Full Measure Brewing

A little after 1pm on a Saturday we walked right in — a few tables open, everything else full. That turns out to be the right temperature for Full Measure, which is a brewery, a distillery, a taproom and a genuine restaurant all at once, parked on the corner of Orleans and Division a short walk from the sheds at Eastern Market. The room is lively without being loud: forklifts trundling between the neighboring businesses outside, dishes clanking somewhere behind you, music playing at a volume where you never quite identify the song, and conversation carrying across ten or so four-tops, a few high-tops in back, and a long, gently curved bar with room for a dozen if you’d rather belly up.

We drank the Venerable Pils and the No. 9 — a booze-free rosy rosé sparkling aperitivo that Andrea improved with a splash of sparkling wine, which is precisely what the menu tells you to do. Then the house-smoked brisket sandwich and the jalapeño smash burger, and this is where dignity left the table. It’s a two-napkin meal. Andrea said so more than once. There is no graceful way to eat that burger — it’s enormous, it’s very good, and once it’s in your hands you’re committed. No setting it down for a breather.

Come for a beer list that runs genuinely deep, including proper cask ale, and stay because you’ve landed on one of the better corners in the city. Detroit City Distillery is a few blocks over if the afternoon wants to keep going.