Grand Rapids Help

All the good ones and it's not complicated. If you like beer (and you wouldn't be here if you didn't) you're gonna love Grand Rapids. It's a great area.

 

It's the best city in Michigan, and it's not even close.

Congrats.

 

Go to Horrock's just south of GR (44th and Breton) and you can DRINK BEER WHILE SHOPPING... then get a growler or howler fill of any beer that's on tap in case you didn't drink enough while shopping

 

I will guess that every brewery in the greater GR area will fill a growler, and some have howlers or crowlers too. Grocery stores, bars, special growler shops/bars, etc. are also starting to make beer available in growlers to go. You'll have no problems finding places. (A few places might insist on filling their own logo growlers, although I have not heard that complaint for a couple years now so maybe that is a thing of the past.)

 

Say now, GR is great no doubt.

But there's a place called Traverse City, and I'd say it's as good if not better than GR. Depending on what you're in the mood for I suppose...

 

I respectfully disagree. GR has more going for it 24/7/365 than any other city in Michigan, whether it be nightlife, beer, food, music... and it's only 30 minutes from Lake Michigan.

 

I've never really spent any time east of about Marshall, so I can't comment on Ann Arbor, Lansing or the De-Twat area. But one of the cool things about Grand Rapids is that, while it's a great city on it's own, you have easy access to other places like Saugatuck-Holland-Grand Haven on the lake. Kalamazoo is an hour south. And when you have more time the Traverse City area (including Bellaire) and all that it offers is only about 2.5 hours away. Again, just a city and a region I've always really liked.

 

Not to hijack too much (hopefully this is helpful for @nachos as well)...

We're coming into GR on Saturday and are planning to visit Perrin for lunch and then come into the city. We'll obviously hit Founders, and will likely skip Vivant / Hopcat. Any other recommendations on places to hit in downtown area?

Any thoughts on Greyline, The Mitten, or other places?

Appreciate any BA help on this!

 

The Mitten! I Love the Mitten! I've yet to visit Greyline, so no help there. Of the rest of the names mentioned - I'll just say that I would do The Mitten and Brewery Vivant before I would do Founders and Perrin... but that's just me.

Edit: I'm also a huge fan of Pike 51 over in Hudsonville, but it's location is a little out-of-the-way from the downtown breweries. (although it may be on your route either into or out of the city)

 

Thanks, appreciate the help! Vivant is a no-go for our group (a few people that aren't big fans and would rather try something else). The Mitten sounds like a great option, though. Any others that come to mind outside the names already mentioned?

 

I will suggest Grand Rapids Brewing Company as a solid stop if you are already in the downtown area (i.e. Founders / HopCat area).

They aren't doing anything especially revolutionary or must-have, but they have a dozen or so handles, nice variety of rotating styles. And a solid food menu as well.

I wouldn't necessarily plan a trip around hitting GRBC, but I find myself stopping in there for a beer or two every time I do a beer weekend in GR. It is literally steps from HopCat, so it also makes a good Plan B if HopCat is packed (which it seems to be about 80% of the time I try to go there).

 

In terms of the best beer, be sure to skip GRBC (bad food, bad beer). I also don't care much for The Mitten's beer, although they have good pizza. Two of the lower tier breweries in town for my money. I am a big fan of Greyline and think most of what they do is great, I'd check them out. They do not fill growlers but they do sell crowlers. Rockford brewing has good beer and great food. Harmony Hall has solid food and decent beer. I haven't had too much from Elk. New Holland has good food and beer as well. Vivant has the best food of any brewery in town hands down and I enjoy most of their beer.

 

The Knickerbocker (New Holland) and Harmony Hall are right down the street from each other, just over a mile from Founders, and worth a visit in my opinion, especially the Knickerbocker. The architecture of the building is worth seeing by itself and the beers are good too. They do their own spirits as well in case anyone in the group fancies a cocktail over beer. Food can be a bit pricy though. Harmony Hall has great sausages if you're in the mood for a late night bite to eat.
Elk has some pretty good brews and has locations in both Eastown and Comstock Park. They're small spaces though and can get pretty loud if they get too crowded.
I've had some good beers from Creston too.
I only moved here in November so we're still trying to get out and explore everything. Really you can't go wrong pretty much anywhere you go.

 

I'll second the suggestions above for New Holland's Knickerbocker and Harmony Hall. Knickerbocker is great but it will probably be slam-packed. I like Harmony Hall but for the food more than the beer.

 

My wife picked up a Grand Rapids Beer City Brewsader Passport this weekend. It's a pocket-size booklet highlighting 32 breweries spanning a larger area than just Grand Rapids. It looks like a sort of pub crawl kind of thing..I haven't quite figured it all out, but suspect it covers locations who chose to participate and thus is only a snapshot of local offerings.

Siciliano's is certainly a great store. Another good place is Rishi's International Beverage on 28th St. not far from the GR Ford Airport.

 

OK...since people are spreading out to the 'burbs like Hudsonville, I'll chime in with two favorite hangs in Holland (MI)...Washington Square (18th & Washington) has a fairly new (<1 year) bar called Brew Merchant with 31 (at last count I knew of) taps (beers & ciders) they select to expose patrons to local and far away selections along with their own cocktails. I encountered Speedway Stout on draft there and probably would not have otherwise as I don't try 22-25 oz $13 beer bottles. Small cozy place with a fire place and live music on Saturday evenings.

Our family has put down roots lately at Fireside Brewing on W. 17th St. in Holland...decent rotating variety of draft-only brews by three Chicago transplant brewers who used to have a recording studio...they have a respectable live music schedule Friday & Saturday evenings and recently formed a house band. They are planning expansion into another wing of the former factory building (Holland Ladder Building) to add a larger stage and sound system. The opposite end of the building houses King's Cove Party Store which is pretty decent if not quite on par with Siciliano's and Rishi's.

New Holland's hometown location brew pub is at 8th & College in downtown Holland and a few doors east is Our Brewing Company which is growing and improving with increasingly sophisticated brews, having originally started as a 3-day/week operation.

 

Greyline is solid. It is quite small and often pretty full. If you like spirits, also try Gray Skies distillery. Whiskey is really good but their hopped gin is Really good and I'm not a gin fan, definitely need to try a gin and tonic there. There is a distillery right next to the mitten too but prices are higher. Gray skies is better. The mitten is another solid but not mind blowing option. Pizza is good.

For beer bars check out the tap list at Monellis in Wyoming, Hopcat of course and Hops 84 East in Holland. All tap lists are kept up to date on their web sites. There are a few others but check those first.