Kuhnhenn is located in Warren, Michigan on Chicago Road just east of Mound.
Chuck and I stopped in to enjoy the Breakfast of Champions celebration on St. Patricks Day. One thing that I truly enjoy about Kuhnhenn is that they have no fear regarding brewing unusual beers and showing what can truly be done with their craft.
Their location is not exactly ideal, but knowing the interesting history of the brewery, it is understandable. Prior to brewing and selling their beer on the premises, the Kuhnhenn's ran a hardware store that also carried home brewing supplies in the same building that the brewery now occupies. When they first opened, the eastern half of the building was still dedicated to selling homebrew supplies, while the other half contained the brew kettles and small bar. Not too long ago, they moved the homebrew sales across the parking lot and expanded the brewpub. There is now a nice U-shaped bar in the center of the building and plenty of seating at wooden high-top tables. Unfortunately the parking lot was sometimes crowded even before the expansion and on big event days like this, getting a good spot can be quite difficult.
The decor is that of your typical industrial style brewery of mostly brick and cinder block construction, but here it harkens back to it's days as a neighborhood hardware store. The ceiling is textured and bordered with ornamental molding. The lighting is primarily drop lighting with a run of conduit tracing a path around the building. Hanging from the conduit are T-shirts for sale and the many medals Kuhnhenn has won in competitions over the years for it's beer.
In addition to having a number of beers on tap, they also had three casks on this day as well as one hand pull. They also serve their own wine and mead and an assortment of cheeses (many, if not all from Traffic Jam in Detroit) and crackers, and some sausages by Dan the Smoking Man. Kuhnhenn also provides free popcorn to it's patrons. They have no kitchen, which is sometimes a bummer considering some of the big ABV beers they serve, but guests are more than welcome to bring food in with them.
Today's Breakfast of Champions affair included a free breakfast from 7-11am consisting of blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs, corned beef hash, biscuits and gravy and quesadillas. A very tasty Irish stew went on sale at lunch time for 6 dollars per bowl.
The special line up of brews were varied and a welcome departure from just about every other St. Patrick's day celebration around town and the mass quantities of crappy beer with green food coloring. The special selections on offer were: Kaptain Krunch Koco Berry Ale, Breakfast Sausage Ale, Imperial Creme Brulee Java Stout, Blueberry Pancake Ale, Banana Bourbon French Toast Mead, and Sticky Bun Olde Ale. See The Beer in Joe's Belly for my brief descriptions of each as well as a few other beers I sampled on this day. Also, take a peek at Chuck@Fermentation Nation's take on the festivities of the day.
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