By K.D. Norris
So many brews; so little time.
For those of you who, like me, are on a mission to fill out your Beer City Brewsader Passport book by visiting all the participating Western Michigan breweries and brew pubs, the constantly growing list of brewers is a pleasant frustration.
But good news: The passport book now has an addendum adding nine additional beer stops to the original 23 locales — including Wyoming’s Kitzingen Brewery — where stamps and brews are available.
Experience Grand Rapids officially rolled out the second edition of the Beer City Passport last week. Among the new stops are Atwater GR, Bier Distillery, City Built Brewing, Creston Brewery, Elk Brewing’s Comstock Park location, Greyline Brewing Co., Schmohz Brewing Company, New Holland Brewing’s The Knickerbocker, and Fountain Hill Brewery at Grand Rapids Community College.
For those of us with a partially filled out passport already, the addendum sticks on the back of the original. But it is a little bit of a tricky maneuver, so do so before you start tasting at you next beer city stop.
The Beer City Passport, which debuted a little more than a year ago, has had more than 4,200 beer lovers get at least eight stamps and join the Brewsaders club, according to Experience GR.
“The Beer City Passport was a huge success in the first year,” Janet Korn, senior vice president of Experience GR, said in supplied material. “We created the second edition to add new craft beer locations and prepare for future breweries. When a new brewery opens, we will announce on our website if they are going to be a part of the Passport. If they are, visitors can go there and collect a stamp on one of the newly included blank pages.”
To become a Brewsader, the passport must be either take to the Welcome Center in Grand Rapids Art Museum or mailed directly to the Experience GR office. New this year, collect all 32 stamps and earn an Ultimate Brewsader wallet card which offers discounts on the Beer City merchandise at GrandRapidsStore.com and perks at local businesses.
According to Experience GR, Longwoods Intl. found that 1 percent of Western Michigan tourists come specifically for beer compared to the national average of about 5 percent.
For more information visit ExperienceGR.com/Brewsader. and join the social media conversation at #GRBrewsader.
