Dine around
Guardian Brewing Company: Everyone’s welcomed for craft beer, pub grub and camaraderie Story and photos by Elizabeth Granger
I stared at the beer choices on the blackboard. I was stymied. So, Guardian co-owner/brewmaster Kim Collins asked about my taste preferences. Nothing sweet. Nothing fruity. Something a bit strong, zippy, maybe even nutty. “I even like pickle juice,” I told her. Soon my flight of five beers sat before me. I laughed out loud – loudly enough for the whole room to hear me – when I got to No. 3. Tigris, its name. To me, pickle juice. I laugh even as I write about it. It was my second favorite of five. No. 1? An Oktoberfest named Wunderschon. Barbara Haas, my friend from San Diego, exhibited distinctly different taste. Her favorite was a pale ale named Chimera, but she ooh-ed and ahh-ed over MICO, a spicy
Beer cheese and soft pretzel bites
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Barbara Haas
cream ale brewed with hatch chiles from New Mexico. The Midwestern me had never even heard of hatch chiles. The point? Lots of different beers here. And lots of fun checking them out in this brew pub along Blue Star Highway near Saugatuck. Flights of five come in a horseshoe-like tray because the Guardian logo is a winged horse with a horn. (Collins calls it a “pegacorn.”) The bar echoes the horseshoe shape. Amenities added for comfort include a footrail and purse hooks. In the booths, seats are designed so feet can be tucked under the seat rather than kicking someone on the other side of the table. Who thinks of these things? Oh, yeah – Collins and her partner,
Tacos
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2/27/23 12:40 PM