Oakes Weekly

RBSG Proposal – Grand Rapids

You’ve all heard about the great US beer cities of San Diego, Portland, San Francisco, New York and many others. One that never seems to find its way on any list is Grand Rapids, MI. I’m sure your saying to your self “is he nuts”, but lets take a closer look:

Breweries: Founders, HopCat, HideOut, BOB and more in the city limits. There are also several world class breweries within an hour or so car/bus trip (Bell’s, Livery, Dark Horse, and New Holland to name a few). There are also plenty of others in the area that are worth a visit. Many will be offering special beers and tours just for the summer gathering (see some of the commitments below)

Beer Bars: HopCat, Logan’s Alley, Graydon’s Crossing, JD Reardon’s, Bloom, and Green Well are some of the more well known bars, but there are plenty of others in the city limits or within a short ride. Most already carry an expansive selection of bottles and drafts from MI and other great breweries and most all will have even better selections during the summer gathering.

Transportation: Most of the breweries are centrally located to each other, the hotels, and the airport. Inexpensive cabs and shuttles will be arranged for the summer gathering so no rental car is needed.

Lodging: A few that are available during the weekend of July 24th (possible date for summer gathering) are: Radisson Riverfront for an average of $101 per night, Country Inn & Suites for $96 per night, and Howard Johnson for $53 per night. There are numerous other hotels centrally located in all price ranges.

Weather: While MI gets knocked for its weather for most of the year (rightfully so), July is absolutely beautiful with the average in the high 70’s to mid 80’s.

Other activities: Lake Michigan is a short drive away and there are plenty of other options such as museums, parks, and a zoo to keep you busy during your trip.

Itinerary: This is assuming the dates of the summer gathering would be Friday July 23rd to Monday July 26th. NOTE – These dates are not set in stone and can be changed if it works better for everyone involved. This gives a good idea of what you could expect, but our goal is to give you the best beer weekend possible so we can change the plans if something else is more desirable. If the dates changed the dates that make the most sense are either the week before or after so those that are really adventurous could stay and enjoy other parts of MI and still attend the summerfest (which is truly and awesome event and worth a road trip by itself).

Friday

Bus to MI Summerfest (3-11) – over 330 MI beers from over 50 MI breweries ($25 for 12 drink tokens and $0.50 for extra tokens, around $25 or $30 for the bus ride to the fest from Grand Rapids – likely including beer and snacks)

Finish the night at Founders, HopCat, etc… (11 – 2)

-or-

Pub Crawl in GR – Hideout, GR Brewing, Founders, HopCat, etc… with plenty of MI beers on tap if you skip the Summerfest.

Saturday

Bus Tour (10 – 6) Livery, Bell’s, New Holland – with special beers, tours (bus trip would be around $25 per person depending on the number attending, etc…)

HopCat Beer Dinner (7 – 10) – HopCat is one of the premier beer bars in the US. Mark, the owner, has been saving many unique, vintage, and rare beers for such an evening. The dinner will consist of at least four or five courses paired with these great beers. This event is not to be missed. (A rough estimate for the dinner including beers will be $50). There will also be a surprise or two after the beer dinner…more on that later.

Finish the night at the local spots in Grand Rapids (Founders, HopCat, etc…) (11-2)

-or-

If not doing the tour/dinner, there are plenty of restaurants/bars/brewpubs in the area

Sunday

Dark Horse Beer Brunch in Grand Rapids (spot TBD) (noon – 2) – There will be a few special beers brewed by Dark Horse specifically for this brunch.

Grand Tasting – A Journey through MI Beer (4 – 2)

There will be 3 or 4 guest speakers from the MI beer industry. They will all share stories from the past, present and future in what will be a very entertaining evening

Rex Halfpenny will be one of the speakers and he is the founder of the Michigan Beer Guide and has given hundreds of speeches, taught courses, and has been one of the biggest proponents of MI beer.

The other 2 or 3 speakers will be brewers/owners of some of the great breweries/bars in MI and they will all lend a unique take on MI beer.

Along with the guest speakers, there will be special MI beers from all across MI with lots of other great beers brought by those attending.

Monday

Short’s Beer Lunch at Uptown Grille

-or-

Beer lunch, pub crawl in Grand Rapids

This itinerary while not set in stone gives a good representation of what you could expect during an awesome beer weekend in Grand Rapids, MI and the surrounding area. Below is the most current list of the breweries that have committed to tours, special beers, etc… The list will continue to grow and will be updated accordingly. Please vote for Grand Rapids for Rate Beer Summer Gathering 2010! We Guarantee you will not be disappointed!

Cheers.

Breweries committed so far to providing special beers and/or tours:

HopCat
Short’s
Founder’s
Bell’s
Dark Horse
Kuhnhenn
Livery

Others we have contacted and not heard back from, but hope to soon:

Jolly Pumpkin
New Holland
Right Brain
Dragonmead

….and many more to come!

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