private beach on Lake Michigan which is all we were really looking for. We spent the majority of our time at the beach and cooking at the house.

Bells Brewery
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Before checking in to the house we headed up to Kalamazoo to checkout Bells Brewery for lunch. I was really impressed with their huge selection of beers on tap. Julie and I each did a tasting and then I had a couple more before we hit the road. By far my favorite was the Quinannan Falls Lager. Lunch was really good as well, mostly BBQ sandwiches. I was really disappointed with their ‘No Growler’ policy. I had planned on filling three growlers for the week. We did stop at their general store but the beer selection was less than what I see at my corner store in Wrigleyville.

Three Oaks
Before dinner on our last night in town we headed over to the town of Three Oaks to check out the Journeyman Distillery and a couple of bars before dinner at Soe Cafe.

Journeymen Distillery
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Journeyman Distillery was setup much like FEW Distillery with the addition of its own bar and event space. The tour included three tastes which I believe is some kind of Federal regulation. Like other small craft distilleries, Journeyman distills Gin, White Whiskey and Rye Whiskey.

Pleasant House
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Our tour guide at Journeyman suggested we stop by the nearby Pleasant House Brewing Company which recently opened a small brewery/bar. Pleasant House is the sister location of Pleasant House Bakery in Chicago which is a small restaurant that specializes in meat pies. This location has the same food setup, basically British comfort food, with the addition of the bar and three of their own beers. I had the Dry Stout and tried the ESB, both were great.

Side Notes:
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* Beach reading: The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today.

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** Every grocery store we stopped in during the entire trip had a ‘Smores Section’.
*** Last year’s visit to Lakeside.

Chinatown Walking Tour and the Water Taxi

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This past Saturday Julie and I purchased a Groupon for a $10 walking tour of Chinatown from the Chicago Chinese Cultural Institute. We’ve been to Chinatown on a couple of occasions including the Chinese New Years Parade in 2012 but we were hoping for a little more in depth experience via the tour. I won’t say we were disappointed but you clearly get what you pay for. The tour started at the Nine Dragons Wall and our guide explained some of the background on how this part of Chicago became Chinatown.

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The tour lasted about an hour and consisted of the main part of Chinatown along S. Federal St., the Chinatown Square which anchors the new part of Chinatown and the Ping Tom Memorial Park. One of the main buildings in Chinatown is the Pui Tak Center which formerly housed the ‘City Hall’ and now consists of immigration services, language training and a cultural hub.

Chicago Water Taxi
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I’ve been wanting to take the Chicago Water Taxi to Chinatown for about two years now. We checked the schedule in the morning and it just seemed a lot easier to take the Water Taxi back to the Loop instead of the other way around. This worked out just as well, after our walking tour we had lunch and then walked back to Ping Tom Memorial Park and waited for the Water Taxi. It runs about every 20 minutes or so. The fare from Chinatown to Michigan Avenue was $7. Considering all of the boat tours along the Chicago River (CAF, Wendealla, etc) you get the same ride for about a third of the price if you take the Water Taxi. Granted you don’t have a guy with a bullhorn pointing out buildings to you but it’s all the same if you know the buildings.

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Beer in Holland, Michigan

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On Sunday Julie and I headed up to Holland, Michigan for the day to check out New Holland Brewing and to search for Short’s Brewing’s seasonal beer. We were looking for a town within three hours of Chicago that we could drive there and back in a day and still make it home for dinner. We were a little disappointed that most of the town of Holland was deserted on a Sunday afternoon but more than surprised that a second brewery was open on the same block as New Holland.

New Holland Brewing
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The New Holland Brewery had one of the larger selections of in-house made beers I’ve seen in quite some time.  I believe they had more than 15 taps going.  We each started with a sampler of six beers of which I liked the Paleooza and the Black Hatter the most.  We also tried their Blueberry and Apple ciders and got a growler of the Blueberry to go.  I was really impressed with the layout of the bar and the huge digital display for their beer list.  I don’t know how many breweries/craft beer bars that use chalkboards for their beer only lists.  This screen could be seen and read from anywhere in the bar.  Also, bonus points for the sliding library ladder to reach the mugs.

Our Brewing
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Our Brewing Company is located just a couple doors down the block from New Holland. They are just getting started, having opened in November 2012. When we stopped by, they were down to three beers on tap and by the time we left they were down to two. I had the Handlebar Hopstache which is their Double IPA and then tried their porter, As You Like It Porter. Both were quite strong for being down to just a couple beers on tap. I guess they had an event the night before or something that pretty much tapped them out. Our Brewing does all of their production onsite in the basement of their bar.

Side Notes:
* Michigan Breweries are really big on the Mug Clubs. I don’t think I’ve been to a brewery in the state that doesn’t have a wall of mugs that are assigned to individual customers.
** Skip the windmill in Holland. It’s all beat, somehow it’s on private land so they charge you $7.50/per adult to see it.