Greetings From Michigan, A Great Beer State: Stop #4 - Founder's Brewing Company

This past week Gina and I took a couple days off to visit family in Michigan. Of course no vacation is ever complete without enjoying a beer or two, so we also visited a few of Michigan's finer craft beer establishments.



Our final stop on our one-day whirlwind Michigan beer tour found us in Grand Rapids, home of Founder's Brewing Company. After we deposited our bags in our hotel, we took a scenic one mile walk across the grand river and a found ourselves a seat at the Founders Tap Room.


The tap room is a huge, airy, space; A long barn-like building featuring an east side composed of windowed garage-type doors, which I'm sure are opened during good weather, expansive wooden floors, and what must be at least thirty tables. A pool table or two and a makeshift stage filled out the space. Of course I can't forget the bar - a gigantic curvy monster that took up most of the west wall. It was there we sat down for dinner, and a pint or three.


Founders Hand of Doom - A 10% Imperial IPA might not seem like the best way to easy yourself into a night of drinking, but keep in mind we had already visited Dark Horse, Arcadia, and Bells that day. Knowing that the car was safe back at the hotel meant that we had very little to worry about.

Hand of Doom is a super coconut IPA - at least that's what my notes say. Sweet, syrupy, thick and hoppy, with hints of coconut throughout - nose, front and finish. The creamy mouthfeel reminded me of something that it took me a little while to put my finger on. And then it hit me - Hand of Doom drinks like Apocalypse Cow. If there weren't so many other beers to try I certainly would have had another. And another.

I wonder if there was any lactose in there..


Founders Newago County Cherry - Imagine Cerise aged on oak. And there you are.


Founders Honey Wheat - 5.5% ABV, cloudy, with that regular gold wheat beer color. The nose is sweet and fruity, with an agreeable sweetness that goes through the whole beer. My notes say "Upland Wheat + heft in body + honey". Very tasty.


Founders Super Gold - Another 5.5% ABV beer, Gina's notes say "an easy to drink beer that tastes watery, and yet peppery". Super Gold is a pale lager, and was probably the least interesting beer of the night.


Founders Holé Molé - We split a 4oz a sample of this one, and actually we didn't finish it. This was by far the spiciest beer I've ever had. A stout with habenero pepper, it was pretty much like sipping on hot sauce. I appreciate the experimentation and the experience, but I can't imagine having a whole pint.


While this concludes this batch of Michigan coverage at HBG, it's worth noting that we left Founder's shortly after a band of hippies (one of which may have been Founders brewer Jeremy Kosmicki) took over the music stage (that's not really why we left - I love you, hippies!), and headed over to Grand Rapid's Hop Cat, where we had a fantastic experience. On our way over toward Detroit we stopped in at Jolly Pumpkin Ann Arbor, where we sampled a few beers that definitely stand out. In Warren we visited Kuhnhenn during their Octoberfest celebration, and rounded out the night with a stop at Dragonmead, where the extensive beer menu blew us away. We'd highly recommend all of these breweries and bars, and look forward to our next trip, where we'll dig in a little deeper.

Greetings From Michigan, A Great Beer State: Stop #3 - Bell's Brewing Company

No proper beer trip to Michigan would be complete without a stop at Bell's Eccentric Cafe. On our way in the door, I noticed that I had a message on my phone, and just as soon as we walked in the door, we were right back out on our way to the Bell's production facility (Thanks Bob and Marty!). Their facility is normally not open for public tours, so this was an extra special treat for us.

Driving up to the building, you get the sense that Mr. Bell is not fooling around. The building is a massive steel structure tucked between a couple buildings and a couple fields just a few miles out of town. This location works well for them because that means they have some more room to grow in the future. And that is a good thing for all of us.

We've got a lot of photos, so I'll mostly let them speak for themselves.

The control board in the photo, while functional, is not generally used in production. The brewer runs the operation from a computer room.

We don't know exactly what's in here, but we hear it might be sour! I for one am super excited about that prospect.

There are a lot of green updates to this location, including solar lights, motion detector lights, and a grass rooftop. The barrels on the left are supported by an overhead grid. This allows for easy access for the workers as well as the hoses and other brewing equipment.

This machine washes, sanitizes, and fills the kegs.

This shelf holds beer from previous batches they've brewed (no 9000 yet, we asked) so if they run into any issues, they can check it out. They take quality control seriously here!

The bottling line fills and packages Expedition Stout.

This was my favorite stop on the tour - the lab.

Bell's Eccentric Cafe is located about 5 miles from the brewery. It's a giant room with beautiful details in wood and brick. You can order beer at the bar and food at the small window to the right of the bar. Notice the 76 Ale sign hanging on the wall? It comes from the old Terre Haute Brewing Company.

Mike had the Rye Stout, which is something brand new to bottles. The flavor in front was a deep roasted malt with coffee flavors, also kind of like toasty bread. The rye comes through in the middle, and the beer finishes with a full coffee flavor again.

I had the Golden Funk, a 6.5% ABV Sour Ale. The board said it had peppercorn, galangal, and cardamom. I've never heard of galangal before, but wikipedia says it's a root that is used in some Asian dishes. The beer is floral and sour with a funky medicinal flavor. Mike said that the nose reminded him of ketchup flavored potato chips, but I mostly just got a lot of floral notes. It's very interesting and I hope this is just the beginning of their sour offerings.

Greetings From Michigan, A Great Beer State: Stop #2 - Arcadia Brewing Company

This past week Gina and I took a couple days off to visit family in Michigan. Of course no vacation is ever complete without enjoying a beer or two, so we also visited a few of Michigan's finer craft beer establishments.



Our second stop along the way was a random detour - we knew that we were headed to Bells in Kalamazoo, and we also knew that we had a hotel reservation in Grand Rapids. The question then became "how much can we (responsibly) fit in before we get to Founders?"

The Michigan beer map showed on slight detour on the way west along Interstate 94 - Arcadia Brewing Company. Knowing very little about the brewery (apart from recognizing a few of their beers from somewhere along the way) added a little mystery to the detour.


If you want to get the attention of the staff at a brewpub, just pull out a camera. As soon as I did, I was met with a greeting of "no photography, please". I turned around and said "oh, OK" and was met with a smile and a "just kidding" from Arcadia brewer Kevin Becraft.

As I sauntered off to the restroom Gina struck up a conversation with Kevin. When we had walked in the bar I noticed a large group of Marines taking a tour of the brewery, which is located in a warehouse space just behind a bank of windows on the wall across from the bar and restaurant. When I returned to the bar I asked Kevin about the tour.


"You want to jump in?" he asked. We quickly jumped on the back of the tour group and learned about the process of brewing and bottling Arcadia's award winning English style beers. For example, Arcadia uses open fermentation in the brewing process (something we hadn't seen in practice before), and bottles on a bottling line produced in the 1950s.

Unfortunately we were on a schedule, so we couldn't spend more time with Kevin and his co-brewer Josh Davies. They were kind enough to answer some of our questions and also make some suggestions on where else to visit while in Michigan.


Brewers Kevin and Josh
And of course - we had a couple beers.

Arcadia Golden Harvest Ale - Recommended by Kevin. My first thought was "this reminds me of Broad Ripple Brewpub". This is a bold English pale, with a nice malt balance bringing up the back. The use of fresh hops is evident in the snappy hop bite in the finish. I wish we could have stayed for more.

Gina had Arcadia's ESB, but her notes are unclear - being on vacation meant that she was easily distracted.


Next up, a stop at Bells. And another stop at Bells. And a return to our original stop at Bells.

Greetings From Michigan, A Great Beer State: Stop #1 - Dark Horse Brewing Co.

This past week Gina and I took a couple days off to visit family in Michigan. Of course no vacation is ever complete without enjoying a beer or two, so we also visited a few of Michigan's finer craft beer establishments.



Our first stop was Marshall, Michigan's Dark Horse Brewing Company. You may know of Dark Horse from their distribution in Indiana - beers like Crooked Tree IPA, Reserve Special Black Bier Ale, and Perkulator Coffee Dopplebock.


One thing we've never understood was Dark Horse's scattershot beer packaging. A stop in to their brewpub was all the insight we needed to figure out their marketing philosophy.

Dark Horse's brewpub is the sort of place where bathroom graffiti is appreciated - a Bert's Peppy Grill sort of cobbled together space that is one part Three Floyds, one part biker bar, and one part hunting cabin.


The tap handles are a collection of cast off idols and knickknacks - half a toy horse, what looks like a soft soap dispenser, an idol of Lenin, a Dryad's dildo, a bloody hand in wood, and their more commonly used double barrel shotgun - that pour a varied collection of brews. An Oktoberfest, scotch ale, amber, harvest pale ale, oatmeal stout, and smoked stout joined the aforementioned Crooked Tree IPA and Special Black Bier on tap.


It's obvious that Dark Horse's mug club must is widely supported - you'll notice rows and rows of custom made mugs lining every available space in the bar. Before we left, we noticed a group of folks sitting down at a table towards the back. The waitress walked up and said "the amber?", giving away their "regular" status at the bar. The fact that they were elderly women didn't seem strange at all.


Dark Horse Harvest Pale Ale - This is a cloudy, copper-colored beer, with a milky head and light lacing. The nose is citrusy hops - mostly orange, with a slightly footy note mixed in. The front is bitter but light, backed up with a nice malt balance. The highlight of the beer is the creamy mouthfeel - an element that reminds me of Three Floyd's Apocalypse Cow.


Dark Horse Oktoberfest - The nose on this one is light and bready, and comes from a deep red/almost purple colored brew. The front is grapeish and fruity, but the beer balanced out with a cereal-like malt flavor. This beer has a sugary sweetness that isn't present in most of the oktoberfest beers I've had, which I can appreciate since I'm not the biggest fan of the style.


Dark Horse Black Bier - The beer has a nose of BBQ meat, but the beer is smooth and subtle - a little smokey, a little meaty.

Dark Horse is only 3 and half hours from Indianapolis, and is the perfect start for a weekend Michigan beer trip. Stay tuned for more stops along the way in the next few days.