Great Lake, Great Beer: Pt. 4

To read Part 3 of our Lake Michigan beer adventure, click here.

With a carload of people, Nicole and I, along with my parents, siblings, and siblings’ significant others, headed inland to “Beer City USA” AKA Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Grand Rapids calls itself “Beer City USA” because twice it won Charlie Papazian’s famous (now defunct) internet poll.  I’m not sure if winning a web-based popularity contest warrants a metro-wide rebranding, even if Grand Rapids did claim the top spot more than once.  Don’t misunderstand, I think very highly of the beers made in Michigan’s second largest city; it’s just that I also think the “Beer City USA” poll is an inexact crock and should be given little credence.  I can hardly blame the municipal government for latching onto the moniker, though.  “Beer City USA” sure as hell beats Grand Rapids’ official nickname—“Furniture City.”

Iffy though Grand Rapids’ beer accolades might be, I applaud their branding efforts.  Disregarding the “Beer City USA” poll, it remains a fine town for ale and lager.  Why shouldn’t Grand Rapids advertise that fact?  Why shouldn’t there be billboards erected hours outside city limits informing drivers of the beer destination that lies ahead?  Why shouldn’t they be proud of their brewing culture? 

Do you know who doesn’t laud their breweries with such enthusiasm?  The more obvious beer hotspots like San Diego and Denver.  I’ve seen a few brew signs go up around the Mile High City during Great American Beer Festival season but, besides that, Denver’s beer culture is implied, hardly ever stated plainly.  Why is the situation as such?  Is it because the tourism boards of San Diego and Denver focus on the more evident draws (e.g. the beaches of San Diego, the mountains of Denver) and beer just isn’t on the radar?  Are they protecting their civic reputation by downplaying the cities’ affinity for mind-altering substances?  Are they keeping beer culture hush-hush, underground, trying not to oversell it so as to retain the “cool factor” of the brewing industry?  I simply don’t know.  All I know is, driving the eastern plains towards Denver, I’ve never seen a billboard extolling my city’s strong craft community (although it does seem change is on the horizon). 

Inside Founders

Our first brewery was the biggest and most famous in the area, Founders Brewing Co.  What can be said about Founders that beer geeks don’t already know?  They’re a juggernaut of the craft beer world, they’ve got a contender in Beer Advocate’s top 10 highest-rated beers list, and it was the most recommended brewery when I asked where in Grand Rapids I should visit.  Chances are you’ve had Founders even if you don’t live in a state where they distribute (e.g. Colorado). 

My M.O. when it comes to drinking at well-known breweries like Founders is never ordering from the year-round menu.  What’s the point?  Why talk about All Day IPA when every other beer geek’s probably already had it?  I want to bring something new to the conversation.  Go small and go rare whenever you can; be a beer adventurer, take the ale less traveled by.  For me, that meant Barrel Aged Spite—a beer far removed from the flagships.

Barrel Aged Spite

I drank Barrel Aged Spite in the Founders taproom with its handsome, curved bar constructed of rustic wood.  A chili beer, Barrel Aged Spite lost much of its peppery bite from its rest in the barrel, the flavor is heavier on oak and bourbon, but it’s still an interesting, creative beer with at least a little spiciness left to tingle the tongue. 

Our next Grand Rapids brewery, while boasting far less fame than Founders, is becoming a larger part of the collective craft beer consciousness.  Collaboration with New Belgium Brewing, achievements in LEED certification, a devotion to French and Belgian ales, and a taproom built in a refurbished funeral chapel with stained glass windows, vaulted cross-beamed ceilings, and a bar shaped in a Gothic pointed arch will get any brewery some recognition and Brewery Vivant deserves every ounce of acknowledgment they accrue.

Taking our seats at a long, wooden table—one of many that outline the edges of the bar area—our group settled in with an order of frites, a charcuterie platter, and several footed glasses of fine Franco/Belgo ale.  Most notably, the sour-tinged Farm Hand saison, the aptly named Sgt. Peppercorn Rye (the titular ingredient is not to be ignored), the powerful and lavish Whisky Rooster aged in Jack Daniels barrels, and The Cheetah, a merciless Belgian strong dark ale that, with 14.2% ABV, can drop a beer geek quicker than its namesake drops a Thomson’s gazelle.  Brewery Vivant’s beers are so good they seem inspired from on high.  They don’t simply serve the beer in a holy space, the recipes are equally divine. 

Inside Vivant

Keeping the brew tour train chugging along, we finished our beers at Brewery Vivant and skedaddled to Harmony Brewing Company, a neighborhood pub-style watering hole with an interior accented with worn timber and a pleasant roadside patio with vibrantly colored picnic tables on which we staked our claim.

There was one aspect about Harmony I particularly appreciated.  Berliner Weissbiers have slowly climbed the ladder of obscurity and to the near-forefront of advanced-palate craft beers; the sour beer trend is in full swing and the revival of Berliner Weisse is partially to thank.  However, even though American brewers have resurrected the German native’s career, Berliner Weisse in the United States typically misses a key component: the syrup.  In Berlin, people traditionally order the demonymic drink with Himbeere (raspberry syrup) or Waldmeister (woodruff syrup) to sweeten and tone down the beer’s acidic sharpness.  In America, we drink Berliner Weisse straight-up, no syrup.  Syrup’s usually not even an option; brewers make the beer and omit the condiments.  Thus, when I saw a selection of homemade syrups accompanying Harmony’s Grand Jollification Berliner Weisse—juniper, strawberry, cherry, black rose tea, and probably a few more—I jumped at the chance to drink like a true German.  I went with the juniper syrup and, overall, I don’t regret my decision.  Nicole, however, has the nose of a bloodhound (in ability, not appearance) and thought the syrup/beer combination smelled like old cheese and fungal feet.  Now, I usually defer to Nicole's olfactory prowess but, in this case, I have to disagree.  I thought the juniper syrup added a refreshing coniferous flavor.  In the end, I still favor my Berliner Weissbiers “American-style.”  The syrup adds too much sugar for my liking.  What I relish in Berliner Weisse is its tartness; I’m not looking to ruin that with counteracting saccharinity.

Grand Jollification with juniper syrup

Our last brewery in Grand Rapids was Schmohz Brewing Company, situated in a drab, gray building trimmed in maroon awning.  It’s a dark, dive bar atmosphere and unrefined with its cafeteria chairs, drop tiled ceiling, concrete floors, and pinball machine in the corner.  It emits a vibe more akin to a biker bar or factory worker's pub than a craft brewery. 

Inside Schmohz

That’s not a condemnation, mind you, merely an observation.  In fact, I’d prefer if more breweries plopped their operations into dingier settings, got back to the roots of the craft beer revolution.  The industry as a whole has become too polite; it’s very nearly lost its edge.  However, when the taproom looks like the headquarters for Hell’s Angels or an illegal gambling den, it re-instills the sense of adventure once prevalent at all small brewing operations.  I admire Schmohz for retaining craft beer’s anarchistic spirit.  Not everyone must follow suit, a chic brewery here and there is fine, but I appreciate that the down-to-earth aura of craft hasn’t completely evaporated.  Also, Schmohz’s John T. Pilsner was pretty good; nothing too fancy, it’s straightforward and it gets the job done just like the building in which it was birthed. 

John T. Pilsner

That sums up Nicole and I’s Lake Michigan beercation.  We drove back west, stopped in cooler-than-you’d-think downtown Omaha to enjoy the rooftop patio at Upstream Brewing Company, and finally arrived back in Denver.  We had ourselves a rollicking good time skirting along the shoreline, visiting great Midwestern cities, and partaking in local beer but, no matter where we go, we’re happy to hang our hats in Colorado.  It’s our home.  It’s where our favorite beers are made.  It’s where we want to end up at the end of any journey.  I credit the Lake Michigan area for its undeniably vivacious beer scene but nothing can tear me away from my Rocky Mountain brews.  

Prost!

Chris    

Upstream in Omaha

            

Schmohz lacks a bit in subtlety

Case in point