Another brewery that made my top 25 breweries in the State of Michigan list is located in Downtown Saint Joseph, Michigan, Silver Harbor Brewing Company. This brewery opened in 2016 and has been producing top-shelf beer from day one.
The building that Silver Harbor occupies was built in the early 1900s and was originally home to a company called Fresh Frozen Foods. This company provided space for people from the community to freeze their foods before home refrigerators were a thing. Over the years the building has also been home to the community’s fallout shelter, a tool and die operation, heating and cooling company and most recently a yoga studio. Now it is home to the quality products that Silver Harbor Brewing Company provides to the beer lovers of Michigan.
Once you have made your way into the brewery the first thing that you will notice is that they have a very nice long wooden bar that seats approximately 20 thirsty beer drinkers. There are also plenty of tables arranged around the space for your imbibing and culinary experience. Just in case you want a little bit of sunshine in your life, Silver Harbor does offer an outdoor area with plenty of space to enjoy your time with good beer, friends and family.
The brewery does offer quite a few events throughout the days including but not limited to trivia nights, live music, and beer related events such as an annual Oktoberfest celebration. Check Silver Harbor’s website and social media to see if they will be hosting a special event during your visit. One more thing that Silver Harbor has the option for is hosting private events of up to 50 people. Contact the brewery if you are interested in a rental for a private event.
At Silver Harbor Brewing Company they do offer a kitchen with a full food menu. Some of the dishes that are on the menu include appetizers, flatbreads, salads, soups, burgers, main courses and desserts. If you are bringing the kids along during your visit, they do have a kids menu for children 12 and under.
Did you bring someone along that doesn’t care for beer? Good news, Silver Harbor does offer a full bar that includes Wine and Housemade Cocktails. For the kids or the person that doesn’t drink alcohol some of their other beverages include various sodas, root beer, lemonade, fruit punch, tea, coffee, and milk. There is a little something for everyone’s taste buds.
I’m so excited, we have come to the part of the review where we get to chat about the beer. I have been waiting for this part of the review the entire time that I have been typing. The beer here is absolutely outstanding, I am not the only person to recognize this, two of the beers that I had this summer at the Summer Beer Festival in Ypsilanti were World Beer Cup Gold Medal winning beers. The Gold Medal winners were Toastbusters- Sweet Milk Stout, and Two Brewers Are Better Than One- Belgian Quad. Upon the first sip, you could tell that these beers absolutely deserved gold in their respective categories.
When it comes to my personal experiences with their beers, first off on our visit, we closed this place down, and we got there 4 hours before they closed. We tried everything that we could possibly handle on their menu at the time. I took 4 growlers and multiple cans of their beer home with me during our visit. I have even had people tell me they were visiting SIlver Harbor and I have offered to pay them to pick me up beer on their visits. So if you plan on visiting in the future, come into the brewery and tell me, I always want something from Silver Harbor.
I have never given a bad rating to any beer that I have ever tried from Silver Harbor Brewing Company. The beers that I have tried in addition to the aforementioned gold medal winners include their Wobbly Traveler- Scotch Ale, Tourist Trap- American Lager, Kumbaya Brown, Hops, Sweat, and Tears IPA, Maple Grenade- Imperial Stout, Grandma’s Favorite Recipe- Sour, Golden Ticket- Imperial Stout, So Heffen Good- Hefeweizen, and Sand Merchant- Irish Red.
My favorite beer during our visit was the Bucky’s Breakfast Stout. This stout had a strong smokey, coffee flavor, with hints of Oatmeal and a very malty backbone. It finished with a little bit of chocolate and a silky mouthfeel that went down so smoothly. Since this one checks in at 7%, you may want to exercise caution when approaching having a few of them. But if you choose to have multiple, please do so responsibly.
If you are on the hunt for a really great brewery with absolutely stellar beer, pay a visit to Saint Joseph, Michigan in the Southwest corner of our great state and stop by Silver Harbor Brewing Company. I will recommend this place 100 times out of 100 anytime someone tells me they are visiting the Saint Joseph area. Cheers!
P.S. If I haven’t already gushed enough about this brewery’s absolutely delicious beers. Since I typed this review up a few months ago, I did want to add to the review. Silver Harbor also won a Gold Medal at the 2024 Great American Beer Festival in the Scotch Ale category for their Wobbly Traveler. This is another beer that I have tried, as mentioned earlier in the post, it definitely deserves this Gold Medal. Hurry up and pay a visit to their taproom already, they are making ridiculously good beer out of their brewery. Congratulations SIlver Harbor for bringing home the only Gold Medal for the Great Lakes State this year (And our first since 2022) at GABF!!!!!!!
Cheers to everyone that makes this possible over at Silver Harbor Brewing Company, I can’t wait to drink with you guys again!!!!!
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