As Ohioans, I think we’re supposed to hate Michigan because of sportsball or something, but any state with as much good beer and food in a 30 mile radius as western Michigan has is a-OK in my book. Deb and I spent a weekend in Grand Rapids and surrounding areas and drank our livers into a coma so we could report back all the details to you, dear readers.
Well, the details I can remember at least.
HopCat
Rated as the third best beer bar in the world by Beer Advocate Magazine, HopCat was a natural first choice for our Grand Rapids trip. HopCat has 48 beers on tap, including four of their own house-made brews, with a diverse selection of styles and a solid selection Michigan-made beers. I made sure to order beer from breweries that weren’t on our itinerary for the weekend, including Rockboard’s Obsession, a sessionable Rye pale ale, and Short’s Huma Lupa Licious, an extremely grassy and delicious IPA. I ate the porter braised beer sandwich, topped with blue cheese black pepper mayo and onions on a brioche bun, and it might be the best sandwich I’ve ever had, served with a side of HopCat’s famously seasoned “Crack Fries.” Deb and I found much amusement here by the steady stream of people who missed the beer-geek-heaven memo and kept asking bartenders for “something light” – which the bartenders handled with grace. On the same block as HopCat is the Grand Rapids Brewing Company, which we didn’t make it over to, opting instead to walk a few blocks over to Founder’s.
Founder’s Brewing Co
This place was jam packed on Friday night when we arrived, but we were lucky enough to sneak two barstools. The good thing about Founder’s is that you can get almost all of their beer in Central Ohio, so there’s not as much beer envy for you to have from this stop. Founder’s Centennial IPA and Breakfast Stout are among my favorites, and you can pick them up at most carry-outs in Columbus. They did have a handful of taproom-only selections, including a Mosaic Promise hoppy pale ale that I tried and enjoyed, an “All Night” variant of their popular All Day IPA, and a couple extremely sweet mango-infused brews. They also had a selection of sandwiches and snacks.
Marie Catrib’s
I am so glad we got this breakfast recommendation from Breakfast with Nick. The 45 minute wait for a table was absolutely worth it – especially for Deb who, as you may know if you’ve been reading this site for a while, has Celiac’s and can’t ingest gluten (and yeah,I realize taking her to all of these breweries is kind of mean.) Anyway, Marie Catrib’s not only has a ton of gluten-free menu options, including some pretty delicious sweet potato pancakes, but lots of tempting-even-for-a-carnivore vegan options. But I skipped all that healthy shit and instead ate cinnamon raisin bread french toast stuffed with caramalized bananas, cream cheese AND peanut butter and holy hell was it amazing. We also had a pot of Turkish Coffee, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen at a non-Meditteranean restaurant, so that was awesome. This is the only place on the trip where we didn’t drink, instead carb-loading in preparation for nine hours of drinking. That’s a thing, right?
Like before a marathon? No?
Vander Mill Cidery
About half an hour west of Grand Rapids we arrived at Vander Mill, a large barn set in the middle of a wide field packed with pumpkins, and a playground packed with children. The inside flowed with a constant stream of cider sippers, folks buying jugs of non-hard cider and families buying house-made donuts and other tasty treats. We cozied up to the bar to find a wide selection of ciders on tap, including the three which they currently can (Hard Apple, Blue Gold, and our collective favorite, Totally Roasted, which is made with candied pecans) plus several others, among them Ginger Peach, Apple Raspberry and Nunica Pine. They also had a delicious Belgian beer and some of their wine available, and owner Paul Vander Heide was kind enough to give us a tour of the facilities. Vander Mill Cider recently entered the Ohio market with kegs – bottles and cans are coming early 2014.
OddSide Ales
The quaint town of Grand Haven is just a few minutes away from Vander Mill, so after a quick stop to the shore to look at the beautiful lake, and then almost die of hypothermia because it’s late October lakeside in Michigan, for gods sake, we stopped at OddSide for warmth. The back of the bar is beautifully lined with one of the more creative mug clubs I’ve ever seen a brewery offer – customers go to a ceramics shop and paint their own mugs as part of joining the loyalty program, creating an art installation piece for everyone to enjoy. OddSide had an impressive two dozen of their own brews on tap, in a wide variety of styles from sour to saison to mocha stout.
New Holland Brewing
New Holland was about 20 minutes up the coast from Grand Haven, and the only other spot we really wanted to get to before heading back to Grand Rapids. They had a really spacious, modern taproom, with 19 of their own beers available on tap, including two made with Michgian ingredients and four fresh out of the cask. I really enjoyed their saison, Monkey King (I brought some home with me, and no, I’m not sharing.) They also had a pretty solid-looking food menu, but we just snacked on a cheese plate so we could keep drinking.
Harmony Brewing
Back in Grand Rapids, we had more places on our to-do list than we had time to to-done, so we randomly picked Harmony Brewing as one of the lucky few we’d make it to. I had a grapefruit IPA shandy here that was pretty tasty, but the place was small and crowded so we didn’t stick around long.
Brewery Vivant
What an awesome space. Brewery Vivant is in an old church, so wood beam ceilings and stained glass windows outfit this Belgian brewery and restaurant. Vivant features about a dozen of their own Belgian brews, including a wood-aged beer series. I brought back some of their Farm Hand Farmhouse Ale which they can – the brewery is big on sustainability. This was our chosen dinner spot and I’m almost ashamed to write what I ate, because it was a block of camembert cheese wrapped in thick prosciutto – you know, on second thought, I’m not ashamed. That meat-wrapped hunk of cheese was amazing.
Green Well Gastro Pub
The final stop of the trip was Green Well for brunch on Sunday morning. We had attempted to go there the night before for dinner, but there was an hour wait for a table. I fell in love with Soft Parade from northern Michigan’s Short’s Brewing while we were here. The beer is brewed with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries AND blackberries, but surprisingly rounds out more dry than sweet, and is sneakily strong at 9% ABV. I also had a solidly delicious turkey sandhich outfitted with lots of ingredients that have no rightful place on a sandwich, like sweet potatoes and coleslaw. Yum.
There is far more to eat and drink in Western Michigan than you could possibly hope to accomplish in one weekend, and I suspect I could go back three or four more times and still not visit every brewery or restaurant of note.
But I’ll try.
Here are some more trips you can take from Columbus on a tank of gas.