Guardian Brewing Company, 3657 63rd St, Saugatuck ~ 9/13/21

October 2023 update: 

The brewery owners have announced that the brewery will be closing in March of 2024 or before if it sells. The asking price is $1.25 million. There are 12,000 SF indoors and a 3500 SF outdoor patio on 4 acres. They've been in business 5 years. Good luck to the owners and here's hoping new owners keep this cool place going!

(Brewery Visits #1-#49 can be found here)

We didn't know anything about this place beforehand and were so impressed with it by the time we left.

We were mystified by the buildings at first until our server told us it was the old Red Barn theater property. The barn was built as a horse barn in 1912 and became a theater in 1948. The Guardian Brewery owner purchased the 3 acre site in 2017 and opened the brewery in December of 2018. Apparently there are plans to eventually renovate the barn.

Here's the old silo and the back of the barn as seen from the patio.

The 6000 square foot pole barn built in 2005 is the current location of the kitchen and the brewery. A new building, which is now the indoor seating and bar, was built to connect the pole barn and the theater.

The outside space is huge and with the added heaters made the area viable and welcoming during the pandemic.

We took a table outside and were aptly served by Chris throughout the evening. We liked the stainless steel flight holders, the shape of the flight glasses, and quite enjoyed all of the beer.

If you want a flight glass with the brewery logo on it, you'll have to buy one in the bar. We've been in other breweries who stopped putting their logo on the serving glasses because people think it's okay to just take one home.

For a brewery, the Guardian has a really great wine selection, which made our wine drinkers very happy 😊

From the fairly large menu, we started with pretzel bits with beer cheese and the cowboy cavier. The house-made beer cheese was superb and the cowboy cavier is not to be missed. It was a unique concoction whose flavors combined beautifully. 

All of the outdoor tables had a painted block of wood on them. If service was needed, the red had to be up. If all was well, the green on top told the servers they need not stop by. This is a clever idea, minimizing contact between people and assisting the servers.

Two of us ordered the BLT, which is served with vegan mayo but regular mayo is available upon request. Both people wanted the bread toasted but our server told us that the kitchen did not have a toaster. The kitchen worked its magic, however, and the bread arrived lightly toasted by other means.

The other two of us ordered hotdogs. One asked for cheese to be added and our server said he'd have to check with the kitchen. And they improvised nicely.

The other came as offered on the menu and we both enjoyed the delicious Vienna beef dogs.

One odd thing about the hotdogs was that they were served on rolls that are usually reserved for lobster rolls. But it all worked.

Throughout this place musical posters and autographed guitars are hanging everywhere. The room where the restrooms are located is covered with amazing musical memorabilia. Here's a sampling of it.

This incredible collection was housed in the garage of the owner's father and they decided the brewery was a more suitable venue.

Before we left, we checked out the indoor space that included a small horseshoe bar.

We loved this space, the beer, the food, the patio, and the atmosphere. Don't miss this special spot in Saugatuck!