Grand Rapids Nesties
WendyGR
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Come in if you go to local brewpubs/breweries
A little market research if y'all don't mind :-)
1. What makes you decide to go to a brewpub/brewery as opposed to staying home or going somewhere else that night?
2. What makes you decide to go to a specific establishment over another? For example, why would/do you go to Founders vs. Brewery Vivant vs. Hideout vs Schmohz?
Re: Come in if you go to local brewpubs/breweries
The only local one that I got to is HopCat (does that count?).
Honestly, I'm a loyal HopCat patron and haven't checked out the other breweries because I like their food so much.
When DH and I want to go out and have some beer, we choose HopCat because we know that they've got great food too. We also enjoy the atmosphere and the friendly/helpful staff. And the beer, of course.
That said, we would go there more often if they had more free parking and weren't virtually inaccessible whenever there's an event at the arena.
sure, that counts! We love that place too. Mmm, crack fries . . .
I just want to comment that I went to Hop Cat this weekend for the first time and tried some crack fries. They were good.
We don't really don't to breweries because there aren't any in our area. There was talk of one opening up, but it fizzled and left a lot of people disappointed. (hint, hint.)
1. We don't really go to a lot because DH is allergic to wheat and not many places like that carry GF options
2. Because of the above, we usually go where there is better food--again, more wheat-free/GF choices for him; no crack fries for us b/c they're battered
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Addendum to #1--if we do go, it's because friends are getting together and we want to hang out with them
My Clean Eating Blog
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What side of town are you on?
This is an area which I need to learn more about. For example we do have an apple "wine" that is just made from apple juice and champagne yeast . . . but I'm not sure if yeast has gluten in it? And, if it's fermented in the same room as the other beers are made, would there be a chance of gluten contamination? (sometimes I see on packages labels that say 'this product made in a factory which also processes peanuts and wheat')
The apple wine would be safe for him; yeast isn't a problem. Some people are highly sensitive to wheat/gluten, though, so *potential* cross-contamination could be an issue for them. Thankfully since H is just allergic to wheat (not full-on gluten intolerant) it's a bit less severe. He can still eat/drink "packaged in facility with..." items as long as wheat doesn't appear in the ingredients.
My Clean Eating Blog
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I'm in North Muskegon.
1. When we go out, we primarily go to brewpubs. We go because A) we like beer, and
we like to support local businesses. We don't have kids, so we don't have to worry about whether or not someplace is family-friendly, and that makes brewpubs a good fit for us. We go out as opposed to staying home because we like the social aspect (even though we really don't go out with other people very often...the social atmosphere is nice).
2. Initially, we try someplace based on convenience and curiosity. If it's convenient (easy parking, primarily), we'll go even if we've never heard of the place. If we're curious because it's new and we've heard good things, we'll go regardless of convenience.
Once we've been someplace, we continue going back based on the atmosphere - although convenience also comes into play here at least a little. If it's a last minute "oh, hey, it's 6:00, let's just go out" decision, we're probably going to pick someplace where there's a reasonable chance of us being able to park within half a mile and actually sit down sometime before 7:30. I realize that's a result of poor planning on our part, but it's the truth.
1. What makes you decide to go to a brewpub/brewery as opposed to staying home or going somewhere else that night?
To see a particular band, or to hang out with friends who are going to be there.
2. What makes you decide to go to a specific establishment over another? For example, why would/do you go to Founders vs. Brewery Vivant vs. Hideout vs Schmohz?
See #1. It has nothing to do with the beer served at one establishment versus the others - at least in Grand Rapids.
1. What makes you decide to go to a brewpub/brewery as opposed to staying home or going somewhere else that night?
The beer and the atmosphere. We want a good beer first and foremost, but we also want to be in an environment we enjoy. Location also figures into the equation, obviously we'd prefer a drive under 20 minutes.
2. What makes you decide to go to a specific establishment over another? For example, why would/do you go to Founders vs. Brewery Vivant vs. Hideout vs Schmohz?
Usually, the beer drives us. Founder's beer is delicious so if a new one goes on tap I want to check it out. I also love the atmosphere/look of Founders. The open air/outdoor seating is a drawer on a nice summer day. I also like the food operation - not a sit down, just an order at the window. And the food is great. HopCat is also tops in the variety of beer available, good food and good atmosphere.
When it comes down to it, If the beer isn't great, I'm not likely to patronize the place again unless I have another reason to. Schmohz beer isn't the best in West MI but it's closest one to us. They also allow outside food and we've always felt "at home" there having a pizza, beer and playing euchre with our friends. I've been to Hideout a few times and think they have a similar mold (with more variety of beer) but since they're further out we don't go very often.
1. What makes you decide to go to a brewpub/brewery as opposed to staying home or going somewhere else that night?
Top reason would be if friends are getting together. Beyond that it would be determined by price, how much we have spent on eating out in the past few weeks...basically the budget. We don't go out a ton in general due to budget - if we are going to go out to eat, we'd be more likely to spend our money at an eating establishment rather than a place that is primarily a brewery.
2. What makes you decide to go to a specific establishment over another? For example, why would/do you go to Founders vs. Brewery Vivant vs. Hideout vs Schmohz?
Well, neither of us like Founders - XN doesn't care for their beers and I am not a huge beer drinker to begin with. Plus, I hate how insanely noisy Founders is. If I am going to hang out with friends, I want to be able to hear them. Right now our household brewery of choice is Brewery Vivant because it is in our neighborhood, and we try to pick that area first. XN has been there twice, but I haven't been there yet - although I'd like to check it out. I haven't been yet because they only JUST opened their kitchen, and I would like the option to have food if I am going to drink. (Especially because beer isn't my top drink of choice.)
A little market research if y'all don't mind :-)
1. What makes you decide to go to a brewpub/brewery as opposed to staying home or going somewhere else that night? We love craft brews so that is our hobby. We are willing to drive the extra mile for the experience. For instance, last year when Motor City Brewing Works released their Blueberry Mead, we drove 2 hours for it. We love the environment of a Brewery. We have been to over 100+ Breweries at this point and make sure that it is included on all vaccations. There are some terrific places out there. We are so blessed in west Michigan with a ton of breweries, not many can say that.
2. What makes you decide to go to a specific establishment over another? For example, why would/do you go to Founders vs. Brewery Vivant vs. Hideout vs Schmohz? I liked the old Founders location but I'm more into their food now over Brewery Vivant. Founders has many appetizer vs. Brewery Vivant who has an awesome environment but their food menu is lacking (I would like to see their menu really expand some. I had an awesome grilled Caesar Salad there and I'm dying to see what they can come up with). Founders is a great place to bring in friends from out of the state/non locals as Brewery Vivant is a great place for atmosphere and chatting with friends. Hideout is good and I really like their upstairs but Schmoz has some unique brews like their ginger brew and they run a terrific 5K in the spring so I feel they are committed to the locals. Overall, we go for the experience and how we are treated service wise. For instance, we just were at the brewery in Sparta and had great customer service and we would go back. They had a wide variety of beers and everything was good. We like Hopcat but the service is horrible so we tend to shy away from there.
Oh hey, our friend owns the one in Sparta - glad to hear you had a great experience! We love to go there because we can hear each other talk.
I totally agree with this. I have been to HopCat three times - once just XN and I, once with another couple and once with a group of 10 - and every single time the service has nearly ruined the experience. I'm kind of operating on the "three strikes" rule with them and won't choose to go there again unless a friend specifically wants to go.