How to get warm in the winter *without leaving the Midwest: Michigan Brewery Tour part II

Day three--->

Our next brewery was so worth it.  I had never traveled to Holland, MI before this weekend, and I can not wait to return!   We did the tour of the brewery at the New Holland Brewing Co..
 For only $5 you get a tour with one of two brews, a tasting of three others, and a glass.  Great deal, and the guys giving the tour were great!

One of the famous brews from New Holland is the Dragon's Milk.  Bourbon barrels are brought up from Kentucky, and the beer is aged in these barrels; it picks up a richness explainable by only your taste buds.

Grains are purchased from Canada, Gremany, France...

 these tanks are from Germany and are over 50 years old.  HUGE!!  Used in the first stages of beer-making.

Fermentation tanks

Hops pellets... they smell WONDERFUL!

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this entire system came from sierra Nevada.

Keg labels

Holland Michigan has serious Subaru love!!

 A last stop before I was exhausted, the Saugatuck Brewing Co.  is (as my mother would say) a very mom-and-pop place.  This had a much more Wisconsin feel to it compared to everywhere else.  Despite the dumping lake-effect snow, the place was warm and has great beer.  There were several older people there, and an acoustic band covering classic rock... another beer and I would have wanted to stay, but we decided on some dinner and to get going on our way.

Final thoughts.  For starters, I can't believe you are still reading, so thank you! We ended up with yet ANOTHER great road trip under our belt, quite a pint glass collection for our new kitchen, and a trip that did inspire me to pick up a camera...