Tag Archives: Railtown Brewing Company

On Tap: Wyoming, Kentwood pubs make room outdoors; Bell’s joins Black is Beautiful initiative

3-bottom, Beer, City of Kentwood, City of Wyoming, Community Health, Food, Going Local, Local Business, Local Entertainment, Pets/Animals, Recreation, Restaurants, WKTV Projects, ,

By K.D. Norris

ken@wktv.org

When the State of Michigan allowed local craft brewing establishments — along with most Lower Peninsula restaurants — to reopen to inside seating in June, there were and still are some “socially distant” capacity limitations which make sit-down business hard to turn a profit on.

Thank God for beer gardens.

And, in some cases, thanks to various city leaders allowing parking areas and other outdoor spaces to become beer gardens, outside seating has become very important part of local businesses’ recovery plans.

 

WKTV visited three local craft brewers — Two Guys Brewing, Broad Leaf Local Beer and Railtown Brewing Company — to see how they were making the move outside.

Railtown Brewing is located at 3595 68th St. SE, in Dutton but just across the border with Kentwood. (WKTV)

For Railtown Brewing, an existing wrap-around deck area was already in place and required very little changes. For TwoGuys Brewing, they worked with the City of Wyoming to be able to use parking spaces until a new back deck area is finished and approved.

For Broad Leaf Local Beer, working with Kentwood city leaders allowed them to expand into a grassy area onsite and into their parking lot — but that is just the beginning of a cooperative effort, including making the place a little more dog friendly.

(For a video report on Broad Leaf Local Beer’s outdoor spaces, doggie-friendly attitude — and the assistance they have received from the City of Kentwood — see the WKTV YouTube video at the top of this story.)

Railtown andTwoGuys

Railtown’s fairy new facility was perfectly suited for the new rules, and both have continued to garner community/customer support in changing conditions.

“We’re not expanding our space in any way. We’re actually in a fairly unique position to have a lot of space as it is,” Railtown Brewing Company’s Justin Buiter said to WKTV in June. “Inside, we’ve removed many tables, chairs and bar seats to get everyone spaced out appropriately. Outside, our tables were already socially distant, so there wasn’t much change necessary out there.

“In general, the support has continued to be amazing. As most folks are experiencing, face masks are the hot button issue. We really haven’t had any issues to speak of and folks have been generally understanding.”

Two Guys is actually working to offer permanent outside seating while it utilizes temporary outside seating.

Two Guys Brewing is located at 2356 Porter St. SW, Wyoming. (WKTV)

“We have taken advantage of the ‘Temporary Outdoor Space’ and are able to use part of our front parking lot until October 31,” TwoGuys Brewing’s Amy Payne said to WKTV. “We have a permanent patio space in the back that is in the works and will, hopefully, have approval soon for that. … Inside we have reduced our number of tables by half and bar stools by just over half, making sure that all guests are a minimum of 6 feet from the next guest.

“Folks have been very understanding and have followed the rules fairly well. Support has been amazing with many of our neighbors and regulars making sure they come in at least once a week. They want us to be around when this is all over!”

Two Guys Brewing is located at 2356 Porter St. SW, Wyoming. For more information visit twoguys-brewing.com.

Railtown is located at 3595 68th St. SE, in Dutton but just across the border with Kentwood. For more information visit railtownbrewing.com.

Broad Leaf Local Beer is located at 2885 Lake Eastbrook Blvd., Kentwood. For more informant visit broadleafbeer.com.

Bell’s Brewery to join Black is Beautiful initiative

Bell’s Brewery recently announced it has joined the Black is Beautiful initiative, an effort to help “bring awareness to the injustices many people of color face daily,” with the planned August release of a special brew.

The Black is Beautiful initiative originated with Marcus Baskerville, founder and head brewer at Weathered Souls Brewing based in San Antonio, according to supplied material. Originally planned as a Weathered Souls-only release, Baskerville was encouraged to expand his reach and make the recipe and label artwork available to more craft brewers — and so Bell’s plans to step up to the bar.

“We all have some work to do, Bell’s included, and we are committed to that,” Larry Bell, president and founder of Bell’s Brewery, said in supplied material. “It starts on an individual level. We all have a responsibility to do what we can to continue this conversation and help drive real change.”

There are currently more than 700 breweries from across the globe committed to this initiative.

Bell’s version of the Weathered Souls Imperial Stout recipe will be released in 6-pack bottles exclusively at Bell’s General Store in downtown Kalamazoo and Upper Hand Brewery Taproom in August. Upper Hand Brewery is a division of Bell’s Brewery and is located in Escanaba.

As part of this initiative, Bell’s will make donations to two local Black-led organizations, the Kalamazoo NAACP and Face Off Theatre.

This collaboration brew, “while sharing some of the same values,” is not part of Bell’s Celebration Series, according the Bell’s statement. That series, which empowers different groups within the company that makes Bell’s what it is, will continue later this year with another beer designed and brewed by Bell’s employees. That next release, which will come from and celebrate Bell’s Black and African American employees, will be released in the fall.

Previous brews have celebrated International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day, the LGBTQ+ community and veterans.

For more information on Bell’s Brewery visit bellsbeer.com.

Wyoming, Kentwood craft breweries staying positive despite ‘first to close, last to open’ concerns

3-bottom, Beer, City of Kentwood, City of Wyoming, Community Health, Food, Going Local, Local Business, Local Entertainment, Local Food, WKTV Projects, , ,
Hankerin’ for a dinner of TwoGuys Brewery’s prime rib and beer? TwoGuys managing partner, brewmaster and all-around craft-brew guru Tom Payne shows off a take-home option. (WKTV/K.D. Norris)

By K.D. Norris

ken@wktv.org

Three Wyoming and Kentwood area craft breweries and brew pubs — TwoGuys Brewing, Broad Leaf Local Beer and Railtown Brewing Company — are doing what they can to keep their taps flowing in these times of COVID-19 restrictions.

Like most restaurants, they are offer take-out and delivery of food from their kitchens. Like most breweries, they offer to-go craft beer choices from their brewers. And like any good pub, they offer the kind of optimism that any good bartender will offer up to customers contemplating the worst over a cold pint.

Broad Leaf reports they are brewing up a Super Wonderful Happy IPA, “named to contrast the times and keep people thinking positively,” they say.

But despite a barkeep’s optimism, there is a healthy outpouring of concern about the future.

Railtown Brewing Company. (Supplied)

“It’s been a long road so far. Sadly, we’re in the early part of a marathon not a sprint,” Railtown’s Justin Buiter said to WKTV. “We were one of the first industries to see forced shutdowns and we’ll be one of the last to re-open. We’re planning for the worst and hoping for the best.”

TwoGuys also has some concerns about what might happen with a “slow opening” of establishments like theirs.

“As far as plans for when things open back up, we aren’t really sure,” TwoGuys Brewing managing partner Amy Payne said to WKTV. “We are prepared to pivot once again as necessary but have discussed that until all restrictions to regular business are lifted we will, most likely, continue to operate as we currently are. Opening our taproom at half capacity (if that should be the next phase) would definitely be detrimental to sales so keeping with the current model would keep us closer to our goal numbers.”

A bright spot has been community support  

Despite the current hardships, the three breweries have been thankful for the support of the community during these times.

“The community support has been amazing,” Railtown’s Buiter said.”We see a lot of familiar faces every week. Folks genuinely care about us and want to see us through this, and that means more than we can put into words.”

For Broad Leaf and its mother ship, Grand Rapids’ Brewery Vivant, their thankfulness includes community support of employees whose jobs were impacted by the closures.

“All gratuities at both locations are being put into an emergency fund for our hourly staff,” Broad Leaf and Brewery Vivant co-owner and president Kris Spaulding said to WKTV. “We have been amazed at how generous our community is. Through those guests, we have built up a meaningful fund that will surely help out some of our staff who are struggling.”

Broad Leaf is also being a little old-school resourceful when it comes to labeling their to-go beer cans and their brewing choices.

Broad Leaf Local Beer offers door pick-up of beer-to-go, and merchandise, at the Kentwood location. Much of the pub’s usual food fare is available through the mother ship, Grand Rapids’ Brewery Vivant, by pick-up or delivery. (WKTV/K.D. Norris)

“People may notice our simple war-time style labels printed on address stickers as we make do with what we have on hand,” Spaulding said. And “We have been going back to old school methods and are all pulling together to be able to share what we all love with the amazing public that has been going out of their way to support us.”

Also “Super Wonderful Happy IPA … is sort of an old-school IPA made with Mosaic and MI Chinook hops …  Bananicula is a pastry stout with Count Dracula Chocolate cereal, banana, vanilla, and marshmallow that we bottled by hand on a homebrew counter-pressure filler contraption our head brewer Jacob cobbled together.”

Man, and woman, does not live on beer alone

That adapting with the times is also at play in to-go food selections.

Much of Broad Leaf’s eclectic fare — including their appropriately named “Drunken Noodles” — is available for pick up and limited-area delivery out of Brewery Vivant’s Eastown kitchen. (The actual Broad Leaf location has curbside pick up of beer and merch, as well as beer delivery.)

TwoGuys, in contrast, has made some changes to adapt.

“In order to stay relevant in the current situation we took a look at what our guests, and hopefully folks new to TwoGuys, would be looking for as the social distancing seemed like it was going to carry on longer than officials were suggesting,” Payne said. “What we decided was, although hot take-out food is great for some, many were traveling across town to get back home if they worked near us or wanted to support us even though they lived across town. Take-out hot food just isn’t as good when it has travelled for a while. So, we began to work on ‘Take N Bake’ options.”

Currently they offer casseroles, lasagna, mac and cheese — and prime rib meals — purchased in tins ready to be put in the oven when they got home.

Desserts have also been “huge,” she said. “Pans of brownies full of all kinds of delicious additives … Nothing like brownies when the world is full of uncertainty.”

(The take-and-bake fruit cobblers looked too good to pass up when researching this story! And their TwoGuys IPA hits the pale ale spot.)

Railtown Brewing Citra Warrior IIPA. (Supplied)

At Railtown, they are open for pick-up and carryout of beer, cider and much of their regular menu food for lunch and dinner, daily except Sunday. Ordering is by phone only. And they do have some special brews unexpectedly available.

“Due to COVID-19, we had to cancel our Warrior Unleashed party which is a celebration of our Imperial IPA, Citra Warrior,” Railtown’s Buiter said. “The result is, we have a ton of beer selections on tap currently. We released 4 variations of Citra Warrior — Midnight Warrior (Black Imperial IPA), Soulless Warrior (Ginger Imperial IPA), Tiki Warrior (Pineapple Imperial IPA), and Tiki Torch (Pineapple and Cayenne Pepper Imperial IPA).”

Keeping with that barkeep’s optimism, they also have a new “Shutdown Brown”, a hazelnut brown ale.

Railtown is located at 3595 68th St. SE, in Dutton but just across the border with Kentwood. For food and beer information, call 616-881-2364 or visit railtownbrewing.com.

TwoGuys is located at 2356 Porter St. SW, in Wyoming. For food and beer information, call 616-552-9690 or visit twoguys-brewing.com.

Broad Leaf is located at 2885 Lake Eastbrook Blvd, in Kentwood. For food and beer information call 616-803-0602 or visit broadleafbeer.com.

On Tap: Railtown expands, dangerous beers, bottle beauties & good vodka

3-bottom, Beer, City of Kentwood, Food, Going Local, Local Business, Local Entertainment, Local Food, , , , ,

Railtown Brewing Company will hold its grand opening of its new expanded building and offerings on Monday, July 16. (Supplied)

 

By K.D. Norris

ken@wktv.org

 

Railtown Brewing Company will hold its grand opening of its new expanded building and offerings on Monday, July 16 — and if you liked its beer, you’ll still like its beer; if you liked the fun atmosphere, you’ll love the extras available; and if you had wished Raltown had its own kitchen, your wish has been answered.

 

Railtown’s new location is located at 3595 68th Street SE, Dutton, but just across the border with Kentwood, and near the brewery’s original location. It will have two floors, an outdoor patio and will seat over twice as many guests as the original space.

 

“Some of the key gains from this new space is a kitchen, larger bar, more taps, more brewing capacity, reserved seating area availability, and patio,” Railtown co-founder Gim Lee said to WKTV in a previous interview. “The tap room will include a mezzanine with additional seating and space that can be reserved for parties and meetings.”

 

Gim and Justin Buiter opened the brewery in late 2014.

 

Railtown Brewing previously allowed patrons to bring their own food, but the new space has a kitchen that, according to other media, “will serve American pub grub with some cultural flavor. Dishes will take inspiration from Chinese, Korean and Dutch cuisine,” we are told.

 

I’m sure there is a beer for that!

 

For more information on Railtown Brewing Company, call the taproom at 616-881-2364 or visit railtownbrewing.com (leads to a Facebook page).

 

Seasons’s final GRPM Beer Explorers night might dangerous

 

Alas, the final 2017-18 season Beer Explorers at the Grand Rapids Public Museum will soon be poured as the museum is partnering with Perrin Brewing Company on Thursday, July 19 to share “the dangers of fruiting beer.”

 

Wait; there is a danger in that?

 

Perrin Grapefruit IPA (Supplied)

“Fruiting beers can be challenging, but Perrin Brewing Company, and its talented brewers, has perfected the process,” according to supplied material. “The company currently boasts a full menu of fruit beers, and in this final Beer Explorers participants will have the opportunity to try three vastly different fruit beers, from Grapefruit IPA to Passion Fruit Gose to Razzberry Blonde!”

 

In the class, participants will learn how the three beers differ from each other, as well as the stories behind other Perrin fruit beers. Participants will also have the chance to taste the fruit concentrate that goes into these beers, and learn unique facts about fruit beer brewing — did you know there is 1.1 grapefruits per pint of Grapefruit IPA.

 

Not usually much for fruit beers, but I must admit that sitting on the outside area at Perrin Brewing Company’s Comstock Park pub and sipping a Grapefruit IPA (5 percent ABV, 35 IBU) would go down pretty well on these hot West Michigan summer evenings.

 

Anyway, the class begins at 6:30 p.m. and will be held on the first floor of the Museum. Participants will have access to the museum’s first two floors to explore. A cash bar will be available.

 

Tickets for the event are $10 for museum members and $20 for non-members. Participants must be 21 and older. GRPM is located at 272 Pearl Street, NW. For information and tickets to Beer Explorers, visit grpm.org.

 

For more information on Perrin Brewing, visit perrinbrewing.com .

 

Grand Rapids Brewing set to release first bottle-conditioned brews

(Supplied Grand Rapids Brewing/Nate Spangenberg)

Grand Rapids Brewing Company’s new specially bottled brews. (Supplied/GR Brewing Co. and Nate Spangenberg)

Grand Rapids Brewing Company will release two limited-edition bottled beers, including its first-ever bottle-conditioned release — limited run of 150 bottles of bottle-conditioned Sur La Lune and Sur Les Nuages — available to the public at GRBC Saturday, July 14, beginning at noon.

 

GRBC mug club members (and lucky you if you are) will have exclusive access to purchase the bottles two hours prior to the public on-sale. All buyers will be limited to one bottle of each beer on the release day.

 

Sur La Lune golden ale, French for “on the moon,” was created to be bottle conditioned —  a process that includes extra blast of yeast and sugar and a second period of fermentation once bottles are corked and caged similar to a Champagne bottle. The process allows carbonation to occur naturally, with “the pressure of the cork on the additional yeast and sugar enhances flavors, carbonation, aromatics and alcohol content,” or so we are told.

 

“Bottle conditioned beers have more depth and character than their draft counterparts and a finer carbonation and mouth feel, plus corks and cages are just fun and fancy,” Ernie Richards, GRBC’s “brewhouse alchemist”, said in supplied material.

 

Sur La Lune also will be available on tap for samples and comparison.

 

Its companion beer, Sur Les Nuages  — “on the clouds” — first appeared in the 2017and comes from the same base recipe as Sur La Lune, but is force-carbonated, capped and fermented solely with a yeast isolate.

 

For more information on the Grand Rapids Brewing Company and the special releases, visit grbrewingcompany.com .

 

Green Door’s Get Lost Vodka earns (inter)national honor

 

Kalamazoo’s Green Door Distilling Co. submitted its Get Lost Vodka to April’s New York International Spirits Competition and announced last week it had claimed a silver medal, along with a tasting score of 92 – outscoring many nationally recognized brands, such as Belvedere, Grey Goose and Ketel One.

 

(Supplied)

“In a competitive landscape that saw over 600 spirits submitted for consideration, including many exceptional spirits from our own great state, we’re extremely honored to accept this recognition from the judges,” Jon Good, president and head distiller, said in supplied material. “We believe this is a reflection of the time and effort that goes into crafting spirits and the exceptional ingredients that we source.”

 

The competition also awarded Green Door the title of “Michigan Vodka Distillery of the Year”. Along with these recognitions comes the opportunity to compete in several other international competitions.

 

“The recognition that Get Lost Vodka has generated, not only from New York Spirits, but also from American Distilling Institute earlier this year, has definitely validated this wild adventure that we took up four years ago.” Good said.

 

For more information on Green Door Distilling, visit gddistilling.com .

 

On Tap: Railtown takes over Ionia, 57 Brew Pub sold, beer & doughnuts

3-bottom, Beer, City of Kentwood, Entertainment, Holidays, Local Business, Recreation, , ,

Railtown Brewing Company knows its beers and has the taps to proved it. (grnow.com)

By K.D. Norris

ken@wktv.org 

 

Kentwood’s Railtown Brewing Company — OK, actually Dutton’s Railtown — will be invading downtown Grand Rapids Ionia Avenue next week when several holiday variations of its Good Mooed milk stout are featured at a Tap Take Over at the Craft Beer Cellar.

 

According to Facebook posts by both brewer and tapper, the Railtown Good Mooed Tap Take Over will take place Thursday, Dec, 28, from 6-10 p.m. The Craft Beer Cellar is located at 404 Ionia Ave. SW.

 

Plan is, at this point, to have four versions of Railtown’s milk stout on tap. In addition to its Good Mooed (a true-to-style milk stout), also available will be Festive Mooed (featuring coffee, cinnamon and nutmeg), Best Mooed Ever (with coconut, almond and chocolate — think Almond Joy), and Viscous Mooed, which is described as “A completely new and experimental brew for Railtown. The base remains true to the Good Mooed brand however, it was double mashed leading to an ABV of 10.3 percent. They also added a generous amount of bittersweet cocoa. The resulting brew is thick, rich, and chocolaty with a nice balance between sweet and bitter.”

 

Oh ya, there will also be a couple other non-mooed kegs from Railtown on tap for those not into being mooed.

 

Also, remember there is free street parking at downtown parking meters after 5 p.m. weekdays. For more information visit the Facebook pages of either.

 

Greenville’s 57 Brew Pub and microbrewery sold, taps and all 

 

After five years in business, and plenty of great beers brewed and backyard concerts held, the 57 Brew Pub & Bistro has been sold to investment group HMV Holdings, according to a press release by Calder Capital.

 

HMV Holdings is a partnership between Andy Hurst, Jason Mahar, and Marc Vander Velde, who all have strong ties to the Greenville area and are excited to share their brewpub vision with the community, Hurst told WKTV.  Planned changes include a tap expansion that will allow them to continue to brew and serve their own beer while also offering other craft beers from around the state and country.

 

Founded in 2012 — and known to locals as simply “57 Brew Pub” — the pub is a family-owned, award-winning microbrewery and restaurant, according to the release. The business was designed and built from the ground up as a brewery and brew pub, and was founded and run by Greenville locals, Bob and Dottie Olsen. They decided to sell in order to retire to a warmer climate, and say they are pleased that the brewery will continue to be operated by locals.

 

For more information on 57 Brew Pub visit 57brewpub.com .

 

GRPM Beer Explorers goes all beer and doughnuts

 

Founders Brewing Company, Robinette’s and the Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) will join forces for the next museum Beer Explorers program on Jan. 11, 2018,  as Beer & Doughnuts will offer a twist on a Founders beer tasting.

 

The Grand Rapids Public Museum’s Beer Explorers program will pair Founders beer with Robinette’s doughnuts. (Supplied)

According to supplied information, this class pairs Founders beer with Robinette’s doughnuts, allowing participants to “explore their sense of taste and what combinations appeal to individual palates.”

 

The class begins at 6:30 p.m. and will be held on the 1st floor of the GRPM. Admission to each class includes general admission to the museum as well as four beer and doughnut samples. A cash bar will also be available.

 

Spoiler alert: Beer Explorers will continue on Feb. 8 with Brewery Vivant and the Pilot Malt House to learn all about how malts influence the different beers. They had me at Vivant …

 

Tickets are $22 for non-museum members and participants must be age 21 or older. Tickets can be purchased at grpm.org.

 

City of Kentwood is looking for a few good volunteers

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https://youtu.be/TkNeoE2apj0

The City of Kentwood is hosting a volunteer signup party for its community event “Celebrate Kentwood” Tuesday, July 18, at Railtown Brewing Company, 3555 68th St. SE, Caledonia.

 

The “Celebrate Kentwood” event takes places on Aug. 11 and 12. Volunteers are needed to help with everything such as set up, manning the information booth, and helping with merchandise sales.

 

Activities for the two-day event include a classic car show from 5 – 8 p.m. and Kentwood’s Got Talent for 7 – 9 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 11, and on Saturday, Aug 12, there will be a farmers market and Breton Street Fair from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., various cultural acts performing from 1 – 3 p.m., various activities from noon – 7 p.m.;  the Mega 80s fro 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. and fireworks at dusk.

 

Those who attend Tuesday’s event will receive a t-shirt and pizza for signing up on the spot.

 

If you can make Tuesday’s event, you can still sign up up to help in August. For more information, click here.