
LA PORTE, INDIANA
La Porte’s
BACK ROAD BREWERY, a yellow-bricked warehouse building tucked away in La Porte, offered fine bottled fare August ‘04 (reviewed in Beer Index).
Though sharply spice-hopped blueberry pie-like
Blueberry Ale was only available on tap, I'd tried Back Road Brown Ale with prime rib at Rolling Prairie biker haven, Nowhere Bar & Grill, the night after.
Nearby Michigan City’s now-defunct
DUNELAND BREWHOUSE offered ample open barroom-dining space, brushed aluminum brew tanks, exposed ductwork, fireplace, and fair brews (before closing doors in ’05).
August ’04, quaffed arid yellow-fruited wheat-husked Kolsch-styled
Lighthouse Ale; tangy raspberry-seeded yellow fruit-spiced
Raspberry Wheat; grainy hop-bitter red-fruited
Replica American Pale Ale; off-dry raspberry-red apple-black grape-induced
Open Hearth Amber Ale; grapefruit-lemon-orange tart
Salmon Tail Pale Ale; resin-y black cherry-bitter cocoa-parched
Bubba’s Brown Ale; and wood-burnt espresso-milked
Shoreline Oatmeal Stout.