Looking behind the door.
A hidden perk for brewery work.
Alright, I admit it, maintaining a blog is a lot bloody harder than I thought it was going to be. Work and family life keeps me very busy and I haven’t had the time to sit down at Black Dog Coffee on a Saturday morning in a straight minute. As much as I could sit down to write in the evening after work; that time belongs to Honey and I’d prefer not to give that up as I enjoy our evenings playing games together. Excuses aside, I am rethinking my posting schedule moving forward, things just may be a bit sporadic in the interim.
On to more relevant matters.
One of the greatest perks of working in the brewing industry is beerfests. I’ve mentioned this in previous newsletters but our recent trip to Howell, Michigan served as an excellent reminder on how fortunate we are to be able to travel for work.
The day started the same as any festival day would. Cap and I arrived to work, loaded our equipment into his pickup, and hit the road. We took back roads, chatted about the ails and ales of the world, and made a couple of pit stops. Within about an hour we had rolled into Howell, narrowly avoided a traffic accident, and after some haphazard searching located the fest ground. It was a small area so we were able to quickly set up and grab a snack from a hot dog stand nearby. This left us with around two hours to while away before the festival opened.
With so much time to kill we did what we usually do after setting up in a new place, explore! It turned out the excellent hot dogs from Tony’s were the tip of the iceberg in Howell. In fact, before we even set foot toward main street we began to notice the tell tale signs of an interesting community. The alley ways were bustling with foot traffic and strange doors held signs for seemingly hidden businesses. Not every store front could be seen from the road and that prospect was as alluring as it was charming.
The idea of hidden gems lurking in the shadows of Howell’s very walkable downtown was very much in our minds when we saw the sign for Fog’s Pub. That sign, perched atop of a strip of buildings right down the main drag, had an arrow that pointed to; seemingly nothing. An insurance agency? Antique store? These were not pubs. We went around the corner to find a bakery and while the various loaves of bread in the window were tantalizing they were still not a pub. Where was it? We almost turned away but at the last second we decided to round the corner and check the actual alley; it was there we found a set of stairs leading to a nondescript door which brought us to Fog’s Pub.
What we found inside was absolutely breath taking. Cap and I are of a particular sort. We love beer and all of the accoutrement that go with it. Dark, seedy bars, seaside pubs, and dimly lit taverns are our bread and butter. Fog’s checked all of the boxes. What started as a speakeasy has turned into one of the cleanest and most appealing bars I have ever been to and it was fully equipped with a door that led to an old derelict tunnel for rum running. It’s not accessable anymore but the idea was nice.
It felt necessary to have a PBR at least after finding a gem like Fog’s. I could have spent hours in that space but we wanted to check out a few other spots before heading back to our festival booth. Howell proved to be a treasure trove of hidden gems including one of the only standing skate shops in Michigan. If it weren’t for beerfests I probably never would have made it out that way.
Look below for some other images from our day in Howell. Until next time…
-Cheers!
Skate shops are a dying breed and a great opportunity for a photo shoot.
