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Hopcat grand opening January 12


DwntwnGeo

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So here's my little rundown. It was hard to get a good impression last night because it was so busy. If you didn't have a table (which we didn't) or a spot at the bar (which we didn't) it was hard to take your time and relax with the menu. The place is really top-notch. The decor and booths and bar were really very nice, lots of wood. The staff was very attententive and friendly overall. They had enough TV's to watch the game without looking like McFadden's or a sports bar. At one point they did lower a huge (HD?) projection screen. I'm sure sports fans will enjoy that during big events. There seemed to be a smoking lounge perched above the northwest corner of the bar. You could BARELY and I mean BARELY smell it if you could at all. I was standing right next to it and didn't know people were smoking. There was music as well, but it was not over powering at all. You could have a conversation with people

The beer selection is great and the prices are right on the money. Sure they have $8.00 beers, but they have a great selection of beer around $4.00 and even some as low as $3.00. I had the humpalumpalicious as well and it was delicious. I also had the Lindemans Pecheresse. When they say peach they mean peach. Wow, very very sweet.

Good times, I'll be back!

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The bar itself is this awesome custom mohogany job, totally killer. The atmosphere is 1800s English tavern. Lots of electric candles and dim lights, vintage beer cans/bottles behind the bar and vintage beer ads on the ceiling. The men's room had a pinup girls collage over the pissers and on the opposite side, an actor/musician collage (Jack Nicholson, Bob Marley, Zappa, Garcia, etc).

I only had a couple of hours to stay so I enjoyed the Rodenbach (good), Delirium Noel (very good) and Livery DIPA (very good). Prices were good on all of the above even without the half off. Typical bar food, sandwiches, wraps, deep-fried stuff, burgers, etc. Looked good but I didn't try any. Some people raved about the food. They do growlers to go, too.

Although I can't compare it to Ashley's since I've never been, it's certainly a formidible opponent for best beer bar in Michigan. I'll be back as often as I can :)

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Being a prominent member of the Michigan beer community, I was invited to a private party last night at the new Hopcat bar in GR. It's located in the old Sierra Room right next to Bar Diavani downtown. The bar officially opens on Saturday.

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The bar features 49 beers on tap and over 250 bottled beers. They're really focusing on Michigan beer, but they offer most of the other well known microbreweries from around the country (Dogfish Head, Rogue, etc). I divided most of my time between the Michigan section and the German/Czech lager selections. Here's the menu:

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There's a lot of custom woodwork, and a very long bar. It's pretty cool if you're a big beer fan to sit next to six huge beer towers which hold 6-8 taps each. There's also a hand-pull for cask conditioned ales. They opened up a tasty batch of Bell's Double Cream Stout on the beer engine last night.

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In two weeks they are scheduled to receive a 3 Bbl brewery where they will make a single beer to have on tap at the bar only. The rumor/plan right now is that they will have guest brewers and contests for locals to brew their beer on the system. New Holland's head brewer is scheduled to be the first to brew on the system when it arrives.

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I thought the bathrooms were really cool. The owner designed this himself. He blew up some classic pinups seen here and had them turned into wallpaper. On the opposite side of the bathroom were cool pictures of famous rockstars and male movie icons.

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Finally, there were many celebrities in the house besides myself (joking). Most of the brewers from the GR breweries were there, along with Larry Bell, seen here directly below Erin Andrews.

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This certainly isn't the first or the only bar in G.R. to focus on expanding beer selection options, but it is by far the best. Prices averaged about $4-5 per pint. Hopefully this bar stays around for awhile. It does offer a full kitchen, BTW, and I believe the owner said that he'll be getting a selection of cigars, soon. (The smoking section is on the second floor).

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Good times yesterday! The bar was a great as I had hoped it would. 3 friends and I visited about 4pm Sat. and we luckily found some space in the smoking area. I'm not a smoker but I can tolerate it. We ordered the $5 Grand Opening special of a burger and pint. I guess it was on the down low and you had to mention it. :) 3 out of 4 of us ordered The Bar Zee burger. One of the largest burgers I've had in a long time. The 3 of us that ordered the burger, none recieved bacon on it. One of us received the jalapenos. :( I lucked out on being the only one to receive a pickle with my meal. So basically I received a plain burger with bar cheese on it. Was still good though. We couldn't complain since our waitress KJ couldn't seem to keep up because of the crowd. We received a pint with it so I really couldn't complain. Met the G.M. and he seemed frazzled but seemed pretty happy at the way success so far. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Can't wait to return and try more beers! Hopefully they'll get some Hoegaarden on tap. I thought they would since they are going to specialize in Belgiun beer. Guess I'll have to drink the Celis White instead. Her are some pics I shot with my phone from the "smoking loft." :alc:

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I popped in yesterday hoping to snag a quick lunch, but they were closed? Hours on the door said they were open at noon, but they weren't open when I walked past around 2:30p either. Figured they were recouping from the grand opening or maybe not open full hours yet?
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  • 2 weeks later...

Be sure to check your tabs when you're there to make sure the prices for liquor are correct. I know, it may be sacrilege to order booze while you're there, but I'm just not a big beer drinker. Could be from all the years of drinking swill while in school, but I do try something new when I'm there.

I ordered a bacardi and diet the other day and was charged $6.50. That it itself is awfully steep, wouldn't even pay that at The Chop House. I've paid anywhere from $4.75 on the soft opening night, $5.50 other nights, alind $6.50 the most recent visit. The $6.50 charge was for a Bacardi on the rocks. It was clearly not on the rocks since I ordered it with a diet pop. Even it was a "rocks" pour or if I had ordered it that way, it was weak nonetheless and not worth $6.50. I told the server of the error and it was corrected to the $4.75 charge.

The problem is likely caused by the myriad of options on their POS system. The place is new and I'm sure they're working on kinks, but when selecting an alcohol, there's probably an option for a shot of alcohol ($4.75), with mixer ($5.50) like my cola, and the option of being on the rocks ($6.50). I'm not alone in experiencing this. Been there with other friends who have ordered similar beverages and all been charged different prices as well.

I do like the place, love the bar, indifferent about the food, since BP is yet to put his spin on things, yet feel it's a great place for downtown. Just double check your tab charge totals.

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DH and his friend hit there last night and noted that it was the worst service they have seen in a long time. Very understaffed. Food looked good and the beer menu was awesome but waiting 25+ minutes for the tab was crazy for them.
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I'm in love with this place! They did an amazing job with the interior (the bar itself is a work of art). We had great service here the other night. Only downside was that they were out of two of the beers, that they listed on tap (and one of them was from Founders...oops). Never-the-less, I'm planning on being a regular....

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I was there on Friday night and had the opposite experience - the service was outstanding. It must just depend on the server because we were continually brought free beer samples in shot glasses by our server and had several very good recommendations made to us, plus we never had to wait more than a few minutes for either another beer order, our food order, or for the check. I'll go back again for sure.
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  • 6 months later...

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