Another brewery that is really new on the Michigan beer scene is Elder Piper Beer & Cider in Petoskey, Michigan. Elder Piper was founded in 2023, but didn’t open until just over a month ago. The name comes from the first and middle names of the owners’ ancestors.
Located just to the East of downtown Petoskey, the brewery itself is located basically right in the middle of a neighborhood. It can be easy to miss if you aren’t paying attention. We ended up getting there about an hour before they closed. We went straight from the Beaver Island ferry to Petoskey in order to make it to Elder Piper before they closed for the night. Since it was our last night in the area, we wouldn’t be there when they opened the next day. They are closed on Tuesdays if you decide to head up in the future.
We walked into the brewery and they had a decent size room when you walked into the front door, with plenty of seating available. The bar itself was located in the next room over, there was minimal seating at the bar, maybe about 6 seats. In the room with the bar there was also additional seating at tables all around the room. In addition they also had a very expansive, cozy outdoor seating area that looked like it could hold quite a few people. They had a cornhole board set up for those of you interested in tossing some bags while you toss a few back.
We ended up sitting at the bar and ordered a flight from the bartenders. Both bartenders were extremely attentive and eager to answer any questions that we had. Our flight consisted of 5 beers, an Amber Lager, Pilsner, Tart Cherry Wheat, Hazy IPA, Vanilla Milk Stout. All of the beers were very clean, and very tasty. The Pilsner was very light, crisp and easy-drinking. The Hazy IPA was a little less cloudy than a Hazy IPA normally is, but it was still a very solid IPA with quite a bit of tropical hop character to it.
My favorite of all the choices though was the Amber Lager, it was very light with a malt character that was absolutely outstanding. On my brewery trips, Ambers seem to be one of the easiest beers to mess up. Too many Ambers seem to smell like vinegar and end up having a very sour taste to them. This Amber had none of those flavors and smells to them, which made it that much more outstanding, I highly recommend the Amber at Elder Piper. As a matter of fact, I recommend all the beers that we had here. We tried a cider and it was also delicious, but I unfortunately can’t remember for the life of me what cider it was. My note taking at this point of the day had become a little hit or miss after a few beverages.
If you are heading up to the Petoskey area soon and want to get away from the Downtown area for a little bit, stop by Elder Piper Beer and Cider to have a delicious beverage or two.
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