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When my husband and I decided to spend a weekend in Grand Rapids right before Thanksgiving, I was flooded with excitement and nostalgia. Grand Rapids, aka Beer City, had been on our list to visit for quite some time, with my husband being the beer lover that he is. However, we kept prioritizing bigger, further trips, since we figured we’d “always” have time to go to Grand Rapids, but not so much places like Hawaii or Europe.
Throughout my whole life, I’ve always had warm fuzzy feelings about the state of Michigan. Having family out that way, it’s always brought to mind fond childhood memories of gathering with my cousins over a holiday. I loved leaving the dull suburbs for the openness of the country, where you could have bonfires and shoot off fireworks without the neighbors calling the cops.
After four years of putting Grand Rapids off, we finally found the perfect opportunity when I noticed my husband’s birthday fell the weekend before Thanksgiving. Fall also happens to be a great time to go because of all the beer releases of barrel aged goodness that happen to come out around that time. We had purposely passed on a summer visit for this very reason.
Although I am usually the trip planner in the family, I had to relinquish some duties to my husband, the beer expert. He did really well, and we made it to some great places in a short time. Below is how we managed to squeeze in all kinds of brewery deliciousness into just a quick weekend in Grand Rapids.
How to do a Quick Beer Weekend in Grand Rapids
Friday:
Since we live right outside Cleveland, OH, Grand Rapids was an easy driving distance for us, being just about 4 hours away. My hubby and I each took a day off of work for this, and made the drive with our small dog, Bennie.
Upon arrival, we first had to get our puppy settled in. We hung around the Airbnb with him for a little bit, before heading out to a town about a half hour outside of Grand Rapids, called Grand Haven.
This little trip was all my husband’s idea. I was very impressed with his choice, as we turned onto an incredibly charming main street full of old storefronts and Christmas cheer. Okay – I did doubt Aaron for a second when parking was a nightmare, but thankfully we eventually found a spot.
Odd Side Ales
The reason for this trip was to visit Odd Side Ales, our first brewery of the weekend. Here, we drank some delicious dark beers, including Deleterious and Reinoso Stout. This brewery doesn’t have its own kitchen, but has a menu available from The Toasted Pickle, which delivers from next door. Their loaded nachos and Cuban sandwich came out quickly and we sure did pack away that goodness.
Since we still craved something sweet after this, we popped into an adorable bakery called The Baker’s Wife for some takeaway cake.
We turned in for the night a little early to spend time with our puppy, so Aaron ran back out to Craft Beer Cellar, and returned with some local bottles. We ended up splitting one, and really enjoyed it. From what he reported, this was a beer store on steroids, and featured a lot of sought after taps to sip right there in the store.
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Saturday:
Donuts
I could not come to Grand Rapids without eating donuts, as they happen to have a lot of great bakeries. It was hard to pick only one, so we used proximity to narrow our choices.
We ended up at Van’s Pastry Shoppe, since it was only two minutes from our AirBnb. This classic place looked like an antique from the 1950’s, with a large storefront display, classic white tile and a display case full of vintage toy cars. I loved Van’s, and their donuts certainly did not disappoint.
Breweries – Downtown Grand Rapids
Our one full day in Grand Rapids was, of course, the major brewery hopping day. Since we knew we wanted to visit a lot of them, and obviously didn’t want to drive ourselves, we signed up for the Beer City Runner. This local business is a bus that will take you on a loop to about eight breweries. You can start and get off whenever you want, so it is very flexible with your plans. It’s great for large groups, since you can actually rent the whole bus for your party.
However, there were a couple nearby breweries in downtown Grand Rapids that were walking distance from our Airbnb. Therefore, we made ourselves exercise, and opted to visit the first few places on foot.
Before the brewery explorations began, we grabbed a little “nourishment” at HopCat, a local pub with good food and great craft beer on tap. We shared a hot chicken sandwich and fries, deciding against a big lunch since we figured we’d want to graze on food at each brewery.
From HopCat, we went to Grand Rapids Brewing Co., which was just a short walk away. I loved the copper details just below the taps on their bar. Grand Rapids Brewing also had a good appetizer menu, from which we shared some spinach and artichoke dip.
Next, we tried to go to The B.O.B., which unfortunately was closed due to a private Harvard-Yale football game party. Oh well, *cough* snobs – jk!
The Beer City Runner
We returned back to Grand Rapids Brewing so we could catch up with the Beer City Runner and be on our merry way to the area’s biggie – Founders Brewing Co.. This place was pretty cool, being quite spacious and having a heated patio. Founders also had a rather large gift shop, with plenty of fun memorabilia inside. We ordered some KBS, and also a variant of said beer, and really liked it even though we’ve had KBS in Ohio so many times before.
After Founders was The Mitten Brewing Co.. Oh how we loved The Mitten. Although calling to mind one of Michigan’s nicknames, this brewery was actually baseball themed. They had an imperial crackerjack stout that I was absolutely in love with, and still have dreams about. We also went crazy for their chicken and waffles pizza. If we come back to Grand Rapids, a return to this place would be a no-brainer.
After The Mitten was Elk Brewing Company. By the time we arrived at this one, I was getting beered out. I believe I ordered some sort of peanut butter stout, but honestly can’t quite remember. Thankfully, we made this our last stop of the day. Since our Airbnb was on the route, the Beer City Runner kindly dropped us off very close to our place. We ended with a quiet night of chilling with the puppy.
Sunday:
Grand Rapids has so many cute little coffee shops, and I’m sad we only made it to one on our last day. We made it a good one though.
About two miles down the road from our Airbnb was the Rise Authentic Baking Co., a hipster-ish coffee shop with delicious vegan pastries, including donuts. I’m not a vegan, but I am equal opportunity with vegan and non-vegan baked goods alike! After some espresso and goodies from the enticing display, we were good to go. Just like that, the weekend was coming to an end and we were on the highway for a sunny drive back home.
Biggest Takeaways from the Weekend:
- Beer City has more breweries that can be managed in just one weekend. To really dive in, at least one extra day is definitely needed.
- There are so many coffee shops worth exploring! Try to carve out time to make it to a few of them.
- Grand Rapids is a foodie city, and participating may leave you a little bloated. Just let it happen.
- Odd Side Ales and The Mitten were my favorite breweries.
- Grand Rapids is filled with pretty Victorian style houses that you’ll fall in love with, particularly if you have an old house obsession like me.
More Brewery-Themed Day Trips To Do:
I’ve consulted my husband, the brewery expert on this one. It turns out the whole region, not just Grand Rapids, has breweries galore. In fact, Grand Rapids is only one corner of a whole “brewery triangle”. Our vacation time and puppy companion limited us, but if you can, definitely try to get out and see the following places:
- Bell’s Brewery: 45 minutes south in Kalamazoo, MI.
- New Holland Brewing: About a half hour southwest in Holland, MI.
• • •
That concludes a very busy weekend of brewery hopping and beer tasting. As you can see, there are way more breweries in and around Grand Rapids than can be done in one weekend. The key is to pick a few top choices, and visit a couple others in close proximity. Either way, you’ll have a blast during this energetic weekend in Grand Rapids. Cheers!
