I was pretty excited when I saw the theme for this week of "Beverages with Friends". My wife and I went out of town this past weekend with a couple of friends and for lunch on Saturday we found ourselves at North Channel Brewing.

My wife and I had actually driven by North Channel the night before after having dinner at a different place in Manistee, MI. We had heard good things about it, so we knew we wanted to try it out. It was packed Friday night when we drove by.

Saturday wasn't quite so bad. Even though there were some big football (American) games going on, the place was not that packed. We were there close to 1 PM, so maybe that had something to do with it.

As soon as you walk through the door you can see the brewing area to your right thorough a window. It is pretty typical for a lot of the new breweries in the States to showcase the brewing area. I guess it gives visitors a sense of authenticity. Either way, it is cool to look at, so I took a picture.

The four of us were quckly led to a high top table in the bar area. Even though they were not that busy, it took a while for our server to get to our table to put in our drink order.

@mrsbozz got the North Country Hefe, I got the Ford's Cream Ale, and our friends got the Iron Beach Double Red Ale and Blueberry Cider.

If I didn't mention it in my series a while ago about our trip to Nashville, @mrsbozz is pretty picky about her Hefweizens and from what I could tell, this one wasn't her favorite. Our friends chose the smaller sizes beause they weren't sure they were going to like what they had ordered. If you want, you can order a flight of different beers in the smaller size.

We actually only had one round, but we were also a bit tired from the night before, so I think had we been a little more alert we probably could have spent most of the afternoon here. Quickly finishing the smaller sizes our one friend decided to stick with water after she finished her cider. Her husband decided to try the Salt City Blonde and was pretty happy with it.

Bonus

Like most breweries these days, they also serve food here. It was just after lunch time so we decided to fill our bellies. We started with some appetizers including the chips and queso shown above as well as some deep fried pickles.

Usually I am a fan of deep fried pickles, but I was so busy stuffing my mouth with chips and queso that I didn't even give these a try. Looking back, I kind of wish I had.

I forgot to mention, the bar section is a pretty open area, I can see how it would probably be a bit loud with a lot of people in here. They have the traditional tap wall as you can see in the picture here as well as a mug(pint) club for regular visitors.

Eventually, our food arrived and we were soon digging in.

My wife got the Southwest Cobb salad and she was very impressed with it. It was huge though and she was really only able to eat about half of it.

I got the BBQ Ribs. I chose Baked Beans as my side and those were very good. The ribs were not quite what I was expecting. Most restaurants use a baking method to do their ribs and then finish them off on the grill so that the meat falls off the bone, but they still have a grilled feel to them. These were actual BBQ's ribs where the meat has to be tugged away from the bone. Specifically you have to pick up the bone and gnaw on it which can get a little messy.

I personally have no problem with that, it just wasn't what I was expecting. The dry rub they used on the ribs was very hot (spicy) and that was really the only thing that kept me from loving them.

The coleslaw didn't really have a ton of flavor and the jalapeno cornbread muffin was dry. You can ask @mrsbozz and she will tell you how much I hate dry cornbread. In retrospect, I probably wouldn't order the ribs again.

My friend David got the burger and you could tell as soon as they delivered it there was something special about it.

He ordered it to be cooked medium well and I was actually surprised to still see quite a bit of juice dripping from it when they delivered it. Usually when you ask them to cook it that much they tend to go overboard and you end up with a dry hockey puck. We all got a kick out of the brand they used on the top of the bun to make the burger unique. He said it was fantastic from the homemade chips (crisps) to the BBQ Bacon Burger itself. Looking back I kind of wish I had ordered one of these too.

Sarah decided to go with the Fried Green Tomato BLT. She was also very impressed with it but the portions on all of our food were very large. I actually don't think any of us finished our complete meal even though the food was great for the most part.

For the beer alone, this is definitely a place that I would come back to. In accordance with the theme, I also think it would be a great place to spend the evening having beverages with friends.

If I find myself in Manistee again, it is defintely a place that will give another shot.

Edit- I knew I was forgetting something!

I totally apologize for missing this! As you can see for two beers, an appetizer and our two entrees, the price really wasn't that bad. I don't think so anyway. Especially since I ordered the baby back ribs which tend to be a bit pricey anyway. I like how they break everything down between the beverages and the food. That would make it really easy to itemize if you had to turn in your receipt to work for reimbursement!

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Restaurant Information

North Channel Brewing Company

86 Washington St, Manistee, MI 49660, USA

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North Channel Brewing Co. - Manistee, MI a Tasteem Review
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