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Pattmost20

By Pattmost20
in Grand Rapids

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GRDadof3
GRDadof3

There used to be a town there called Childsdale, over a century ago, and the paper company was right on the river (the big green monster building that is now a church). I think I even read that there

HomePortSupplyCo
HomePortSupplyCo

Lakeshore Beer: Big Lake already has a great building and cool patio area if you haven't been.  Looks like the patio needs to go vertical to accommodate more patrons. https://www.cityofholla

walker
walker

Headline: "Delivery of brewing tanks ‘a big step’ in bringing German beer hall to Grand Rapids" MLIVE  

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joeDowntown Metropolis

joeDowntown

Posted
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2 hours ago, Pattmost20 said:

This week has been awesome for brewery/distillery announcements. Speciation, Cedar Springs, and Two James all moving/adding locations in GR city limits.

Anyone else worry that they may be a little late to the game / brew pubs (to an extent) have "jumped the shark"? I wish them all the best, and hope everyone does well, but I would think we have to be getting close to peak saturation / drinking habits are changing, etc. 

Joe

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gunnerdouzi Unincorporated Area

gunnerdouzi

Posted
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5 minutes ago, joeDowntown said:

Anyone else worry that they may be a little late to the game / brew pubs (to an extent) have "jumped the shark"? I wish them all the best, and hope everyone does well, but I would think we have to be getting close to peak saturation / drinking habits are changing, etc. 

Joe

Interesting point... In my opinion, as long as they are able to differentiate themselves from the "crowd" and are able to create a unique 'experience', there should be room for more.  Speciation seems to be very different from anything else I have seen, much smaller and intimate vibe, almost an ether of exclusivity or membership that people may seek out and want to be a part of.  Cedar Springs' pull seems to be more than just their beer, but also authentic Bavarian German culture/cuisine.  And it doesnt seem like there are very many distilleries right in town, but perhaps I am just less aware of their existence.  I do think we are approaching that point of saturation where some longer standing breweries that fail to differentiate may struggle to stay open (ie Elk Brewing perhaps) - but I would be surprised if that were to deter the new guys from trying to set a new bar. 

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joeDowntown Metropolis

joeDowntown

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15 minutes ago, gunnerdouzi said:

Interesting point... In my opinion, as long as they are able to differentiate themselves from the "crowd" and are able to create a unique 'experience', there should be room for more.  Speciation seems to be very different from anything else I have seen, much smaller and intimate vibe, almost an ether of exclusivity or membership that people may seek out and want to be a part of.  Cedar Springs' pull seems to be more than just their beer, but also authentic Bavarian German culture/cuisine.  And it doesnt seem like there are very many distilleries right in town, but perhaps I am just less aware of their existence.  I do think we are approaching that point of saturation where some longer standing breweries that fail to differentiate may struggle to stay open (ie Elk Brewing perhaps) - but I would be surprised if that were to deter the new guys from trying to set a new bar. 

One thing that kind of made me scratch my head about the Cedar Springs Brewery move, is they're NOT serving food (well, minimal food, "snacks" / not their menu). Seems like an odd move.

Joe

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Pattmost20 Hamlet

Pattmost20

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1 hour ago, joeDowntown said:

Anyone else worry that they may be a little late to the game / brew pubs (to an extent) have "jumped the shark"? I wish them all the best, and hope everyone does well, but I would think we have to be getting close to peak saturation / drinking habits are changing, etc. 

Joe

I mean all of them are established brands, I don't see it as too much of a risk for them. And if there are ever too many breweries on Wealthy or in the Eastown/East Hills area, East West will be the first to go, shortly followed by ELK.

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EastownLeo Hamlet

EastownLeo

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22 minutes ago, joeDowntown said:

One thing that kind of made me scratch my head about the Cedar Springs Brewery move, is they're NOT serving food (well, minimal food, "snacks" / not their menu). Seems like an odd move.

Joe

I agree, The best way to sell that second or third beer is to get me to stay or fill me with some grub so I don't get too buzzed.  But with more places, you often see more "bar hopping" so they may help with the route of drinkers stopping at New holland, Jolly Pumpkin, Harmony and now Cedar Springs.

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

Posted
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3 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

One thing that kind of made me scratch my head about the Cedar Springs Brewery move, is they're NOT serving food (well, minimal food, "snacks" / not their menu). Seems like an odd move.

Joe

Does Harmony Hall still offer Bavarian/German food? I haven't been there in a few years.  Maybe they thought it'd be redundant. 

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1 hour ago, GRDadof3 said:

Does Harmony Hall still offer Bavarian/German food? I haven't been there in a few years.  Maybe they thought it'd be redundant. 

According to those on Reddit, they kind of did away with their original concept and switched to more traditional food/pizzas.  A lot of people said they preferred the original menu and were looking forward to CSB's food.

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Allison Slater Town

Allison Slater

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1 hour ago, GRDadof3 said:

Does Harmony Hall still offer Bavarian/German food? I haven't been there in a few years.  Maybe they thought it'd be redundant. 

They decided it would be better to have one menu for both locations, and the pizza-focused menu of the Eastown location won out over the Bavarian one. I was very disappointed the last time I went and haven't been back since. They do still have a "sausage special" on the menu that they rotate once in a while, but that one special is as German as it gets.

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EastownLeo Hamlet

EastownLeo

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17 hours ago, Pattmost20 said:

A full kitchen would cut the space in half. I guess they are banking on getting more people in and out quicker than getting fewer people to stick around and eat.

They should buy the building to the west and have the kitchen in there along with a take out counter. They they have the full space for the Garden.

ps. this should probably move to the Beer or West side thread.

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joeDowntown Metropolis

joeDowntown

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Sorry everyone, I botched an attempt to move some messages from one forum to another and permanently merged the beer thread in to the Wealthy Street thread. I'll slowly clean it up, but this is the new Beer thread. Enjoy!

Speaking of beer, had anyone been to Third Nature up in Rockford? I drove past it this week and they did a nice job on the building.

It's in a weird location (I grew up in this area and used to run around in the woods nearby as a kid, so maybe it's just weird to me). I never knew why they decided to make one stretch of Childsdale office/light industrial (and now, a brewery) in an otherwise Industrial area. 

Joe

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

Posted
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1 hour ago, joeDowntown said:

Sorry everyone, I botched an attempt to move some messages from one forum to another and permanently merged the beer thread in to the Wealthy Street thread. I'll slowly clean it up, but this is the new Beer thread. Enjoy!

Speaking of beer, had anyone been to Third Nature up in Rockford? I drove past it this week and they did a nice job on the building.

It's in a weird location (I grew up in this area and used to run around in the woods nearby as a kid, so maybe it's just weird to me). I never knew why they decided to make one stretch of Childsdale office/light industrial (and now, a brewery) in an otherwise Industrial area. 

Joe

There used to be a town there called Childsdale, over a century ago, and the paper company was right on the river (the big green monster building that is now a church). I think I even read that there was a huge house that sat on top of the hill that is now the back end of the River Isle neighborhood, that was owned by the family who owned the paper company. I worked on a house in that neighborhood on the second lot in, and we unearthed some old foundations while excavating. We were afraid of what else we might dig up :)  but didn't find anything else interesting.  Found a ton of mason jars. 

Aha, found the old article!

https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2012/01/green_monster_near_rockford_is.html

So that's why that stretch is all zoned commercial, because it was zoned that way going back quite a long time when it was part of the "town." Once land goes commercial it's pretty hard to get it back to residential. Much easier to go residential to commercial or mixed use. 

They mention bordering the White Pine Trail in their marketing but you'd have to be quite the athlete to get to it on "House Street Hill."  I bike a lot and I'd be almost ralfing my pint of beer (or 2) getting back up that hill to the trail. :P

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grandrollerz Whistle-Stop

grandrollerz

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Well, they can keep the GR taproom open longer now with all that sweet molson-coors cash.  This twitter thread summarized my thoughts on Atwater. Been once, after a Gala at Devos Place, never back.  Don't know anyone else who goes. I sincerely hope they can hang on until the post-office goes and the convention hotel is up and running. It looks good on that corner.

s 

Different beer topic: Non-Alchoholic beer.  Supposedly the next big thing. I can't find any breweries that carry any besides Schmoz and Founders is out of it, with no firm plans to brew more.

Anybody know any breweries that are serving craft NA beer?

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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13 hours ago, grandrollerz said:

Well, they can keep the GR taproom open longer now with all that sweet molson-coors cash.  This twitter thread summarized my thoughts on Atwater. Been once, after a Gala at Devos Place, never back.  Don't know anyone else who goes. I sincerely hope they can hang on until the post-office goes and the convention hotel is up and running. It looks good on that corner.

s 

Different beer topic: Non-Alchoholic beer.  Supposedly the next big thing. I can't find any breweries that carry any besides Schmoz and Founders is out of it, with no firm plans to brew more.

Anybody know any breweries that are serving craft NA beer?

I don't really see what the point is. :)  I don't like the taste of craft beer ENOUGH to want a non-alcoholic version. 

Atwater had really good mini hot dogs I remember. But that was a few years ago when I was there last. 

 

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Chisox Unincorporated Area

Chisox

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14 hours ago, grandrollerz said:

Well, they can keep the GR taproom open longer now with all that sweet molson-coors cash.  This twitter thread summarized my thoughts on Atwater. Been once, after a Gala at Devos Place, never back.  Don't know anyone else who goes. I sincerely hope they can hang on until the post-office goes and the convention hotel is up and running. It looks good on that corner.

s 

Different beer topic: Non-Alchoholic beer.  Supposedly the next big thing. I can't find any breweries that carry any besides Schmoz and Founders is out of it, with no firm plans to brew more.

Anybody know any breweries that are serving craft NA beer?

I don't know about locally, but with the increasing population of Muslims in the Midwest  I wouldn't be surprised if there's a push to have more NA beverages. Over here Binny's has been carrying NA stuff for quite a while.

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thebeerqueer Burg

thebeerqueer

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15 hours ago, grandrollerz said:

Well, they can keep the GR taproom open longer now with all that sweet molson-coors cash.  This twitter thread summarized my thoughts on Atwater. Been once, after a Gala at Devos Place, never back.  Don't know anyone else who goes. I sincerely hope they can hang on until the post-office goes and the convention hotel is up and running. It looks good on that corner.

s 

Different beer topic: Non-Alchoholic beer.  Supposedly the next big thing. I can't find any breweries that carry any besides Schmoz and Founders is out of it, with no firm plans to brew more.

Anybody know any breweries that are serving craft NA beer?

I seem to recall Broadleaf having a NA beer for a minute but can't find anything about it. 

While not NA, Bell's released their session version of Two Hearted Ale this week called Light Hearted Ale. Clocks in at 3.7 % with all the flavor promise of a Two Hearted. Should be in rolling through distribution tomorrow. I'm looking forward to copping some. 

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