This county runs on craft beer.
You can start your Saturday with a German helles south of town, detour to a sour ale on a downtown rooftop, eat Korean street food at a brewery on Jackson Ave, and finish at a taproom inside a theater on Liberty – all without leaving Washtenaw County. Nobody planned it this way. It just happened, one taproom at a time, starting in 1995.
Here’s where to go and what to order.
HOMES Brewery
2321 Jackson Ave, Ann Arbor
HOMES put Ann Arbor on the national craft beer map. The name stands for the five Great Lakes – Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior – and the rotating tap list backs up that ambition. Hazy IPAs, fruited sours, pastry stouts, and a Same Same Different series that drops new IPAs fast enough to justify weekly visits.
The real hook is the kitchen. A full Korean street food menu – bulgogi fries, kimchi quesadillas, bao buns – that people drive across the state for. Garage doors open in warm weather, fire pits line the patio. Show up before 1 PM on weekends or plan to wait.
They also run HOMES Campus at 112 Jackson Plaza – a sprawling beer garden, taproom, and pizza operation that gives you more elbow room on busy nights. Same beer program, bigger footprint, Campo Pizza on-site.
What to order: Whatever’s newest in the Same Same Different IPA series, plus the bulgogi burrito.
Jolly Pumpkin Cafe and Brewery
311 S Main St, Ann Arbor
Jolly Pumpkin was making sour beer before most of the country knew what sour beer was. Every brew is wild-fermented, unfiltered, and unpasteurized – a process that takes months, not weeks. The result is tart, funky, and layered in ways that convert people who think they don’t like sours.
The multi-level space on South Main has exposed brick downstairs and a rooftop deck that’s one of the best warm-weather spots in town. Good luck getting a table up there on a Friday in July without showing up early. The food leans gastropub – truffle fries, artisan pizzas, mussels – and holds its own against standalone restaurants. They also run a production brewery in Dexter if you want to taste closer to the source.
What to order: La Roja on the rooftop with truffle fries. That’s the move.
Grizzly Peak Brewing Company
120 W Washington St, Ann Arbor
Grizzly Peak has been the downtown anchor since 1995 – one of the oldest brewpubs in Michigan. The building is a century-old grocery warehouse that’s expanded into a sprawling maze of connected rooms, bars, and seating areas that somehow all feel like the same neighborhood pub.
The beer runs wide: pale ales, porters, wheat beers, and seasonal releases that change with the weather. The food menu goes deeper than most brewpubs – burgers, steaks, and a fish and chips that locals argue about. Beer cheese soup in winter is the kind of thing people plan around. Good pick when your group includes someone who doesn’t drink craft beer – the menu works for everyone and the location is dead center downtown on Washington.
What to order: Bear Paw Porter. It’s been on tap since day one for a reason.
Arbor Brewing Company
Session Room at 3685 Jackson Rd, Ann Arbor / Corner Brewery at 720 Norris St, Ypsilanti
Arbor Brewing opened in 1995 as Ann Arbor’s first brewpub and the 22nd brewery licensed in Michigan. This place helped build the local craft scene before “craft” was a marketing term. They were also one of Michigan’s first breweries to go solar – sustainability wasn’t a tagline, it was just how they operated.
The Corner Brewery in Ypsilanti doubles as the production facility and has one of the best beer gardens in the county – picnic tables, string lights, a stage for live music, and the kind of relaxed energy that makes you stay longer than planned. Their Wild Roots sour program, launched in 2002, was the first in the state. The Session Room on Jackson Rd sits in a historic brick warehouse with 70 craft taps and a locally sourced menu that covers lunch through dinner daily.
What to order: Buzzsaw IPA at the Session Room. A Wild Roots sour flight in the Ypsi beer garden on a summer afternoon.
Mothfire Brewing Co.
713 W Ellsworth Rd, Ann Arbor
Mothfire is one of the newer entries and already has a following. Sixteen rotating taps span craft beer, hard seltzer cocktails (Cucumber Basil, Ginger Mule, Paloma Fizz), and non-alcoholic options – smart for groups where not everyone drinks the same way.
No kitchen on-site, but Carrozza Pizza parks a converted school bus outside and serves wood-fired sourdough pies. Crispy, blistered pizza and a fresh pour – the combination works better than it has any right to. South of downtown, off the main grid, which means easier parking and a more relaxed pace. The taproom itself is clean and modern without trying too hard.
What to order: Ask the bartender what just went on tap, then pair it with a margherita from the bus.
Mothfire Brewing on MIAnnArbor
Biercamp
1643 S State St, Ann Arbor
Biercamp is a curveball. It started as a butcher shop and sausage maker in 2011 – everything ground fresh, smoked and cured in-house, small batches, family recipes. Then they started brewing their own beer. Now you sit in the all-season outdoor beer garden with a house-made bratwurst and a pint brewed on-site, and the whole thing feels like it was always supposed to be this way.
The beer list is tight – a handful of carefully made options plus craft ciders, not 40 taps – and the sausage menu rotates with the seasons. This is a place that does two things extremely well and doesn’t pretend to do anything else. Bring cash for the cooler if you want sausages to take home.
What to order: Classic bratwurst with a house lager. Simple, perfect.
Erratic Ale Co.
8080 Grand St, Suite 3, Dexter
Erratic sits in downtown Dexter and does something unusual – it’s a brewery, wine bar, and coffee shop under one roof. Early Pour, the cafe inside Erratic, handles specialty coffee and pastries during the day. By afternoon, the 13 rotating taps take over with pale ales, stouts, Irish reds, and a few local wine pours for the non-beer person in your group.
The food is focused – pretzels and paninis on Raterman Bread – and the space is cozy without feeling cramped. It’s right on the Border-to-Border Trail, so you can ride your bike there and earn the pint. The kind of place you walk into for one drink and leave two hours later wondering where the time went.
What to order: The house pretzel and whatever fruity sour is on rotation.
734 Brewing Company
15 E Cross St, Ypsilanti
734 Brewing landed in Depot Town with a clear mission: make the taproom feel like it belongs to everyone. The interior seats about 70, the gravel patio fits another 50, and the vibe leans community hub more than beer-snob hangout. Local art on the walls, regular events, and food trucks rotating out front on weekends.
The beer stays interesting without getting precious. Clean lagers, citrus-forward IPAs, a hibiscus cream ale, and the occasional barrel-aged experiment. Depot Town itself is worth the trip – a walkable stretch of vintage shops, restaurants, and the Huron River right there. Make an afternoon of it.
What to order: Their flagship lager on the patio facing Cross Street. That’s Depot Town at its best.
Salt Springs Brewery
117 S Ann Arbor St, Saline
Salt Springs sits on the main drag in downtown Saline, which means you park once and walk to shops, the farmers market, and back to the brewery without moving your car. House-brewed beers mix with Michigan guest taps, and the food menu goes beyond bar snacks – burgers, sandwiches, salads sourced locally.
Big front windows make the space bright during the day. Weekend afternoons here are low-key in the best way – families, couples, small groups who don’t need a scene. Wine, cider, and craft cocktails cover the non-beer drinkers. Open Tuesday through Sunday with lunch service starting at 11:30.
What to order: Whatever seasonal is on the chalkboard, plus a burger. Saline doesn’t rush and neither should you.
Salt Springs Brewery on MIAnnArbor
Also Worth Knowing
hear.say brewing + theater (2350 W Liberty St) is a brewery inside a live theater. Show nights are the best time to go – grab a beer, watch something unexpected, then stay for another round. The taproom holds its own even on dark nights.
Edelbrau Brewing Company (719 W Ellsworth Rd) focuses on traditional German and English styles – helles, pilsners, ESBs, dunkels. No gimmicks, no pastry stouts. More bottle shop than taproom hangout. If you think the best beer is the one with the fewest ingredients, this is your stop.
Wolverine State Brewing Co. (2019 W Stadium Blvd) built its entire identity around lagers when everyone else chased IPAs – over 65 styles in the recipe book. The taproom is currently closed for renovations under new ownership, but their cans are still at local bottle shops and worth tracking down.
How to Plan a Brewery Day
Three routes that work:
Downtown crawl: Grizzly Peak to Jolly Pumpkin to hear.say. All walkable. Start with lunch at Grizzly Peak, sours on the JP rooftop, end with a show at hear.say.
Westside loop: HOMES to Mothfire to Edelbrau. All on the west and south sides of Ann Arbor, close enough to hit in an afternoon. Korean street food at HOMES, pizza from the bus at Mothfire, a German lager nightcap at Edelbrau.
County tour: Erratic in Dexter, Salt Springs in Saline, 734 Brewing in Ypsilanti. Needs a designated driver, but it covers the full range of what Washtenaw County brews outside Ann Arbor proper.
Wherever you end up, the draft list changed since last time. That’s the best part.
Find all of these breweries and more at miannarbor.com.
