Pure Michigan Pints

Paddle Hard Brewing

Grayling, Michigan

Downtown Grayling has more going on than I thought: a nice selection of restaurants, stores, and a brewery. It’s actual a pretty neat downtown from first glance. Paddle Hard Brewing has been on my to-visit list for a few years.

I snagged lunch on my way up north to the cabin to do some #PureMichigan shit. Paddle Hard even opened a couple of minutes early.

Beer Selection – 2.5/5

Paddle Hard is one of those breweries that has their own beers (six to be exact) on draft and many from other places (as well as a full bar). They had two IPAs on draft. They also had other straight forward styles such as: a blonde, an Oktoberfest, an amber, and a brown.

While I didn’t expect anything super eccentric, it was nice to see a spectrum of regular beers and not all IPAs.

Service 3/5

The service was friendly. I was happy they opened a few minutes early, but upon entering and being told to wait a minute so the bartender could wipe the bar off, it made me question if they should have just opened at their usual time. The bartender did not bother to make small talk, but I don’t expect to be entertained, and I get it; she expected a lunch rush that did come and she had to be ready.

Vibe – 3/5

I’d describe the vibe to this place as interesting. It seemed semi-fancy enough with the tables and bars but had a weird juxtaposition with plastic water cups, cupcake tins for flight holders, a tin for the Mac and cheese, and an interesting choice of providing me with only a fork to eat my dish instead of all of the utensils; it came across as people of lower income who just stumbled upon money. (Or people with high income who are just cheap.)

The screaming metal music blaring from the speakers created an interesting choice of music (I do love metal), but not sure it was exactly the right fit for the elderly crowd? (And I’m actually not complaining about this.)

But the place felt neat and clean. And I dug the keg urinals.

Beer Quality – 1.5/5

The beers weren’t bad. Nothing stood out. I get some breweries choose these straight forward styles. The IPAs were decent but not noteworthy. The brown ale was hard to finish. The blonde rocked and was completely crushable. (Admittedly, I like a little coriander or some twist in mine.) The Oktoberfest lacked in flavor in my opinion.

Their amber was my favorite this time around. Normally, I consider this a cooking beer, but I could see the appeal to drinking one of these regularly.

Food – 1.5/5

The menu selection was decent. I’m going to preface this by saying I could have ordered wrong; I did not get a pizza, panini, or taco. And it looked like they had a decent selection of these. The menu looked solid. I ordered the Lobster Mac and Cheese and perhaps this was my downfall.

The top was noticeably burnt. Not those nice crunchy dark brown bits we seek in a mac, but black and burnt. The flavor underneath the mac was good with the lobster, nice and creamy. As a former line cook, I don’t do send backs. (But I won’t eat at a place again if I didn’t like it.) They served this weird “garlic bread” in strips with it that seemed like more of an afterthought and a poor one at that.

Overall – 10/20: Do Not Recommend

This place does have cool vibes (even if mixed), a great bar, and a good lunch atmosphere for locals. I wanted to like it, I really did. But there just is not enough going on here to make me want to come back.