My wife and I are coming up from Cincinnati to Ft. Wayne IN for a wedding in the middle of July. We were thinking about taking a few extra days to tour some breweries and hang out in MI. Wife's short list is Founders, HopCat, Bells. I'm pretty open and know that I'll have a great time at those places and any other that we end up swinging thru. Anyone want to help me put together an itinerary? Say, leaving from Ft. Wayne IN on 7/21, returning to Cincinnati on 7/24. Beer centric tour, maybe outdoor recreation opportunities (are the beaches in MI decent in the summer?) and even camping we'd be up for. Along with any type of cool, must-do experiences in that area. Thanks all
If you're going to Founders, might as well stop in at Vivant since it's less than a mile away. Odd Side is about 45 minutes west of Founders, too. And Dark Horse is also only about 30-40 minutes east of Bell's. You might need to take a few more vacation days.
How long of a drive from Grand Rapids to Dark Horse. I've been to Bells...is Dark Horse worth the extra drive?
GR to Dark Horse ~90mins. Whether it's worth it is all relative. Personally, I'd just do a GR & KZoo Day. In GR, I'd hit: -Hopcat -Founders -Vivant -Harmony -Perrin In KZoo -Bells -Shakespeares -Central City -BeerExchange
I plan to hit Founders and Vivant. I went to Founders/Bells couple of years ago. Thought about hitting some new places. 3-4 days based in Grand Haven, then 3 days based in Traverse City. Be coming next week...anyone let me know if interested in any southern Brews (yazoo, sweetwater, terrapin) from TN! Will be driving up this Friday and staying until following Saturday.
Just recently completed a MI beer tour(from Chicago). We did: Greenbush New Holland Vivant Bells Dark Horse Founders Shorts Hopcat All places where very good, but Dark Horse and Shorts ended up being my favorite Cheers
I have friends who live in FW and have done the following with them several times: Head up 69 to Marshall - Dark Horse is just 2-3 miles off of the highway and very worth it. Then head to Kalamzoo for Bell's and Shakespeare's. If you are spending the night in Kzoo, consider hitting Acadia on the way, as well as Central City and Beer Exchange in Kzoo. Then up to GR - Hopcat, Brewery Vivant, and Founders are all worth stops. I've done Dark Horse, Bell's, Shakespeare's, Founders, Hopcat, and Vivant in one day, but it is an epic crawl that makes having a designated driver for most of the day pretty essential. Much better to break them into a couple of days if possible. After that, either head back home, or continue on west and/or north for the great breweries on the west coast - Short's, Right Brain, New Holland, Oddside, Greenbush, etc. Hitting all of those would realistically take two days without much time for any non-brewery activities.
Regarding the beaches, yes. Warren Dunes is near Greenbush and The Livery. Beaches in Saugatuck, Holland, and Grand Haven all are wonderful and all have breweries within a mile or two. Great combo IMO. If you are making the trip to Shorts, Sleeping Bear Dunes could be hit on the way.
A lot of great choices, just want to point out one that has only been mentioned once..Perrin in GR (Comstock) is Fantastic IMO...
I would suggest staying in Grand Haven or Holland. The beaches are fantastic and you can either hit up Oddside or New Holland at night. The West Michigan beaches really are the best thing to do in the summer. Mid July will be just about right for going in the water as well. Only tourist go in the water in June. The locals know the water doesn't get warm enough until July.
I'm glad I wasn't the first one in the thread to recommend The Livery, Perrin or the Hideout. All worthy visits on a Michigan beer tour up the coast.
