Pure Michigan Pints

Tantrick Brewing Co.

Allegan, Michigan

I’ll be honest with you: Allegan is kind of boring. Their “town” doesn’t offer much, but I guess that’s the way a lot of my beer blogs go. Small town with a brewery. Thank God for the breweries. If it wasn’t for them, half of these towns I wouldn’t even visit.

Beer Selection—5/5

This is definitely one of the areas Tantrick shined: they offered a ridiculous amount of drafts. Over 20 beers alone. This is always impressive; it’s even more impressive when these twenty spread the beer spectrums—IPAs, double IPAs, fruited beer, crazy high octane beers, lighter beers, and darker beers. I have to give it to Tantrick here; in the realm of beer offerings, they do not lack.

I ordered two flights because I knew one flight wouldn’t do their brewery justice.

Vibe—4/5

KZoo river is right outside the window. It provides a scenic view with a square for people to gather. Sprinklers for the kids to run through are found in the summer, sometimes games, and a great walk by the water.  Seriously, go out the back door and check it out. This adds to the vibe. There is seating even by the window.

The mug club glasses are neat. And just the place itself. It’s far above average. Little details like this chair (pictured below) add to it.

Service—4/5

There’s not much to report here—the bartender was friendly, answered food and beer recommendation questions. She rocked.

Could they possibly have scheduled more than one person to minimize wait times? Yes. I did notice a slightly longer wait than I’ve had at other breweries when a few crowds of people lined up. (But, again, not the worst I’ve had.)

Beer Quality—4/5

There were a couple standouts on Tantrick’s menu: Lunar, a white coffee stout (7.2% abv), and Bigga Oranges, a New England IPA (7.4% abv).

I don’t see many white stouts; Lunar was done well. The addition of coffee really enhanced this. The citrus in Bigga Oranges really shown through and would call out to any juicy NE IPA lover.

Overall, the beers were what they said they’d be. None of them missed the mark entirely. (But, of course, we all have our preferred tastes.) Their double IPA, Double Hopademic (8.5%), also stood out. Pillow Talk, a 6% Porter, came out true to style.

Food—2/5

Both times I’ve eaten at Tantrick I’ve been disappointed with the food. I’m not necessarily saying it’s bad, but I’ve had better. Last time I tried a few sliders—the chicken bacon ranch and the French Dip Sliders—and the chicken bacon ranch one was decent. The French Dip ones lacked meat and disappointed. The regular Tantrick burger I tried as well; it’s basic and basically boring—not something I can in good faith recommend. A few years back I had a below average chicken sandwich.

Nothing so far on their food menu to write home about nor recommend.

Overall—Recommend

Tantrick Brewing offers enough to keep any kind of beer drinker interested. There’s enough drafts where you’ll be able to find something. The vibes are right, they offer a great view, and the place is interesting enough. It’s a neat brewery to visit.

Rating—17/20