Brews and 'Ques: Our Favorite Buckeye State Combos (Vol. 1)

This staircase found at Van Wert's Years Ago Antique Mall pretty
is a primer why shopping for the old-school is always so cool

I generally try to stay away from lists on my blog posts, but there's really no good reason for this, because lists can be quite useful for picking up potential destinations and things to do on our travels. Also, it's not like I haven't used the list format before, as noted by Ale Trail Series of posts that I've undertaken twice now.

Combining antique hunting and brewery hopping has turned into one of our favorite past times over the last several years, and I've had a couple people ask me about what antique shops we've liked, or have suggested a couple shops to check out.  With that in mind, I thought I'd toss out a select list of favorite antique stores that we've visited in our travels as well as some suggested destinations to slake that thirst afterward.

Antiques and Brews: From The Tee Box to The Pulpit

Downtown Defiance, Ohio, named for the historic Fort Defiance
and home to the similarly named Fort Defiance Antiques shop.

If this summer is any indication, my spouse and I have confirmed our blood types as AB, as in Antiques and Breweries. Our last trip took us into north-northwest Ohio into Mercer County, where antique hunting led us to drop by places like Tailspin Brewing in Coldwater and Moeller Brew Barn in Maria Stein. Other recent jaunts have taken us into Cambridge (where we stopped at Southside Brewing) and down to Lancaster and Logan, with a finishing duo of Little Fish Brewing and Jackie O's in Athens.

This lovely combination has again led to another fun road trip to explore both, as we wandered into even farther up into true Northwest Ohio, starting at the tee box and finishing up at the pulpit.