Frankenmuth is the Michigan German version of Solvang, here in California. It is a quaint little "village," with authentic German food, music, horses, clocks and a little bit of kitschy tourist "stuff." Right now it is the states top tourist attraction, bringing in three million visitors each year, not that I knew that when we decided to go up there for the day and do some beer/wine tasting. It is known for a giant Christmas store and all you can eat chicken, both of which we opted out of, choosing to watch World Cup Soccer at the brewery instead.



I do have to say that I loved the Frankenmuth Brewery.  It is the oldest Michigan brewery and it has been making beer for 150 years. It is housed in this brick building, which was actually rebuilt in 2009 after it was destroyed by a tornado in 1996. It reminded me of the Sierra Nevada Brewery in Chico, CA as it houses the brewery, a restaurant and a gorgeous patio seating area overlooking the river.


They do provide tours if you want to see the workings of their beer industry.


Since we had never been here before or tried their beer we decided to try...well all of them. I have to say I was very impressed with all of their brews, however their American Blonde Ale was probably my favorite, as it was especially refreshing, had a slight hint of hops without being overpowering and very light. Their Hefeweizen is very fruity and has a hint of banana (probably the reason it dropped a notch in my book), cloves (which I couldn't taste) and grapefruit.


The Frankenmuth Pilsner, is traditionally made and has been an award winner for the brewery. The Batch 69 American Style IPA is definitely a strong IPA, for those of you who are true IPA fans, you will truly love this beer! The Red Sky Ale and the Munich Style Dunkel Lager were both beers that were a tad bit more bold than my beer tastes usually crave, however I do have to say they were both still incredibly smooth and drinkable.


We also purchased a special edition beer, the Imperial Stout, which is reminiscent of a Guinness style beer. I actually have to say it reminded me of the Guinness I had in Ireland at the factory, fresh out of the tap. It was smooth, yet chewy and it had really intense malty flavors, but this was amazingly well balanced. They only made 1680 bottles of this beer and we got to drink bottle #565 and the bottle was also signed by the brew master, which was a fun touch.


The brewery has a restaurant, however to be completely honest we had just devoured a crap load of fudge and completed a wine/chocolate pairing so I wasn't starving and I was in a bit of a sugar coma. However, I did try the buffalo chicken egg rolls, which were awesome! As many of you know I am a buffalo anything fan and these did not disappoint. They kind of reminded me of avocado egg rolls from Cheesecake Factory, minus the avocado and with different filling...yup exactly the same! But I loved them!

The brewery also has a wiener dog as a logo...so seriously how do you go wrong?
It was a great place to hang out, watch some soccer, drink some beer, chill and have some appetizers. It was definitely the highlight of our excursion...although the polka music, Clydesdale horses and cute covered bridge were also fun! Cheers!