Pure Michigan Pints

Rake Beer Project

Muskegon, Michigan

Established in September 2019, Rake Beer Project has been around for about half a decade—I even made it on their opening weekend. (This makes me feel like time passes by way too quickly.)

With two established Big Boys in Muskegon, you think it’d be hard for the younger brother to make room, but somehow the quirkiness and eccentricity of Rake Beer Project makes it fit. They found their niche. They brew traditional farmhouse beers and often times make extremely fruity sours.

Sours are what they are known for.

It’s a style that is growing on me and I can appreciate the variety put into this style; you never know what to expect whether it’s candy, marshmallows, lactose, gram crackers, and a wide selection of fruit put into these beers. There’s real creativity here. And dare I say: there’s more creativity in these than styles like IPAs.

Before we get too far here, I’d like to point out Rake Beer Project has been in two different locations. Most recently they moved into Pigeon Hill Brewing’s old spot. Before, their location was cool, but I have to admit it was off the beaten path. I didn’t realize how far until I attempted to walk to it from the main drag in winter.

I’ve visited this brewery a handful of times in each location. I must admit, once I put the nostalgia aside, it’s grown on me. If I didn’t have prior experiences here and lived over 25 years of my life in Muskegon, I’d be able to offer a fairer review. But I’m still going to give it a go anyway.  

Beer Selection

Like I said, they favor this raw, natural, farmhouse style beer. Their menu is heavily loaded with sours. You may find a few other beers, like their Kolsch (which is unique and dark, and tastey btw) and an IPA or light beer. But I have not seen a stout on their menu and they lack those styles of beer. People new to beer may scratch their heads and get confused when coming in here about what to order.

It’s not wrong to have a brand, something different; for Muskegon, it’s what they needed out of a third brewery. However, it still doesn’t have many offerings for the traditional beer drinker.

Recently, they have adjusted their beer menu a bit to accommodate people with more traditional pallets. They offer IPAs, a hazy IPA, and sometimes more straight forward beers. The menu changes here so it is tough to keep up. I could send you a snapshot of their current tap menu, but it will probably be different next week.

Vibe

Nothing is off. They had a pretty cool building at their last place. Nice décor from the outside. There’s nothing necessarily remarkable. I think everybody knows they have big shoes to fill, and they’ll have to put on their Big Boy Pants. And this is without the stellar bar PH used to have. They added a new “coffee concept.” While it’s not uncommon to have both in the same place—Unruly did it for years, Grand Armory has a coffee place, and Oddside Ales does as well—it’s odd seeing them right next to each other.

The best way I can think of describing Rake Beer Project’s fit into the location:

It looks like when a younger sibling borrows his older brother’s pants, but the pants don’t fit quite right, fall down around the waist, and somebody’s ass is sticking out awkwardly.

Service

They’re polite. There’s nothing off or rude about their servers. I wish I had more to add here than I do but I don’t really.

Beer Quality

For somebody who doesn’t like sours, Rake does sours well. Their fruity beers are unique and not all the same. Beers like WORMS provide depth and are juice bombs. There have been various variations of this beer, but generally it’s a “gummy worm inspired” sour with tons of fruit, including mango, strawberry, orange, and lime. (Again, different varieties of this one pop up in the tap room.)

They mix it up in this area and provide something neither PH or Unruly have for the town.

Food—5/5

TopShelf Pizza is next store. Do yourself a favor, get a pizza of your choosing and the fried mushrooms for an appetizer. You won’t regret it. If you do, I highly doubt you’re a human being. The pizza is simply done right. Slightly thinner crust, well sauced, and topped perfectly. If you have a large group, go with the Grand Slam. This bad boy weighs over 4 lbs and is topped with pepperoni, sausage, ham, salami, bacon, mushrooms, green pepper, onion, green olives, and extra cheese.

Overall—Recommend (Especially if you love sours)

Despite the less than stellar rating, I’d still recommend going to check it out. Your beer tastes may be different than mine. And if you love fruity sours, you should. I especially recommend this brewery to those unfamiliar with Muskegon—those with zero prior memories of the greatness of PH in the same location, who hold zero nostalgia.

After all, it’s on the main street.

Eventually, I wouldn’t be surprised if those oversized pants start to fit perfectly.

Total—11/20