Wow what a weekend.... never thought I could consume so much good beer in the coarse of a weekend. So I will attempt to describe the trip to the best of my abilty.
12:00 Bus dropped us off at Grand Rapids Brewery:
Awsome Food, They had 5 specials for us when we arrived, all of which were excellent looking, and tasting. The deal was 8 bucks for a mug and a sandwich. The beer was average, nothing to write home about. I had the pale ale, and took a sip of the stout. The bar area was small, but cool to hang with friends. They had a mug club, if your a local. Rating: C+
Hideout: This is a unique place, first of all its hidden away off the beaten path. There is a little sign pointing how to get there, I think you could live in the area your whole life and not know it's there. When you walk in the door, the bar area is on the left, with an over hang, that leads to a upstairs level. This place was formally a bath house, they have a big outside area, to throw horse shows, and the bean bag game. The beer here was very good, I would reccomnd the Hazelnut stout on the nitro tap, very impressive. They have a Belgium Triple that also very tastey. This place would be very cool on a nice day after work to hang out. B
Founders: Wow.....This place is a huge beer hall. The bar is 50 feet long, if i had to guess. We walked in at 3:30 and it was packed in there, add anouther 50 people and you can imagine how busy it was. The beer here was amazing. I had the double trouble, which is by far my favorite Double IPA, and my wife tried the Creise Cherry Beer, which is a seasonal beer. Most of the beers avaiable to-go also. The staff was very knowledgable, and took care of everyone as quick as they could. They also had a Citra ale that smelled unbelivable. A-
HopCat: First word that comes to mind is classy. This is a very sharp looking place. Not to metion they have 49 craft beers on draft, and I think they said 200 in the bottle. This is the kind of place I could see myself hanging out at, plus you would never get sick of the beer. The bathroom was also very cool, you must see it for yourself. They also make there own beer here, but there brew area looked more like a storeage area than a brewery. A
B.O.B.: Big old Building. This place has it all, there is a berwery in the basement. They have a club, and a nice restraunt. Plus there a multiable bars scattered throughout. I tried the Tirmisau Stout, it smelled very good,
and was very smooth. My memory gets a little hazey from this point on, I think i tried something else, but I can't confrim that. We took a tour of the brewery, but the guy talking was so boring I had to go back to the bar.
B-
Smohlz: Have you ever walked into a Hick bar, and what do you know it's a brewery?...Well neither did I until I went here. They had a pet Little pig running around everywhere. They gave you free popcorn, and the place was set up like a cafateria, I don't think they even had a bar area. The beer was ok, But I have to wait and review that when I crack open one of the 6 packs I bought. This was my least favorite of the group. C-
So that was my little review, I will try and get some picture up by this weekend.
