MI Beer-cation 7/26-8/4

I should have clarified - if in GR, go to Founder's - but don't make a special trip to it in lieu of other cities. When we were there they only had a few exclusives on, none of which were my style. That's why I advised to look at the draft offerings too. It's an impressive building (hope I get to come back up once the construction is finished).

 

Finally well enough to sit at my computer for awhile. This bronchitis is kicking my butt, and I'm still coughing up a storm!!

Turns out we hit 31 breweries, not 30 - had forgotten one! Thanks to everyone who gave me advice and commented on my posts. We really appreciated it as we were making our plans. Sorry I didn't get to meet up with any of you - maybe on our next trip! If you come to Tampa, PM me and I'll meet you for a beer or two!

Thoughts on all breweries visited; probably gonna be a TL; DR for many, but read on if you're interested!

01 Dragonmead - beers were excellant. We tried a good portion of them and enjoyed all. Loved the raspberry port the best though. They give you pretzels to munch on, which is nice as a palate cleanser.
02 Griffin Claw - average beers. Food was good. Gets really crowded on Friday night, open seating.
03 Kuhnhenn - good beers, but nothing special on tap when we were there. A bit disappointing after hearing so many good things about them.
04 Arbor Brewing - I was suffering from the fest so only tried a few, which were average. Food (brunch) was amazing (especially the most perfect bacon we've ever had lol) - the Strawberry Blonde (not my usual style) paired well with it.
05 Blue Tractor - they serve their flights glasses in muffin tins, cool idea! Fave beers here and at Arbor were brewed by North Peak. Blue Tractor's were just average.
06 Jolly Pumpkin - most beers were not my style, but this was one of hubby's favorite places.
07 Grizzly Peak - fave was G.P. Pale Ale, but the rest were so-so. A bit watered down.
08 Wolverine - very unique. All lagers. We tried about a dozen beers. The IPA styles were solid, and even the other ones I tried were good.
09 Dark Horse - disappointed they didn't have more on tap after the selection at the fest, but their basics were very good. Got a private tour, and would recommend doing the normal one on Saturday; brewery is very technologically advanced.
10 Arcadia - food was good. Beers were excellent - some unique ones like Cheap Date w/ lemon peel. Got a private tour - if they offer tours, do it - for a larger brewery their processes were very manual. It was interesting to see.
11 The Livery - some solid beers, some blah beers. Got a private tour; brewery is a mish-mash of used equipment, so it was cool to hear about the history.
12 Greenbush - decent sandwiches and solid IPA.
13 Bell's Eccentric Cafe - I cannot say enough good about them. We could have stayed there all day drinking. So many cafe-only beers on, all of which were amazing. Really nice outdoor area. Had a killer bartender - sampled half the beers before we even ordered our flights.
14 Olde Peninsula - I only tried the OP IPA, it was decent.
15 Founders - no need to comment lol. Love their IPAs. Disappointed they didn't have Devil Dancer on, but I did get to have it a few times. As of Monday, we now have Founder's in FL so I'm a happy girl.
16 Mitten Brewing - don't order pizza by the slice, it wasn't very good. I could taste how it might have been great as a fresh pie, though. Beer was decent.
17 HopCat - didn't try their single house-brewed offering. Had the crack fries - I'd suggest cheese on the side - other than getting soggy b/c of the cheese, they were good. Had Devil Dancer on tap.
18 Grand Rapids - tour totally worth $10 - shirt, tour, plastic glass half-full. Neat building. I only had Fish Ladder, which was good. I had sampled their DIPA at the fest and it was too sweet.
19 Jaden James/Cascade Winery - worth a stop. Beers were very good.
20 Schmohz - meh. Got a private tour, brewery is pretty standard. I'm not a fan of English-style beers, but hubby thought they were just so-so as well.
21 Harmony - amazing amazing amazing pizza! Beers were average.
22 Brewery Vivant - very cool place, former funeral home. Got a private tour, enjoyed hearing the history. For the most part the beers aren't my style, but they were stellar. Hubby enjoyed the dozen he sampled.
23 The Hideout - aptly named lol. Hidden away, with 26(!) of their own beers on tap. The dozen or so we tried were all very good. Don't get the breadsticks, they were microwaved and spongy.
24 New Holland - excellent beers. Loved everything we tried. Wish we could get them in FL (maybe with their expansion?!?)
25 Our Brewing - a few doors down from New Holland. Some good beers. The gluten-free one was pretty good; often those aren't lol.
26 Perrin - open seating, gets hard to find a seat on a Friday night. All beers we tried were very good. Really cheap t-shirts.
27 Eaglemonk - lacking in atmosphere lol (fast-food decor), but beers were pretty good.
28 Bad Brewing - awesome logo! They have a great way of doing samplers - they put small discs under each beer in the paddle so you know what you're drinking. Beers were good, not bad
29 Witch's Hat - good beers
30 Fenton - rated the best at 2.5/5. Only good point was we went to Sagebrush in the same plaza for dinner.
31 Redwood - finished up with some amazing beers. Hubby was a happy camper with his 4-yr old bourbon-aged imperial stout. I enjoyed everything I tried.

 

You are correct - they were at Blue Tractor and JP. Sorry about the mis-type!

 

We wanted to hit Pyramid Scheme but ran out of time. Would have loved to go to Odd Side as well. We figure we'll do another trip in a few years and hit the places we missed and liked the most

 

Don't think Arbor had any collaborations on. North Peak is a sister company to Blue Tractor and Jolly Pumpkin, so they were guest taps at both.

 

I'm impressed you can keep them all straight lol. I know I had North Peak at BT and JP, at least I checked them in on Untappd there!