Austin Brothers Beer Company — Restaurant in Alpena

This was a tough review to write. I wanted real bad to give it another star but it's just not there yet. Short review: 4 star beer and 3 star food. Longer version: It seems like a place that, from a food standpoint, is new and still trying to find its way. Fries were really good and ketchup seemed homemade. BBQ Burger was cooked well and had great BBQ sauce on it. But then the pulled pork on top was clearly a day old and reheated. You can't fake reheated meat because we've all done it at home - it gets that special grayish color and a day old taste. Just a strange contradiction to put effort into everything except that one piece of the puzzle. My buddy got the fish tacos and the fish itself was really good, but the piece of fish was literally as small as the lime wedge it came with. It was, at best, half the length of the tortilla it came on and there was just one single piece. Three fish tacos, all just like that. If you took all three pieces of fish and put them on a single tortilla it would have been great, but it was just comically disproportionate. When we asked if this was the normal amount of fish on the tacos she looked and said, "Ummm yeah I would say so." Huh. So close (taste), yet so far (portion). Hopefully this review can help them iron out some kinks on the food side. The beers we tried were good so I think they've got that down. I really think the restaurant can be a standout place in a town with few standouts. You can tell they know what good food is, it just needs more consistent execution. No amount of delicious BBQ sauce can...

When I go out to eat, I like to get recommendations on what is the specialty or what is the best at the restraint because I will usually go there once, especially when traveling. One of the biggest turn offs to me is when the waiter said, "Everything is great here". Um, no it not.

I ordered a burger with the broccoli salad. There were like Ying and Yang. The burger had good taste, and I ate the entire thing. The broccoli salad on the other hand was totally overdressed and the dressing just tasted bad. I think I had three bites of salad before pushing it off to the side to be tossed in the trash. I had a couple of the beers there as well, and the same thing happened. I tried the Lime Ginger Gose, and a Cherry Bomb. The beers here are a little on the flatter side which I enjoyed. To me, they are easier to drink then an effervescent beer. The Cherry Bomb was a nice easy drink with good flavor. The Lime Ginger Gose on the other hand. I like Lime, I like Ginger, the combination of the two just did not work for me. It's rare that I leave beer in a glass, but that is what happened. I just could...

Ok, Alpena, MI isn't on the most well-worn path, I know, I used to live here. But still, if you're in the area, come here. The service is quick and friendly indoors or in the covered and heated outdoors area. I went with the walleye sandwich and fries. (I used to catch these bad boys, they put up a terrific fight, but I never ate fish as a kid so I missed out on a lot of good food.) The batter uses their Nrthrn Lts Golden Ale and may have been the best piece of fish I've ever had between two buns, and I had whitefish yesterday! The fries are coated with a light batter, as well, and they rock. I hadn't eaten in 19 hrs and I'm full. My son's bacon cheese burger was very good as well. And the beer, except the Brown Ale, was good. The Blood Orange Pineapple Smoothie was well flavored, but the Cherralyzer was a touch weak. The Brown was all bitter, burnt coffee. The Double Red Raspberry Gose & CooCoo for Cacoa Imperial Stout were phenomenal! Check out the pictures for the whole list. You'd need all day to try them all, plus a...