As if Grand Rapids, Mich., weren’t already a beer lover’s destination, 2012’s Beer City USA recently has gained a few more craft breweries and will host major beer events in February.
The Mitten Brewing Co. (527 Leonard St. NW, 616-608-5612), which opened in November, is a baseball-themed brewpub in an 1890 firehouse, complete with fire pole and seats from the old Tiger Stadium. The signature Peanuts and Crackerjack Porter, made with 20 pounds of organic peanut butter, is being quaffed by patrons faster than the place can make it. The well-balanced Eighty Four Double IPA is a nod to the last year the Detroit Tigers won the World Series. Pair it with the pizza; the dough is fermented for 48 hours.
Perrin Brewery (5910 Comstock Park Drive NW, 616-551-1957, perrinbrewing.com), just outside the city in Comstock Park, may be every brewer’s dream of what could be done with ample funding. Two successful businessmen sold their previous companies and had the capital to go state of the art with a 30-barrel brewing system, plus a water-filtration system that allows them to adjust water chemistry to match that of faraway brewing locales such as Bavaria or Bohemia. At the helm are three highly experienced brewers, including Nate Walser, formerly of the Grand Rapids powerhouse brewery Founders.
And the newest of the breweries in town is, in name, the oldest. The original Grand Rapids Brewing Co. was a collaboration of six back in December 1892 on a site downtown. Mark Sellers of BarFly ventures, the entity behind world-famous beer bar and brewery HopCat, bought the name and opened Grand Rapids Brewing (1 Ionia Ave. SW, 616-458-7000, grbrewingcompany.com)just a few blocks from the original site. The new GRBC, set in an 1884 wholesale grocery building, is Michigan’s first USDA-certified all-organic brewery.
Other newcomers include Rockford Brewing to the north and, later this year, Osgood Brewing in Grandville.
Tickets to the Feb. 23 Michigan Brewers Guild’s Winter Beer Festival sold out in record time this year, but those interested should still visit next month: Cool Brews Hot Eats runs Feb. 18-March 2 (ExperienceGR.com/beer), offering beer-cooked food, pairing dinners and tastings all around town.
![NEW YORK (AP) — A cruise ship sailed into a New York City port with a 44-foot (13-meter) dead whale across its bow, marine authorities said. The whale, identified as an endangered sei whale, was caught on the ship’s bow when it arrived at the Port of Brooklyn on Saturday, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration […]](https://www.courant.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/2021/09/17/YNEADLAFKNBKPIRMBZSJEKNB5Q.jpg?w=535 "NEW YORK (AP) — A cruise ship sailed into a New York City port with a 44-foot (13-meter) dead whale across its bow, marine authorities said. The whale, identified as an endangered sei whale, was caught on the ship’s bow when it arrived at the Port of Brooklyn on Saturday, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration […]")