Michigan House Cafe (Red Jacket Brewing)

October 10, 2008
Nice place for such a small depressing town. Calumet’s boom days are certainly behind them, but the city does hace a charm to it. The bar while smokey by New England standards was clean and quiet. The bar has typical UP decorations, animal heads, old murky mirrors, and antique photos. They were out of their oatmeal stout, which seems to be common, but the other beers on tap were good. They were also out of much of their food on the menu, but what they had was good.

September 13, 2007
Red Jacket brewing has the distinction of being the smallest (quantity) brewpub in Michigan. They have a 1½ barrel system and brew one day a week. The only beer they brew (has far as I could tell) is a stout and it’s a quality one at that. As the previous reviewer said, Red Jacket Brewing is actually located in the Michigan House Cafe, a wonderful old building in historic Calumet, Michigan. In the last few years Calumet has become somewhat of a tourist destination, with many shops and galleries. This is also prime mountain biking, x-country skiing, snowmobiling, and kayaking territory. The Oatmeal Express was enjoyable, not heavy, but very flavorful. Again, as the previous reviewer pointed out, there is an unexpected selection other of beers available. The food was great, not a complicated menu, but not just burgers and fries either and is available in the bar area and a formal dining room (linen & sliver). The staff was super and liked to pass along the history of the place which I enjoyed hearing. They had a framed menu from long ago which boasted a T-bone steak dinner for 75 cents. Being the smart ass that I am, I told our waitress I’d have one of those. She said, “No problem, but I hope you don’t mind that the meat is 80 years old.” Apparently I wasn’t her first smart ass. http://www.michiganhousecafe.com/brewpub.html

January 22, 2007
A nice little brewpub in a nice little town. Walking into the bar is like stepping back in time. All kinds of old decor and original high ceilings and woodwork, all in good condition. Had hoped to try the Oatmeal Espress I had heard about but they were out. They literally brew it one half barrel at a time. Guest taps included Two Hearted and Oberon. Other beers they offered: Bell’s: Amber Ale, Best Brown, Kalamazoo Stout, Two Hearted Ale, Pale Ale, Porter, Third Coast Ale, Wheat 2, Wheat 6, Consecrator Dopplebock, Winter White Ale, Oberon, Third Coast OLD Ale and Wheat Love (of course some of these are seasonal). In addition to all of the Bell’s love, they also had these American Micros: Celis White, Dark Horse Crooked Tree, Dark Horse, Raspberry Ale, Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, Founders Dirty Bastard, Founders Red Rye, Frog Island Cream Ale,Harpoon Summer Ale, Keweenaw Brewing Pick-Axe Blonde (can), King Brewing Mocha Java, New Holland Mad Hatter, Shipyard Old Thumper, South Shore Honey Pilsner and South Shore Rhoades Scholar Stout. I was amazed at the selection for a small business, in a small town, in the middle of nowhere.

July 11, 2006
This is an excellent place to go and experience some of the historic mining ambience that is left in this old town. The food has always been noteworthy, and the recent addition of handcrafted brewing has only heightened my desire to visit this place when in the area. The Red Jacket Oatmeal Espress was quite tasty, and unfortunately, the keg of their own hefeweizen ran dry the day before I made my visit. I hope they will increase their brewing capacity, but even so, the food is delicious, the atmosphere unique, and the selection of Michigan beers is quite excellent. The owners are obviously really into beer and have a few brewing souveniers for sale as well.

June 16, 2006 [ Updated February 23, 2007 ]
4 beers on tap with one being their own Red Jacket Oatmeal Express and 75 bottles with some surprizes ( Harpoon, Lakefront, Dogfish Head). Ambiance has lots of old wood with a great mural above the bar. The fish was good but the sides were right from a work/school cafeteria, good house dressing. Every small town needs a place like this and considering the remoteness of the town it makes this place even more remarkable. Well done.

November 10, 2005
this is the home of the Red Jacket Brewing Co, which seems only to brew a small amount of coffee stout each week. excellent selection - for such a small town it’s an unbelievable selection, really. food was excellent, as were the prices on everything. if you’re near houghton/hancock, STOP IN CALUMET AT THE MICHIGAN HOUSE CAFE.

July 6, 2005
One of my favorite places to relax on the weekend during college. They have a great selection of domestics and internationals with a few good regionals on tap. The handcrafted brew made in-house has a nice rich maltiness, but has too watery of a finish for my tastes -- I would like to have seen a more balanced coffee flavor. If you’re looking for something to eat, I highly recommend their cedar planked trout and the beer battered chocolate for dessert.

March 30, 2005 [ Updated March 27, 2006 ]
They brew only one half barrell of handrcrafted beer a week. Fantastic! Don’t miss it! Note...they no longer serve the beer battered chocolate, which is a major dissapointment. But, they have added another guest tap, which recently was Bell’s Rye Stout. Also, they’ve increased their overall selection of beers.