If you know us, you know we are suckers for good BBQ.  In the past 15-20 years it seems that a lot of BBQ places have popped up in the metro Detroit communities.  Some good and some . . . not so much.  The problem that most people have with BBQ is that it can be expensive, and nobody likes to pay top dollar for average food.  Well Lockhart’s BBQ in Royal Oak is far from average. 

This week we are back to Ann Arbor, visiting one of our all time favorites for not only BBQ but for great home brewed beers. Blue Tractor BBQ & Brewery.  The beautiful thing about this local brewery is that they also have a full liquor license so they don’t just sell beer and wine.  We have featured the Blue Tractor before, in 2019, as part of our Fun Food Friday posts . . . but a lot can happen in 5 years so we felt them worthy of another mention. 

If you are a long time Clinton Township resident you may remember a place called Fazzalari’s which was located at the corner of Moravian and Utica roads. It was nothing fancy, but a typical club of the 80’s with “new wave” music and inexpensive drinks. In 1993 the Kourelis family, who are not strangers to the restaurant industry having owned the St Clair Shores Inn for many year, bought Fazzalari’s. They tore it down to make way for their new venture: Great Baraboo Brewing Company, this weeks fun food Friday adventure.

What’s the saying? When life gives you lemons make lemonade? In the case of Ryan and Erin Cottingim, when life gave them lemons, they decided to make beer. It was around 2008-2009 when Ryan and Erin both lost their jobs and decided to write the next chapter in their lives. They wrote up a business plan and on December 26th, 2011, Witch's Hat Brewing Company in South Lyon was born. It was in the height of the real estate and banking crash of 2008-2013 and opening a new business had to seem like an insurmountable achievement . . . but here we are 12 years later and things seem to be going strong!