The V.I. Grill’s Grateful Dead

Bottoms Up

By Lynda Wheatley | June 12, 2021

We assumed there would be no way to improve upon our early summer ritual of basking in the sun at Suttons Bay beach, then flip-flopping our sandy feet across M-22 to sip a cocktail at the the V.I. Grill’s summer patio bar. Then we tried the Grateful Dead. And we were never more thankful to be alive on a perfect summer’s day in Northern Michigan.
What the V.I. modestly calls “A psychedelic twist on a Long Island Ice Tea” — vodka, gin, rum, triple sec, and lemon and lime topped with Chambord and Sprite — did not, in fact, have us hallucinating.  Yet we couldn’t help but wonder if it was our imagination that the Grateful Dead, dare we say, tasted even better than a Long Island, the traditional backbone of our very best beach days in Suttons Bay summer history? Rather than sweet, this tall and artful treat lent itself to a perfect level of pucker. Brightly sour and refreshingly light (credit to the genius combo of Chambord with Sprite, something we’d never think to put together), the Grateful Dead perked us up instead of laid us out and provided exactly the kind of gas we needed to keep us on our sandy feet for our post-cocktail dessert: a slow and steady SUP ride back at the beach. Find the V.I. Grill at 201 N. St. Joseph's St., in Suttons Bay. (231) 271-3300, vigrill.com