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Even more amazing Breweries in Grand Rapids Perfect for a Beercation!

February 24, 2018 by dadofdivas 1 Comment

Hopcat Brewery

 

Today was Day 2 of my Beercation in Grand Rapids and we visited a ton of breweries including: the Grand Rapids Brewing Company, New Holland: The Knickerbocker, Harmony Hall Brewery, City Built Brewing, Creston Brewing and Hopcat  thanks to Man Tripping and Experience Grand Rapids.

All of these locations were different from each other and bring unique beers to the forefront of you palate. Let me tell you a bit about each!

Grand Rapids Brewing Company Grand Rapids Brewing Company

We started the day at the Grand Rapids Brewing Company. This Brewery is probably the brewery that has the longest history within Grand Rapids. This brewer has a history that goes back to 1893. The brewery was in business for a number of years until prohibition when it had to shut down. The brewery was closed for a number of years until the 1990’s when it re=opened for a number of years and then closed again until it was rebuilt in downtown Grand Rapids by Mark Sellers. What I was impressed with was that they had a wide array of beers including the beer that has been with them since the 1890’s (Silver Foam). In speaking to employees at the Grand Rapids Brewing Company their hottest sellers today are Roslynn Bliss and the new Peach Sour beer. While you will not find their beer in the local grocery store you can buy a growler or a bottle of beer in their restaurant. They let me know that they usually make about 1000 barrels of beer every year.

Grand Rapids Brewing Company Grand Rapids Brewing Company

After visiting the Grand Rapids Brewing Company we went over to the New Holland Knickerbocker location. This is a very large location that is a beautiful building. Whether you are looking for beer, food, or New Holland gifts you can find it here. New Holland is known for its’ Dragon’s Milk varieties. I decided to try out the Flight of the Dragon even though I did not realize that each of the varieties were over 11% ABV.

New Holland Brewery New Holland Brewery

In speaking to our waiter he let us know that New Holland has been brewing since 1997 when they first started brewing Mad Hatter. It was 2001 when they started brewing Dragon’s Milk and 2005 when they started their distillery. They now are distributing to 14 different countries and brew over 50,000 barrels a year. I also was informed they New Holland is the largest whiskey distiller in Michigan. In trying the Flight of the Dragon I have to say that the Dragon’s Milk and the Salted Caramel Dragon’s Milk were definitely my favorites.

New Holland Brewery New Holland Brewery New Holland Brewery

After visiting New Holland: Knickerbocker, we headed to Harmon Hall for lunch and some beer (of course). What was nice was this was right down the street from New Holland. Harmony Hall is known for its’ history as a sausage factory as it started as this back in 1908.

Harmon Hall Brewing

As part of our lunch we ended up trying a few of the sausages and I will say they they were amazing! Starting in 2015 Harmony Hall started getting known as a Beer Hall and with two locations they have some great brews on tap here and they create about 845 barrels a year. Some of their most popular brews include Fiddlesticks, Lovely Day IPA, Toupoulo and the Crossroads IPA. I tried a few of these but also a few others and I was impressed with all of the ones that I did try.

Harmon Hall Brewing Harmon Hall Brewing Harmon Hall Brewing

We also got to check out their brewery and we were impressed with the way that they do brew. We were informed that it is a family affair with two brothers and a sister that started and run the business!

The food that we had here (outside of the sausage) was remarkable. The grilled cheese was something I would recommend to all!

City Built Brewing Company

After Harmony Hall we next visited City Built Brewery. This brewery is located on the north side of town in a neighborhood that is definitely building up. As we walked in we were surprised to find how busy it was. The menu has a Puerto Rican flair and the beer list is quite eclectic. City Built opened in 2017, but the owners both had a 20 year background in brewing and brought that to this venture.

City Built Brewing Company

While they are only making about 520 barrels a year, the beer that they are creating is unique and offer any beer aficionado a variety that they will want to explore. Also, not only are they brewing in Grand Rapids, but they are also now brewing in China and Japan.

The beer itself was very tasty. I found that there was a Beyonce Blackberry Mead that was my favorite of all that I tried, though all were very good!

Creston Brewing Creston Brewing

From City Built we ended up going a bit further north to the Creston Brewery. This also was very busy for an early afternoon visit. While we did not try food here we did try the beer and we were very impressed with the variety and the taste of the beer. We did not get to see the brewing facility itself, but with the large number of people we could tell that this was a very popular location!

Creston Brewing Creston Brewing

For me the Blueberry Sweet Treat was probably my favorite beer. I say this even though all of the varieties were very good. I will say that even though I tried a wide array, I did not have any that I did not like! I also loved that the flight that we had came in a record!

Creston Brewing Hopcat Brewery

 

Our final stop of the night was at Hopcat. I had been at the Hopcat in East Lansing in the past, but it was a ton of fun to go to the original location in Grand Rapids and let me tell you, it did not disappoint. The place was the most packed of any of the breweries that we visited during the day.

Hopcat Brewery

Of course we had to have the Crack Fries that they are known for and I ended up trying their Cobb Salad which was very large and very tasty! On top of this I also was able to try a few brews too. Hopcat has 14 different locations in Michigan and other States which was amazing. I did not realize that they had brought Hopcat to so many States until today, so I definitely learned a lot on my visit today!

Hopcat Brewery Hopcat Brewery

This was a great Brewcation in Grand Rapids. I just scratched the surface, but I did become a Brewsader, visiting 8 breweries on this trip. If you love beer, then visiting Grand Rapids is definitely a city that you need to have on your list of cities to visit. This Beer City has so much to offer that you will want to experience for yourself!

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Filed Under: travel Tagged With: beer, beercation, Grand Rapids, travel

High Flying Action at AirTime Trampoline Park & An Ultimate Way To Enjoy The Summer!

June 18, 2017 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

High Flying Action at AirTime Trampoline Park & An Ultimate Way To Enjoy The Summer! photo disclaimer_zpsaa1cb05b.jpg

 

Just recently I had the opportunity to visit the brand new AirTime Trampoline & Game Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan with my kids. My kids are always trying to jump, flip and do whatever we can, and while we have some trampoline parks near where we live they pale in comparison to this park!

High Flying Action at AirTime Trampoline Park & An Ultimate Way To Enjoy The Summer!

AirTime Trampoline & Game Parks have locations in Troy, Sterling Heights, Westland, Novi, and now in Grand Rapids, with a new park coming soon to Ann Arbor, Michigan. AirTime Trampoline & Game Park is a high-energy trampoline and music experience unlike any other. At the AirTime Trampoline & Game Park from the moment you walk in you can hear the difference as their slogan is Engineered for Fun. Powered by Music. I mean, imagine getting your bounce on surrounded by wall to wall trampolines with the speakers pumping out your favorite songs. That is AirTime Trampoline & Game Park.

High Flying Action at AirTime Trampoline Park & An Ultimate Way To Enjoy The Summer!

I am not joking about this, when we walked in the park, the music by jumping and in talking to the General Manager Jacob, he stated that having music like this really encourages kids to be kids and to have fun and in looking around I could see that this worked! There was even a live DJ and the general manager said that this happened a few times a week.

High Flying Action at AirTime Trampoline Park & An Ultimate Way To Enjoy The Summer!

The Grand Rapids AirTime Trampoline & Game Park was huge. Filled with areas for open jumping, dodgeball, basketball, ninja course, climbing wall and more, there is a little bit of everything at this great park.

High Flying Action at AirTime Trampoline Park & An Ultimate Way To Enjoy The Summer!

My kids had a blast in our time there. If it were up to them we would have stayed all day. That is one point that I want to make about the AirTime Trampoline & Game Park. For only $15 you can get an all day pass. Yes, I said an all day pass. Around us, the trampoline parks can cost $15 or more per hour. The AirTime Trampoline & Game Park also offers some special deals too. During the week they offer some special deals for families (with or without food) and there is special time for small kids on the weekends where they can come without concerns of big kids being around.

High Flying Action at AirTime Trampoline Park & An Ultimate Way To Enjoy The Summer!

Also, AirTime Trampoline & Game Park is giving kids another big reason to jump for joy as school lets out – a new Summer Pass that offers four months of unlimited jumping for one low price!

High Flying Action at AirTime Trampoline Park & An Ultimate Way To Enjoy The Summer!

The new AirTime Summer Pass offers guests unlimited jumping all summer long, from June 1 – September 30, 2017 for just $99. The Pass includes unlimited jumping at the park of purchase, a free AirTimet-shirt, wristband, and two all-day jump passes to allow Summer Pass participants to bring a friend along for free on two separate occasions.

High Flying Action at AirTime Trampoline Park & An Ultimate Way To Enjoy The Summer!

The Pass is available for purchase now through June 30, 2017 at Michigan AirTime Trampoline & Game Parks in Novi, Sterling Heights, Troy, Westland, and Grand Rapids.

High Flying Action at AirTime Trampoline Park & An Ultimate Way To Enjoy The Summer!

“We’re thrilled to be able to offer this Summer-long Pass,” said Jennifer Morrow, Vice President of Operations for AirTime International Franchise, LLC. “We wanted to pass along some real savings to families who are looking for activities for the kids over the long summer break. Our hourly rates vary from $14 on weekdays to $24 on weekends for two hours of jumping, so when you do the math for four entire months of unlimited jumping, this is an unbelievable value!”

High Flying Action at AirTime Trampoline Park & An Ultimate Way To Enjoy The Summer!

The AirTime Summer Pass is an All-Day Jump Pass that can be used every day from June 1 – September 30. It includes access to approximately 30,000 square feet of wall-to-wall trampolines, trampoline dodgeball courts, mosh pits, slam-dunk basketball, dedicated areas and special sessions for little jumpers age 7 and younger, and plenty of music to jump and dance to, with live DJ’s on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

High Flying Action at AirTime Trampoline Park & An Ultimate Way To Enjoy The Summer!

Summer Pass participants at AirTime’s newest park in Grand Rapids will have access to the parks’ additional features including a 20’ rock climbing tower that accommodates six climbers simultaneously, an American Gladiator-style battle beam, and a warrior skill and agility course.

High Flying Action at AirTime Trampoline Park & An Ultimate Way To Enjoy The Summer!

The $99 AirTime Summer Pass is available for purchase at all five Michigan locations, but only through June 30, 2017 so act fast!

High Flying Action at AirTime Trampoline Park & An Ultimate Way To Enjoy The Summer!

For more information visit AirTimeTrampoline.com

Our Thoughts on the Park!

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Filed Under: Entertainment, fatherhood, travel Tagged With: airtime, entertainment, Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids Michigan, michigan, trampoline, trampoline park, travel

Grand Rapids Michigan is One Cool City @experiencegr

July 2, 2013 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

All opinions expressed in this post about Grand Rapids are my own and not influenced in any way by the company.  Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site’s Disclaimer for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.

Being from Michigan I can say that I love my State and for the most of my life have lived within its’ borders. Growing up on the east side of the State I never really spent much time on the West side of the State, but since I have gotten older I have definitely spent more time exploring all of the State. This past weekend my wife and I celebrated our 15th anniversary by exploring my State’s second largest city, Grand Rapids thanks to the great people at Experience Grand Rapids.   I currently live about an hour and a half from Grand Rapids and the drive is an easy one. In exploring the Experience Grand Rapids site before coming to the city I have to say that I was very impressed with the wide array of things to do in this city. Not only are there more restaurants than you can know what to do with, but the city is strewn with museums, artwork and more.

Amway Grand Plaza Hotel: This picture shows th...

We stayed at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, an extravagant hotel in downtown, and we were placed on the Pantalind side of the hotel. This is the older side of the hotel which used to be the old Pantalind Hotel which opened originally in the early 1900’s. There is also a much more modern glass tower side of the hotel which is on the river too, but we loved our room with its’ old style charm. The hotel has a ton of restaurants within it including Cygnus (at the top of the glass tower – talk about great views), Ruth Chris Steak House, Benthams Restaurant and more! We loved how centrally located this hotel was to all of downtown!

Picture I took of Downtown Grand Rapids, MI fr...

The first night we were in town we decided to go to dinner at an amazing restaurant called San Chez, which is a Tapas Bistro in downtown Grand Rapids. We ended up meeting some friends from the area there for food that was out of this world and Sangria that was to die for. The great thing about this restaurant is that there is so much on the menu that you can choose from and then share with one another. The restaurant not only provides you with flavor that will bring you back for more but also encourages you to share so much more than food and simply talk and have a great time. 

Grand Rapids, San Chez Bistro Grand Rapids, San Chez Bistro Grand Rapids, San Chez Bistro

 

After dinner we went to a building called The B.O.B (Big Old Building) which has a ton of restaurants/Bars within it, but also has a comedy club called Dr. Grins Comedy Club. I have not been to a comedy club for a long time, but this looked like fun and the headliner Lachlan Patterson sounded good as well! I have to say that for the three acts that we saw, two of the three were great and Lachlan was definitely worth the wait! We had a great time and I would definitely come back again for not only the great comedy, but also the great wait staff as well.

Grand Rapids, The B.O.B Grand Rapids, The B.O.B, Dr. Grins Grand Rapids, The B.O.B, Dr. Grins

 

On Saturday morning I ventured out into the town looking for breakfast. I decided to job around the town and see what I could see, as well as find what was open. I was surprised to see how alive the downtown area was and then found that there was a bike race in town that morning. I felt completely safe in the downtown area and ran across a number of restaurants that were open at the time. I also found some great artwork around the city as well, both installed on property and painted on the side of buildings. This made a lot of sense, especially knowing that this city is the home of ArtPrize, a art competition that I would love to come back to see in the future! I ended up just stopping to get something small from Biggby Coffee so that we could get started for the day.

Grand Rapids, Art

Grand Rapids

Our first stop of the day was the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum. This President grew up in Grand Rapids and the Museum was right across the river from where we stayed. This museum was so interesting! This was the President that my wife and I were born into and I have to say that we both learned so much about the short Presidency of this man and what he did to heal a nation after the scandal of the Nixon Presidency. We spent quite a bit of time in this museum and even visited both his and Betty Ford’s grave.

Grand Rapids, Gerald Ford Presidential Library and Museum

Grand Rapids, Gerald Ford Presidential Library and Museum SAM_0344

 

From there we went to the Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM). Again, this museum was only a block away from the hotel and I had heard great things about it. What I loved about the museum was that it had a bit of everything all in one place. My favorite floor was probably the third as it held artwork from Picasso to more Michigan-based artists and art that ranged in age from the 1500’s to present. They even had a few pieces that were recognized from previous ArtPrize competitions including the one below that just blew my mind. You may not be able to tell, but this is not a photograph, but instead was a pencil drawing – it was simply stunning!

Grand Rapids Art Museum

Grand Rapids Art Museum

 

Saturday night we went to Hopcat, one of the restaurant/micro breweries in town. I recently learned about the fact that Grand Rapids was recently named one of the top Beer Cities in the United States (who would have known). In the down Grand Rapids area, Hopcat along with a number of other micro breweries have started up and are providing customers with amazing blends of beer. At Hopcat, they had 64 beers on tap – yes I said 64, talk about crazy! The food at Hopcat was great – you have to try the Crack Fries and the atmosphere was loud and fun!

Grand Rapids, Hopcat Grand Rapids, Hopcat

Grand Rapids, Hopcat

 

Sunday was our short day as we had to check out by 11 and had to pick up our girls as well. We had found a pizza place named Georgios Gourmet Pizza on Friday and decided to come back for brunch seeing that it had a remarkable number of different pizzas (including a Mac ‘n Cheese pizze, a Salad Pizza, Taco Pizza and more). The pizza was definitely worth the wait as it was one of the best tasting pizzas that I have tried in the past. On top of this the crust was just right which not every pizza place can claim. What was even better though was that we found out that there are two other franchise restaurants near where we live outside of Lansing, so guess where we will be going in the near future.

Grand Rapids, Georgio's Gourmet Pizza Grand Rapids, Georgio's Gourmet Pizza

 

We just scratched the surface of this city on this trip, but rest assured we will be back. This is an amazing city with so much to offer everyone (not just adults). If you are looking for a great city that has things for all ages, food to make your mouth water, art that will dazzle and natural beauty that is awe-inspiring, Grand Rapids is the place to visit!

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Filed Under: travel Tagged With: Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, Anniversary, Experience Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids Michigan, michigan, travel, vacation

Wordless Wednesday (161/365) – In a Flash!

January 14, 2009 by dadofdivas 3 Comments


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Filed Under: photo Tagged With: Grand Rapids, photography, picture, project 365, wordless wednesday

Project 365 (160/365) – Intricate Artwork…

January 13, 2009 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment


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Project 365 (159/365) – You have to love the mouse!

January 12, 2009 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment


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Project 365 (158/365) – Now that’s a bike!

January 12, 2009 by dadofdivas 2 Comments


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Project 365 (157/365) – Now if she only vacuumed at home

January 12, 2009 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment


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Project 365 (156/365) – She Could Be Getting Into Trouble…

January 9, 2009 by dadofdivas 1 Comment


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Project 365 (155/365) Happy Girls!

January 8, 2009 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment


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