On Sunday (two weeks ago, now – that’s how long it’s taking me to get caught up) we drove to Grand Rapids.  We had planned on hitting a bunch of different brew pubs, but our first stop was Hop Cat.  While they do have a few beers that they brew there, the real draw is the amazing selection of other craft and import brews.  We chatted with the bartender, Kim, while drinking our beers.  The staff section on their website says that “Kim is everybody’s favorite person. I mean EVERYONE!” I believe it.  She was very friendly and fun to talk to.

I can sum up Hop Cat like this: Great beer selection, good food, friendly service, and great music playing in the background (which was loud enough to hear, but not loud enough where you had to shout over it to have a conversation).

After a couple of beers, we headed out to Founders, taking a side trip down Division street to some of the shops (what was open on Sunday).  We stopped into a “vintage” clothing store (just off of division), which had mostly non-vintage, trendy stuff mixed with some hippy-ish clothes and some antiques.  There was also a back area with beads.  Lots and lots of beads.

We also stopped by a local record store.  I don’t remember the name of the place.  I picked up a copy of My Morning Jacket’s Celebracion de la Ciudad Natal (on vinyl), and I almost got a copy of Leo Kottke’s Mudlark, but when I took it out of the sleeve to check it out, side two was badly damaged.

We headed on to Founders, which was a bit of a walk (had we gone straight there from Hop Cat, without the side trip, it wouldn’t have been bad).  I hate to say it, but we were highly disappointed.  The beer was good (we each only had one), but the service was slow and inattentive.  And food service is non-existent; you have to go up to a little window connected to the kitchen to order.  Really?  Is it too much trouble to have the wait staff bring out menus and let people order from their table?  And, when Carrie paid with a $20 bill, she was given change for a $10.  Luckily, the waitress didn’t make a big deal of this when we brought it to her attention.

Anyway, we only stayed for one beer, then headed back to Hop Cat.  (We had fully intended on having lunch at Founders, but decided to wait until we got back to Hop Cat to eat.) We spent the rest of the afternoon there, tasting different beers and having friendly conversation with Kim.

The take-away from all of this?  If you’re visiting Grand Rapids, skip Founder’s and go directly to Hop Cat.

The second day of our trip to Michigan was probably our most eventful.  We drove to Holland, Michigan, which is a place that Carrie and I had both been several times when we were children.  (I suppose that’s one of those weird little coincidences life throws at you.) The main focus of our visit this time, however, was not Dutch Village* (which is someplace you should definitely visit if you have kids of your own).  No, this time our focus was New Holland Brewing Co. I’ll talk about that in a bit.

We walked around the downtown area right around where New Holland is.  It was nice, but again it is one of those touristy small towns with a bunch of stores that are all the same (see the previous post about Lake Geneva).  But, (like Lake Geneva) there are other things to do there.  I mentioned Dutch Village and New Holland, there’s also Windmill Island, home of De Zwaan.

De Zwaan is billed as “America’s Only Authentic, Working Dutch Windmill”.  It’s located on an island (which is only technically an island by being cut off from the rest of the geography by a couple of small steams) not far from the downtown area.  We went on a lark, but it was fun.  There are lovely gardens and a miniature Dutch countryside village dubbed “Little Netherlands”, and presentations about windmills and Dutch culture (we missed the klompen dance only by minutes).  And, of course, De Zwaan.  It’s actually pretty impressive to see up close (pictures on Flickr).  If you visit Holland, MI, I’d definitely recommend making it a part of your trip.

Before all of this, we stopped for lunch at New Holland.  We enjoyed it very much – the food was good, as was the beer.  Carrie got their version of a Vienna lager, and I got their the barrel-aged version of their Mad Hatter (they had several specialty versions of the Hatter available when we went).  The Vienna was very much what you would expect from a Vienna-style lager, malty and smooth.  It was very good.  The barrel-aged was excellent, with some nice vanilla undertones to it.

I didn’t get the Poet Oatmeal Stout, even though it is one of my favorite oatmeal stouts, since a) oatmeal stout isn’t a really good “summer” beer, and b) I can easily get it in Chicago.  It would have been nice to have it from the tap, but I liked the barrel-aged so much I just stuck with that (since it was a special offering, I knew I wouldn’t be able to find it elsewhere).

Before we left New Holland, I saw a poster advertising their live music schedule.  I decided to check it out to see if anybody interesting was playing that weekend.  Much to my surprise, that night’s act was a blues guitarist that we had gone to see several times in the early ‘90s in and around Chicago.  Keith Scott**.  We had become acquaintances with him at the time, and he even invited me on stage with him and his band a couple of times.  It had probably been about fifteen years since we last saw him.

Another one of those weird little coincidences.

We decided to go back that evening to hear him play.  We had a good time – good music and good beer.  We spoke a bit to Keith between sets, getting caught up.  It was really a pleasant, unplanned part of our vacation.

**Unfortunately, Keith hasn’t updated his website for a couple of months, so none of his upcoming gigs are currently listed.