Saugatuck Brewing Company — Restaurant in Douglas

The quality of their beer is phenomenal. The Oval Beach Blonde Ale is one of the best light beers I've ever had the pleasure of imbibing. For as light, well balanced, and drinkable as this beer is—probably quite tolerable enough to be enjoyed by those whose experience with beer has seldom gone deeper than Coors, Miller, Bud— its flavor is also pleasantly and surprisingly complex, and is not at all lacking the character in which craft beer aficionados revel.

The Neopolitan Milk Stout is dessert in a beer. Though it is indeed a sweeter beer being a milk stout, this treat is not as syrupy sweet as some other heavy milk stouts out there. The vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry flavors, very present and in good balance with each other and overall, combined with a bit of sour to balance the subtle sweetness, make for a richly delectable beer that—most importantly—still feels and tastes like beer and doesn't make you feel as if you're drinking a milkshake.

Lined up along one wall nside the bar area are the original kettles used by the brewery in their earlier years before they upgraded to bigger, better equipment. Now those kettles are used for group reservations where, along with the owner and brewmaster, the groups each have their own kettle and brew any style of beer they so choose whilst learning about the process of the craft. Other bargoers can just spectate from their tables, or mingle and converse. All can delight in the aroma of freshly made wort. We did this for a friend's bachelor party and it was a great experience, and actually quite affordable, too, if you can wrangle up ten people or so; that is, if they can all decide on just what style of beer they'd like brew. Come back in a few weeks when it's ready and bottle it in bottles they provide, and affix labels you helped to design, and take all your handcrafted half barrel of...

This place is pretty solid. My gut feeling tells me I've just had a couple of mediocre experiences here while others seem to like it. Last time here was a few years ago with my wife. We revisited tonight.

Service 3/5 - I put the weight of this category up with food quality. Service was fine. Nothing spectacular, but not exceptional. The server took care of us. The fine line between checking on someone too much and ignoring them is tough. I feel like they could have been slightly more attentive, but it wasn't bad.

Food 3/5 - Ordered fish and chips and the Cuban bruschetta. The Cuban came out first and was really good. Supper tender pork and the mustard was on point. The fish and chips were okay. The fish and tartar sauce were solid, but our fries were way over done, dry, and frankly bad. This was particularly disappointing because the seasoning on the fries was great and had a touch of Parmesan cheese... nice twist.

Beers 4/5 - Wife ordered the stone cider which wasn't really her cup of tea, but I tasted it and I thought it was really good. I had the Singapore IPA which I really enjoyed. Founder's Centennial IPA has been my local fav, but I am considering switching. Good stuff.

Atmosphere 4/5 - This is a subjective score and tastes will obviously vary. This is my kind of place. Darker tones, wood/metal decor. It was fairly quiet despite having several large parties there. They do low key live music on the weekends, but this wasn't going on when we were there.

Overall this is a good place. I can't say I'm dying to come back, but I can say that I would give it another shot. If you just want somewhere to chill and grab a beer or two Saugatuck Brewing is a for sure...

Very disappointing experience from a food standpoint. Service was great, beer is really good, but the food is awful and overpriced.

Got the Pub Bread, simple but flavorless, but was fine for $3. My wife ordered the "Brie Fondue" for $13. It came with Pub Bread, 4 slices of salami, half of a small apple, the super bland and boring brie cheese dip and 20ish small grapes. That is an insane cost for those few extra items.

The pepperoni pizza was a small step above frozen pizza, and honestly, I would rather have pizza hut pizza. It would be cheaper and tastier.

Finally, my burger was tasteless and overcooked. Clearly, it was a frozen burger for $12. Again, I've had better burgers from fast food places at a quarter of the cost. Let me sum up the burger: the lettuce was the best part of the burger and sadly the other person who tasted it said the same thing. How do you mess up a burger? However, the fries were great.

Overall, service is great and beer is great, but the food is absolutely terrible and embarrassing. Gordon Ramsey would have a ton to say about this food. It's one thing to pay a bit higher prices for good food, but the food was so boring and tasteless that they'd be better off not offering food or really rethinking the entire menu or kitchen staff. Our visit to Founder's was so much better and only confirmed how terrible the food was at Saugatuck. So disappointed in the brewery. Fortunately, I can get the beer where I live, and this experience will not deter me from enjoying their brews, but wow, one of the worst food...