On my latest trip to Green Bay (GO PACK GO), I made an executive decision to stay one additional night on the way back in Michigan. Part of me did this because my 2-year-old needed a break from the car, but the other part of me did this so I could stop by Journeyman Distilling.
If you haven’t heard of Journeyman Distilling, they are worth a search. I had a few of their whiskies a few years back and really fell in love with the Corsets, Whips, and Whiskey – A really interesting wheat whiskey and one of the first I tried. The distillery itself is in this really small town in Michigan called Three Oaks. I’m pretty sure it had one stoplight and the cell service was horrible (not that it matters, but don’t go planning on getting a lot of stuff done on a computer).
The Experience
We arrived on a Monday afternoon after driving for 5+ hours. I really needed to get out of the car to stretch my legs and this seems like a perfect spot to do it. I was worried the place wasn’t open as we pulled up because there were very few cars in the parking lot. After checking Google Maps, I decided it was open and we gave it a try.
Walking in, the place is beautiful.
And it makes me laugh a bit that they describe their success like this:
We feel that E.K. Warren, the original builder of the factory—while being a staunch prohibitionist—would be proud to see his building shining bright.
Journeyman Distilling
You see the stills right as you walk in and you have a birds eye view of the distilling process. There is a sign that will tell you what is being distilled today. I didn’t take the tour, but I would imagine it would focus on the handcrafted nature of everything they do. I caught that feel throughout the place and the website. They are artisan distillers and take pride in what they use to make their spirits.
Then you walk through a small merchandise and spirit shop that is loaded with some goodies. After that, you see the massive bar and the seating for the restaurant. Again – Everything is beautiful and it feels like it has been pulled out of a Mumford and Sons album.
The Drinks
This place is a distillery, but it also doubles as a cocktail bar. And they have a pretty extensive menu of drinks. Since I was going to the distillery, I wanted to make sure to try as many spirits as possible. I’m also a cask strength kind of guy, so I landed with the Cask Strength Whiskey Flight. My wife ended up with some vodka drink and one of the other people at the table had the Old Fashioned.
Overall – I wasn’t disappointed with my flight. I had some really good spirits on it. The Featherbone Bourbon was my favorite, but I also really liked the other ones on the flight as well.
My wife didn’t love her drink, but she is picky when cocktails. I think she would have been better served ordering a pre-arranged cocktail instead of making her own.
And the old fashioned was good. I only had a sip, but I think I would lean towards trying one the next time.
And if a bunch of you want to go in for the $2,000 cocktail, I’m in for a share. I think we need 100 people at $20 a pop.
The Food
This was our lunch spot and we decided to get a few appetizers to spilt (4 adults, 1 child). In taking a look at the menu, we thought most things were a bit pricey, so the appetizers were a nice way to test the food before we spent $20 a meal on something. Also two of the adults (plus the child) are a little picky when it comes to food that isn’t “normal,” so we didn’t want to push it to start.
So we ordered the house-made pub pretzel, the pork rinds, and the brussel sprouts (you can see the full menu here – it seems to be a little different than when we were there).
I wasn’t blown away.
Don’t get me wrong, the food had some good flavor, but it wasn’t knock my socks off amazing. We ended up finishing the appetizers and headed to our hotel to order in dinner. I think there might be some good food on the menu, but I wasn’t impressed enough to risk $20 a meal to find out. If it would have just been me and my wife, I imagine we would have dropped two apps and split a meal.
If I have to give a suggestion, I would say go with the pretzel and cheese. That cheese was tasty.
The Putting Green
Yeah – I wasn’t expecting to write about a putting green when I started a bourbon blog, but here I am. Rocking it. And my wife rocked it out on the green while we were at Journeyman.
When you walk into the building, you will notice they have some putters lined up by the check-in stand. So I asked if we could take my little guy out to play around on the putt putt course. Little to my knowledge, this thing was an attraction on its on merits. The putting green is called Welter’s Folly and it’s a whopping 30,000 square feet of putting green. It is MASSIVE. According to their website, it is believed to be one of the 10 largest putting greens not associated with a golf course. I don’t know about all of that, but I do know that you need to stop and see it if you go to the distillery (plus you can take your cocktails out back.
Lodging
We did not personally stay in the lodging, so I can’t comment on it, but I wanted to make sure you were aware that there was lodging available.
It seems like a nice getaway if you want to stay up in Michigan for a night.
You can find out more information here: https://www.journeyman.com/lodging/
Conclusion
Overall, I was happy that we stopped. The food wasn’t amazing, but the venue was really nice.
Would I drive 3 hours to go on a typical day? Probably not.
Would I stop if we were in the area? Heck yes. And I would try something new on the menu and a cocktail. I would also try to get a tour scheduled.
I think the perfect trip would be a warmer day in the fall where you could sit out by the putting green, enjoy a few cocktails, have dinner, and then stay the night. I think that would be the full experience and it’s something that I might do with the wife down the road.
Have you been to Journeyman Distillery? What are your thoughts?