Homebrew Beer Blog

Last stop on the Detroit trip was Atwater Block BC in downtown Detroit. The brewery/restaurant/bar on the outside resembles industrial Detroit, I believe it's across the street from the old Stroh's brewery. Inside, it's a nice fusion of old painted brick walls with modern lighting and stainless. Very spacious. You could tell it's an old building by the cold weather drafts, and the server wore a winter hat. The back wall has big picture windows through the sizable brewing space.

I ordered the sampler again, had the D Light, Pilners, Hell, Rost, Salvation IPA, Vanilla Java Porter, Voodoo Vador, and Winter Bock. I think that's all of them.

The D Light is a Kolsch style, and isn't anything real special. The beer wasn't well carbonated and was getting warm, I assume because of the service, but more on that later. It was a bit flabby and lifeless, but clean. Had it been carbonated and chilled, it probably would have been more crisp and refreshing.

The Pils is a German Pilsner and was basically the same story as the Kolsch. Flabby and nothing exception. Again seemed clean, but could benefit from more carbonation and chilled.

The Hell is a Munich Helles style, and once again it was a little flabby. It did have a nice sweet and malty nose of a wonderful helles.

The Roast is listed as an amber ale. I don't really remember this well enough. I thought there was something off about it, but I don't think it was exceptional either way.

The Salvation IPA was pretty good. It was my third favorite beer, but not what I would reach for when looking for an IPA. A little tame by modern standards, but a well made, nice beer.

The Vanilla Java Porter wasn't for me. Way too much vanilla. In my book a little goes a very long way, and vanilla dominated the beer.

The Winter Bock was a very nice beer. This was my second favorite beer. A nice dark, rich bock, perfect for a cold February night.

And last was the Voodoo Vader. This is what I think of as their flagship beer. Voodoo is a doppelbock coming in at 9.5%. It's a very drinkable dopplebock, again great for a cold February night. I'm always impressed with the drinkability of this beer. It can be dangerous!

We just ordered some appetizers since I think none of us were really hungry for a meal. So, no real comments on the food. I gotta say though, the service was appalling. I don't say that lightly. They were supposedly expecting us, and other than our group, it wasn't particularly busy, so not sure what the deal was. The word from others is this isn't all that unusual, so in the future I'll be enjoying their beer at my favorite watering hole, or just in the bottle at home, rather than visiting again.

We did though get let loose in the brewery and I got some photos.