New Holland, Holland MI

Had a visit to New Holland in Holland, MI this past weekend. Took and tour and had lunch.

Started off with a tour of the production facility. Very interesting. Tour started out with a pour of either Mad Hatter IPA, or Sundog Amber. I chose the Amber, simply because I usually have the IPA. We saw the MLTs, grain storage area, HLTs, grinding room, fermentation room, Oak Barrels for the aged beers, hops... You know, brewery stuff!

I asked where they got the Spelt for their Golden Cap Saison, and the tour guide said that it was a trade secret. At the end of the tour we checked out the bottling line which is run on Thursdays, and then sat down for samples of the Golden Cap Saison, Mad Hatter IPA, and The Poet Oatmeal Stout. All very good beers and we got souvenir glasses with their logo, and a discount card for the BrewPub downtown.

After the tour we went to the brewpub downtown and had lunch. It was too late for the tour of the distillery at the brewpub, but we had a very nice lunch and watched some Basketball. I had a Scottish Ale which was good, but I wish I'd chosen the cask Mad Hatter and pulled pork sandwich.

After we ate I picked up a New Holland Jacket and a tulip glass on discount.

All in all a nice time and well worth the $5 for the beer and tour and glass.

Check online calendar for tour times as they will be changing to different hours for the summer.

The tour sounds cool!

Have you ever had Black Tulip?

Yes! That is some good beer. I save that and the Dragon's Milk for special occasions. I don't drink the heavy stuff too often. Although the tulip isn't heavy tasting IMO.

I am a big fan of the Golden Cap, and Dragon's Milk. The imperial hatter is pretty good as well.

I happen to live 2 blocks away from the Brewpub. Not only is the beer great the food is delicious as well. I recommend it to everyone thinking about comming out to the west side of the state.

I emailed the head brewer (I think) and got a response back right away. He wouldn't give me the source of his Spelt, but he did basically give me the recipe for Golden Cap, minus the exact grains and Hops, which shouldn't be too hard to figure out anyway.

While checking out their hops inventory, there was a couple of boxes that had a yellow plastic bag draped over the side as if to hide the name...

They had a very cool old still that they are cleaning up and are going to put into use in the future.

Just thought I would say again how much I like New Holland... Walked to the Pub and had a glass of Imperial hatter and Dragons milk... Amazing