Spend a day (or a whole weekend) exploring the Petoskey region, and top off your summer adventures with a cold drink at a hip brewery, winery or distillery. The Petoskey-Straits region has your pour waiting.
This article was first featured in the 2023 MyNorth Vacation Guide. Learn more about this year's guide, order a digital or print copy, or find a complimentary guide on newsstands across Northern Michigan.
Alanson & Bay Harbor Wineries and Distilleries
ALANSON
CROOKED VINE VINEYARD & WINERY
Cabin-inspired tasting room with a covered patio and panoramic views. Check out the on-site walking trail through a woodland area.
SEASONS OF THE NORTH WINERY & BURT LAKE BREWERY
In warmer months, enjoy the garden area and its vineyard views. Picnics are welcome.
BAY HARBOR
MAMMOTH DISTILLING
Hip spot for a craft cocktail in Bay Harbor. More locations in Traverse City, Bellaire and Central Lake.
Photo by David Weidner
Spirits from Mammoth Distilling in Bay Harbor.
Boyne City & Boyne Falls Distilleries and Breweries
FOGGY MOUNTAIN SPIRITS COMPANY
By-appointment tours and tastings at the Boyne Falls production facility with a retail space.
MUSKRAT DISTILLING
Modern takes on pre-prohibition era cocktails in a restored 1890s pharmacy. You’ll find us on the velvet couches.
STIGGS BREWERY & KITCHEN
Hearty food (hello, smoked brisket), 30 taps, wine, cider and cocktails. Outdoor patio with live music.
Photo by Muskrat Distilling
Muskrat Distilling in Boyne City.Â
Cheboygan & Harbor Springs Wineries and Breweries
CHEBOYGAN
CHEBOYGAN BREWING COMPANY
Pair a pint of Blood Orange Honey wheat ale with a seat on the upper deck or beside the patio’s firepit and say ahhh.
HARBOR SPRINGS
POND HILL FARM
Located on the famous M-119 Tunnel of Trees, this family-friendly winery/brewery/café/farm/ market has hiking trails, a livestock barn, gnome-house hunt and more.
Photo by Rachel Haggerty
Pond Hill Farm in Harbor Springs.
Indian River & Mackinac Island Breweries and Distilleries
INDIAN RIVER
NORTHLAND BREWING CO.
This Indian River brewery has a large beer garden with plenty of yard games, live music, rotating food trucks and an onsite coffee shop.
MACKINAC ISLAND
GREAT TURTLE BREWERY & DISTILLERY
Right Brain Brewery and Les Cheneaux Distillery provide signature beverages to this Mackinac Island hangout offering lunch and dinner.
MACKINAC ISLAND RUM CO.
An outpost for Petoskey’s High Five Spirits, this Main Street tasting room is always a good time. Which rum will you sip on island time— bourbon barrel aged, vanilla cinnamon, banana or coconut?
Photo by Great Turtle Brewing & Distillery
Great Turtle Brewing & Distillery on Mackinac Island.
Mackinaw City Breweries and Distilleries
BIÈRE DE MAC BREW WORKS
Outdoor seating in the backyard with lawn games. A partnership with Marquette’s Smelted Wood Fired Pizza means you can get a pint and a pie.
NICHOLAS BLACK RIVER WINERY
Wines produced and bottled in Cheboygan. Tours welcome, appointments recommended. Second tasting room located in Mackinaw City (seasonal).
RUSTED SPOKE BREWING CO.
Twenty taps, wine, spirits and a full food menu served up in a rustic atmosphere.
Photo by Dave Weidner
Biére de Mac Brew Works in Mackinaw City.
Petoskey Breweries, Wineries and Distilleries
BEARDS BREWERY
Watch a Little Traverse Bay sunset from the large patio with direct access to the bar. Great food, downtown location, community events, live music. Check out The Root Cellar in the basement of the Lake Street pub.
BOYNE VALLEY VINEYARDS
Beautiful barn-like tasting room with a treehouse tasting deck, large patio, live music and light food. Next to a 113-acre nature preserve, Postle Farm.
GABRIEL FARMS & WINERY
A winery, brewery, event center and, yes, a farm. Book a room in the historic farmhouse or a private apartment to make it a weekend away.
GYPSY DISTILLERY & HIGH FIVE SPIRITS
Tasting rooms in downtown Petoskey and on Mackinac Island (Mackinac Island Rum Co.). Now open: Gypsy Distillery. A state-of-the-art facility with a cocktail garden, food vendors and event space.
MACKINAW TRAIL WINERY & BREWERY
The Petoskey tasting room sits on 30 acres of rolling hills and has a bistro serving small plates. A second tasting room is located in Mackinaw City (seasonal).
MAPLE MOON SUGARBUSH & WINERY
Michigan’s only commercial maple winery has an intimate, cozy tasting room. Also try the maple ginger hard cider, maple root beer and maple candy.
PETOSKEY BREWING
A four-story century-old brick building that was fittingly a brewhouse in its past life. Sits between two major bike routes: Little Traverse Wheelway and North Western State Trail. Outdoor seating, full food menu. Also check out the brewery’s second tasting room located in Cross Village (yep, on the Tunnel of Trees).
PETOSKEY FARMS VINEYARD & WINERY
Enjoy your wine on a 1,150-square-foot deck overlooking the countryside (especially pretty in fall). Wood-fired pizzas served seasonally in summer.
RESORT PIKE CIDERY & WINERY
A (proudly) no frills establishment tucked next door to a historic barn with woodsy views and a focus on sparkling wine and cider, including a unique honeycrisp iced cider made from frozen apples.
RUDBECKIA WINERY & BURNT MARSHMALLOW BREWSTILLERY
Sip wine, beer, cider and spirits on 150+ acres (open to public) with views of Lake Michigan and Walloon Lake. Out back, play bocce, cornhole and board games.
WALLOON LAKE WINERY
Rustic tasting room with soaring ceilings built from wood harvested at the long-time family farm. MAEAP Certified, meaning the farm meets the state’s highest environmental standards.
Photo by Rachel Haggerty
Rudbeckia Winery in Petoskey.
More Ways to Enjoy Petoskey Region Craft Drink
Hit the Petoskey Wine Trail
The Petoskey Wine Region is home to 14 distinct wineries with tasting rooms as unique as the grape varieties being grown in the northern vineyards stretching from Ellsworth to Harbor Springs. Here’s a peek at just three of the destinations you’ll find on a trip to Michigan’s newest wine region (and trust us, the other 11 are must-visits, too).
1. Visit Castle Farms in Charlevoix
Built in 1918, Castle Farms in Charlevoix is modeled after the stone barns and castles found in Normandy, France. The 1918 Cellars Wine Tasting Room is set in the Queen’s Tavern with indoor and outdoor seating.
2. Hang out in a Treehouse at Boyne Valley Vineyards
Boyne Valley Vineyards, tucked on US-31 between Petoskey and Walloon Lake, is constructing an elevated tree house tasting deck overlooking the vineyard and surrounded by maple trees. It’s set to open to guests in late spring 2021.
3. Drink Wine at Rudbeckia Farm
Rudbeckia Farm and Winery in Petoskey (also home to Burnt Marshmallow Brewstillery) is set on 150 acres, all open for guests to explore with bevvies in hand—take a hilltop hike for views of Walloon Lake and Lake Michigan. The family-friendly tasting room also has bocce, corn hole, open fields for kite flying, snacks for kids and more.
Photo by Tess Crowley
Kick Back with A Petoskey Region Craft Beer
After a day in the sun and surf, swing by these local hangouts.
Our Favorite Breweries in Petoskey
Petoskey, find memorable craft brews, kicked up bar-food and entertainment at both Petoskey Brewing Company and Beards Brewing. Downtown, relax in The Back Lot Beer Garden, which has plenty of outdoor seating and on-site food trucks, or grab a beer and a bite at one of several beloved pubs: Mitchell Street Pub, Noggin Room Pub, Tap 30 or POUR Public House. You can even belly up to the same bar Ernest Hemingway once frequented at City Park Grill.
Boyne City, Mackinaw City & St. Ignace Breweries
In downtown Boyne City, Stiggs Brewery and Boyne City Tap Room offer a buzzy nightlife and great food. Farther north in Mackinaw City, Bière de Mac Brew Works has a hearty food menu and a mission to make all 150-plus different styles of beer that have been classified by the Brewers Association. On tap at Rusted Spoke Brewing Co., also in Mackinaw City, are a handful of house brews and a cool bar menu with smoked wings, flatbread pizzas and BBQ tater tot nachos. Of course, to get that authentic Up North, laid-back bar experience, just head over the Mackinac Bridge to St. Ignace, where you can soak it up at The Driftwood Restaurant & Sports Bar.
Must-Visit Mackinac Island Breweries
For another classic Up North experience, hop the ferry to Mackinac Island where Great Turtle Brewery and Distillery, opened in June 2020, joins long-time, beloved island watering holes including Pink Pony, Mustang Lounge, Yankee Rebel Tavern and Horn’s Gaslight Bar.
Sip Spirits in the Petoskey Region
Mammoth Distilling opened a new tasting room in Bay Harbor in July 2020 offering tastings, cocktails and bottle sales. Mammoth also has locations in Traverse City, Bellaire, Central Lake and downstate in Adrian. High Five Spirits, creator of Gypsy Vodka, in downtown Petoskey is another worthy pit stop—its canned cocktails are great for shoreside picnics, as many beaches don’t allow glass bottles.