Shoreline Brewery and the Reason Why Anyone’s Luck Can Turn on a Tuesday

By Joel Bozman of Indiana On Tap

In my last story for Indiana on Tap I was lamenting the amount of breweries in northern Indiana that are closed on Mondays. I was becoming frustrated at all of these wonderful breweries I would love to try when in the area on a Monday, but couldn’t. What could be worse than being surrounded by amazing breweries and not being able to try them? The answer, of course, is nothing.  Well, when a late afternoon work “emergency” turned my day around on a recent Tuesday, I was about to discover some Tuesday offerings.  Thank god for Tuesdays.

Instead of heading back towards Indy on this Tuesday, I had to instead head to Michigan City. After explaining to my wife that I wouldn’t be home again that night, I tried to turn my luck around by finding some open breweries in the area. I was ecstatic to find Shoreline Brewery in Michigan City, and was even more ecstatic to learn that they are open on Tuesday.  Like I said, thank god for Tuesdays.

Shoreline’s bombers are available in a few liquor stores I’ve frequented, but I’m always hesitant to spend too much on bombers if I’ve never tried anything from that brewery before. After all, just because someone sells it doesn’t mean it’s good. So, I headed to Shoreline to experience the brewery and to find out firsthand if their bombers are worth the future investment.

The exterior of the building looks amazing. It’s an old brick structure heavily weathered by the proximity to Lake Michigan. I walked into the entrance with heightened anticipation, glanced at the merchandise area, slowed even more to appreciate the vintage tabletop video game setup, and then  came to a full stop to study my options at their carryout beer area. I eventually made the executive decision to grab something for later from the carryout section if I liked what I tried at the bar.

Happy with my lucky find for a Tuesday, I plopped down at the end of the bar and soaked in the scenery. It is more of a ‘brick and wood bar’ than most breweries I’ve visited elsewhere, which gave it a different, yet inviting feel. Right away I noted the separate, smaller family area as well as the large bar and seating area for the 21+ crowd. There’s a stage in the corner and a large wall of glass behind the bar, where you can watch the brewers sweat their behinds off making the beer the customers are enjoying. (Not to worry though as I didn’t actually see any sweat find its way into the beer itself). Regardless it looked like I had picked the right side of the glass to be on because I felt like drinking on this Tuesday, not brewing.

Now to the beer. I ordered their standard flight, which consisted of Stella Blue (a nice summery blueberry ale), Don’t Panic English Pale Ale, Captain Shaddock’s Session IPA, Sesh Wheat Ale, Beltaine Scottish Ale, and Singing Sands Oatmeal Stout. I thought the Beltaine Scottish Ale, the Singing Sands Oatmeal Stout, and the Sesh Wheat Ale were the clear standouts of this group, in that actual order. 

Next, I asked for a recommendation from the bartender and he hit it out of the park with his recommendation of Curse the Goat Dopplebock. This beer is sold on Opening Day at Wrigley Field to try to help reverse the fortunes of the Cubs franchise. While it continues to fail for the Cubs it definitely succeeded in helping to turn my luck around, as it was my favorite beer of the night. 

Since I was enjoying their darker beers so much, I figured I would finish the evening with their Relentless Winter Baltic Porter. The smoothness and sweetness of this porter made it the dessert of my evening and a great final selection. 

As much as I would have loved to try the remaining three choices on their taps that evening, I had to call it a night. I stopped by the carryout area and grabbed a bottle of Sum Nug IPA for future enjoyment. My biggest takeaway of the evening is that I will not hesitate to pick up a bomber of anything from Shoreline whenever it crosses my path again.

Thanks, Shoreline, for a great visit. If you find yourself near Michigan City and want to celebrate a good day or turn your luck around on a bad one, as I did, try them out and tell them Indiana On Tap sent you.  If it happens to be on a Tuesday, well, that’s not luck–it’s probably just a coincidence.

Residing in Ingalls, Indiana, Joel is a Content Aggregator & Contributor for Indiana On Tap.  You can contact him via email at jbozman88@gmail.com.