Shoreline Mug Club First Ever Chili Cookoff

Seventeen people brought crock-pots (okay, well, maybe SIXTEEN people brought crock pots. One guy brought a kettle of chili. Needless to say, it got cold). Only three people would walk away winners. I'll save you the suspense...I wasn't one of them. But I tried the chili recipes that won, and they all kicked my ass. Even some of the other ones that didn't win were pretty good as well. Nothing I'd push away from if given to me.

Oh, and there was beer.

Not hard to find your mug, as they're all original.

Here's the first place dude. I'm completely terrible with names, so I'm sorry. He said, "My mom's gonna be pissed. I told her I had some left over, but now it's all gone."


I remember these people, though. From left to right, Jessi, Jim, and Sarah.

Again, I can't remember names, but the woman on the rightwon third. I talked to her and her husband (not pictured) about restaurants in Valparaiso, and taking kids to restaurants.

Nicole and Chris. Chris gave me a short sample of his homemade oatmeal stout. Nice.

Buncha people.

We watched the Colts lose.

Sam, Jim and Steve

Shoreline Mug Club Party

On Sunday, Shoreline Brewery held a party for the mug club members at Washington Park in Michigan City. We were wondering how they were going to get all the mugs over to the park without breaking them, because that would be unfortunate if someone's mug got broken. Sure, you could always get another mug, but since the mugs are so unique, it would be kind of sad if one did break.

No worries, once we got there everyone was drinking out of pint-sized white plastic cups. Made sense. They had a four keg set up with the Beltaine (Scottish Ale), Li-Ko-Ki-We (Kolsch), Queen Mum (Double IPA), and the Dim-Wit (Uh, Wit Ale).

Plus, they had all you can eat ribs and chicken, as well as a really good crab dip with some sweet crackers, and some pasta salad. I think there was some smoked salmon and chocolates for desert. My wife, at one point, asked Sam, the proprietor, what was for desert, and he said, "Beer."

There were two sets of bags (or for you rural Indianans, "cornhole") games set up, but other than that, it was set up for people to meet and talk to each other. It was a nice day, as well.

Shoreline Brewery

I work in Michigan City, Indiana. When I first moved here, I was told that a new brewery had just opened in Michigan City called Shoreline Brewery. The guy I replaced, who moved on to a corporate job in Houston, Texas, told me about it. He appreciates good beer. Luckily, for me, my family was still living three hours away in Illinois, so I was able to partake in the goodness of this locale for about a week.

I highly recommend Shoreline. During that first week, I met Sam, the owner and brewer. He's a good guy, and definitely a businessman. He's not interested in putting out an inferior product and cruising under the craft beer name. Motherfucker won the Silver Medal at the 2006 World Beer Cup for Best Scottish Ale. And the Beltaine, as it's called, my friends, is well worth the visit to this fine establishment.

On my first visit to this place, I was sitting at the bar next to the head food guy of the restaurant. He gave me the menu, and I was impressed with his concoctions. He told me I was sitting at the most interesting spot at the bar, the "cut". They actually pulled the bar out of an old speakeasy that was made during prohibition, but had to cut the bar to get it out of the basement where it was located.

The beer just seems to get better at this place. I seem to only visit on average once every 3 months, but when I do, I'm never disappointed. Sam made a beer called the Drunken Toad once. It was a total experiment in hop-headiness. I could barely get through a 5 oz sample before moving on. It was that hoppy.

There is also the Singing Sands Oatmeal Stout. A very nice, dark, brown beer that has an awesome palate and is beautiful to look at in the glass. This year, Sam took some of the Drunken Toad, mixed it with the Singing Sands, and put it in a bourbon barrel. For at least 5 months, if not 6. Served in a 10 oz glass, this will rock your world. This may not be Three Floyd's Dark Lord, but it is soooo nice. I don't know if it was the Singing Sands or the bourbon barrel, but the mixture mellows the Toad out very swell-ly.

This very evening, I was dining there with my family, mother-in-law, and wife's aunt when my wife asked if I would like a Shoreline Brewery t-shirt for my birthday. I told her that would be nice, but I would really like to become a member of the mug club, which costs $100 cash. To make a long story short, both the wife and myself are now mug club members. Check out the sweet mugs we got:


This is Abbe's mug. I kind of think the bubbles in the bottom are sort of girly. It's a nice mug and I think it fits her personality well. All the mugs hold more than a pint, but you only paint the pint price when you are in the mug club. The actual cost of each mug is $65, so if you move away, the mug is yours. I should have taken a picture of the mug with the beer inside because it actually enhances the color of each mug. I got a wit beer in mine, and the bartender and waitresses were like, "You should get a darker beer, because that would really bring out the color in your mug." All I know is that these mugs are really awesome to drink from. Nice works of art, not heavy, and they fit your hand very nicely. The mug you see here is a 20 oz mug. Not bad.

My mug was a little larger at 22 oz. That means I should be able to pour a whole bomber into the thing. Unfortunately, they don't pour bombers at Shoreline. Oh well, looks like I'll just have to drink more beer from the tap! I got a real cool swirly bottom on mine that I forgot to photograph. The bottom of the mug is the killer part. You think you're almost done with it, and then you hit the well at the bottom, which is like a whole 'nother 6 ounces. It's creeper!

This was the sweetest gift I think I ever got from my wife, and I am so glad she went in on the deal as well. She really is my best friend and we both love drinking beer.