Hop Lot Brewing Co.

Envision a snow globe with a group of friends inside enjoying food, beer, games and conversation, and you’ll get a good idea of the winter igloo experience at Hop Lot Brewing Co. in Suttons Bay, Michigan. 

Starting around mid-November through the first week of April, the brewery sets 18 igloos across its landscape filled with trees and often draped in snow, while a glowing communal campfire welcomes guests to step outside and roast marshmallows. 

Steve, Sarah and Drew Lutke founded Hop Lot Brewing Co. in 2015 to pair handcrafted beer with northern Michigan’s outdoor lifestyle, establishing a wooded beer garden on the Leelanau Peninsula. With seating for up to eight, the brewery’s igloos allow groups and families to immerse themselves in a natural setting. They can enjoy good conversation, eat great food, play their favorite games and try a new beer, wine, cocktail or local soda in their comfortably furnished and heated private space. 

Reserved for 90 minutes per group, each igloo has a QR code for ordering food and drink. Guests keep warm inside, while servers deliver their orders to them. Sundays are family days, with half off the kids food and free s’mores and hot chocolate. For adults, there are happy hours and daily specials during the week in the winter.

Hop Lot’s beer list pairs dependable favorites with rotating seasonal releases. Year-round pours include the Highway Robbery Blonde Ale, Rough Sawn Amber Ale and German Pils, while cooler weather often brings richer offerings such as the Tilted Radars American Stout and Woad Warrior Scotch Ale. Hop Lot Brewing Co. also sits alongside the Traverse Area Recreation Trail, with cross-country skiers and hikers regularly gathering at the brewery. 658 S. W. Bay Shore Dr., Suttons Bay, Michigan 49682, hoplotbrewing.com