Frog Island Brewery

There is a mystery circulating around Ann Arbor, Michigan.  For years, us Michiganders have seen "Frog Island" beers around.  They have been nothing too special, but for those of us who go to the annual Michigan  Beer festival, held at Frog Island Park in Ypsilanti Michigan, the name has a fond appeal.  I'm always curious about where beer is actually brewed, as opposed to where you might think it is brewed.  One might think the Frog Island brand, for example, was brewed somewhere near Frog Island.  Indeed, there is a shack near this location with the name Frog Island Brewery on it. There just does not seem to be anything in or around the shack.  Here's a label from one of the beers.  A careful reading of the label shows that it is brewed by the Michigan Brewing Company in Webberville, MI. 

The mystery started for me a few days ago, when my favorite beer proprietors at the "Wine Seller" in Ann Arbor, MI had a beer called "The Devil in the Details." This beer was a high gravity imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels.  Interesting and WOW,  I thought.  My impression of the Frog Island brewery was that they made standard fare beer to be enjoyed by the masses.  "The Devil" was a really good stout, although very low in carbonation.  As I usually do, I read the label while I enjoyed the beer.  To my surprise it said that the Frog Island Brewery was located in Ann Arbor and had an address only a few miles from my house.  I typed the address into Google Maps and looked at the images associated with this location.  There was absolutely nothing but two mailboxes and a lot of farm land.  The mystery deepened.

Lable for The Devil in the Details

As I contemplated this mystery a little more, I found two more Frog Island beers at some of my other favorite beer spots.  They were also interesting and definitely not standard fare.  One was a Scotch Ale called Moon Squallor and the other was an IPA called Bengal.  Both were also quite good.

Moon Squallor

Bengal

Okay.  The next step is to go and scout out the location in person.  I'll get back to you.

Cheers,

Zymus