DETROIT VICINITY, MICHIGAN

On the way West towards Ann Arbor near Home Depot on 7 Mile Road in suburban Northville, freestanding red bricked BONFIRE BISTRO & BREWERY, open since 1999 (and closed 2007), featured spacious horseshoe-shaped bar with large booth-dominated dining space and brew tanks located near outdoor patio, August ‘04.

Wood fire pizzas, soups, salads, and sandwiches plus fish and chicken entrees made fine fodder for lighter brews such as lemon-tart wheat-soured grass-dried German-styled Firelight Lager and cereal grain-honeyed chestnut-roasted Vulcan’s Vienna Ale. Elegant cherry-bruised grapefruit-embittered berry-soured Golden Medal Red Ale truly sufficed and dewy cherry-apple-ripened Burning Brand Bitter retained elegant warmth –both were softly carbonated hand-pulled delights.

 Regularly tapped Burning Brand Bitter will please heartier thirsts with sharply bitter-hopped wood-burnt depth while crystal-malted quince-soured orange-soured Irish-styled Roaring Red Ale had caramelized apple resonation. Superb whiskey-toned Patriot IPA retained red-fruited hop-embittered poignancy. Chaffed wheat countered banana-clove pitch imbuing diacetyl Hefeweizen while pithy hop-roasted espresso-fronted Promethean Porter got drier by chocolate-y finish.