Bell's Eccentric Cafe - Kalamazoo, MI

Our last stop on this short beer day was Bell's Eccentric Cafe of course serving Bell's beers but I don't believe this is the actual brewery.  I have had plenty of Bell's in the past, Expedition Stout has always stood out and Two Hearted IPA has been a constant favorite (although to me it hasn't been as good last year or so).  So going to this brewery was really exciting...it rounded out the big 4 on the trip of Founders, Three Floyds, Surly and now Bell's.  Getting there, I realized Kalamazoo is NOT a very good city. I didn't see much of anything I liked, and Bell's is in kind of a dead area.  They have private parking but not a lot but there's plenty of parking all around.  Inside there's a nice enclosed patio, plenty of seating inside with a big bar.  The bartender was very good and knew her stuff to help us decide what we wanted in our samplers since their menu is outrageous for beer. 

-As for the drinks we had so many I'm just going to list them..

Mead - champagne taste, smooth
-Wild One Intense Sour Brown - real good sour
-Wedding Ale Spiced Honey Wheat - tasted like Trix..not sure if that's good or bad
-Smoked Stout - typical but good
-Midwestern Pale - typical pale but not bad
-Sparkle Berry - nice after taste
-Exp Hop #2 Black IPA - hoppy nice
-Exp Hop #3 - not bad
-Le Pianiste French Farmhouse Amber - decent
-Debs Red - nice
-Roundhouse - very nice and hoppy
-Two Hearted - disappointed it was just okay
-Larry's Latest Lager - decent
-Dagger Stout - tasty real nice

-All in all I was disappointed..there was like 3-4 I enjoyed but the rest just weren't that great and I expected more from them.  I brought home a bottle of Kalamazoo IPA they just made and it wasn't good either.  So out of my the BIG 4 breweries I went to I would say this is dead last. They have a great gift shop but it was closed when we got there, we went the next morning since it was close by.  I still think it's always worth checking out, but I would plan on stopping here and driving right thru Kalamazoo I don't think it's worth a day trip but maybe I just didn't see the good part of this city...but check out Bell's bellsbeer.com/‎

Paw Paw Brewing Co - Paw Paw, MI

Day 8..long day of driving from Minneapolis to Paw Paw Brewing in Michigan but we made it in time.  Paw Paw is off the thruway about 8 minutes, tucked away.  It's a small place with about 6 tables and a small bar, some outside tables also.

-We got the beer sampler which consisted of all their beers and couple seasonals.  Paw Paw Wheat had a little bite it was tasty, Raspberry Wheat nice after taste it was smooth, Long Lock Hefe was nice, St. James English decent, Red Arrow Rye eh, Gluten was eh, South Branch Summer not bad, Kua Extra Pale not bad, Black Talon IPA had a coffee flavor it was eh, King James Scotch not for me.

-Overall it's a cute little local place, nice workers, not much merch although I will say I love their symbol of their paw with the hop as the paw.  I wouldn't go out of my way to stop here, but if you're passing the thruway exit and need a beer check em out..www.pawpawbrewing.com/

New Holland Brewing - Holland, MI

First brewery on Day 2 was New Holland about 40 minutes outside of Grand Rapids. I really like the location of this brewery..it's a cute little town with lots of small local shops and just a comfortable, clean feeling to the entire area.

-Walking in there's a decent sized gift shop on the left and the right is the restaurant with plenty of tables and a very long bar with plenty of seating. We took a seat at the bar. The waitress was very helpful and polite.

-As for the beer, they have a LOT of beers on tap and they're all listed on an electronic screen which I haven't seen til now.

 I luckily was there for IPA month which is during June and they have a whole lot of different types of IPAs on tap, they also bottle all these IPAs which all have a Alice in Wonderland feel to the labels.  First was the Black Hatter IPA which is a black IPA it was real nice, Farmhouse Hatter which is a Belgian Style IPA it was light and smooth, Michigan Hatter made with Michigan hops was smooth and light, Oak Aged Hatter had a good oak taste and was very smooth, Rye Hatter was kind of hoppy and wasn't bad, Mad Hatter IPA was good, and the Imperial Hatter was my least favorite of the IPA collection just a little too thick and malty for me.  Other beers I tasted were Monkey King which had a nice bite to it and had a banana after taste, Sundog Amber ale was kind of yeasty wasn't a huge fan, Oatmeal Stout was smooth, Four Witches Black Saison was okay, and Dragons Milk Stout you can taste the bourbon, it was good.

-We had some sandwiches, they weren't anything spectacular, fries were kind of cold but the veggie burger is homemade and it was good.
-They have lots of cool merchandise from t-shirts, magnets, stickers, glasses and posters.

-I highly recommend New Holland...good beer, nice area, decent food, it was a very nice brewery to visit and has a good variety of beers for everyone.  Check out their website...newhollandbrew.com/

Hideout Brewing - Grand Rapids, MI

Now I have never said this about a brewery and probably never will again because I appreciate the art of a brewery...but this place SUCKED! Let me tell our tale...this was our third stop of the day.  It was tucked away in a corner, hence the name Hideout, we thought it was cool and original.  Once we walked in we got stares from just about everyone there as if we were aliens or something.  Now I remembered seeing online they have quite possibly the biggest sampler tray EVER (25 beers) so I really wanted to try it. However once we sat down, me and my party weren't sure right away. The waitress came over, asked what we wanted, we asked a question or 2 and said we just need a minute to decide. Fast forward ten minutes...she still hasn't come back.  On top of that, our table was disgusting, after waiting forever my girlfriend went and asked for a rag to clean it (thinking the bartender would say "oooo let me clean that for you"), but no he handed it to her and she had to clean it herself. FINALLY the male bartender was cleaning up other tables and stopped to say "O do you need anything?" Ummm yes...we would like the 25 beer sampler with 2 oz pours and a pretzel we asked. We then went outside to their beer garden which actually is kind of nice.

-Our pretzel came out and it was a microwaved pretzel I used to eat when I was 12.  Then the beer came...
-Now the sample tray is badass I will give them that, but the beer...25 beers mind you..all weren't very good.  But since I do review everything I will list the beers, and mind you I'm being VERY generous but I find any brewery that makes more than like 10 beers doesn't do a great job (only a few exceptions to that rule):

Polish Potato decent
Booze Hound Brown not bad
Tommy Gun Red alright
Hangman Scotch Nitro gross
Aviator Pale smooth
Exectuioner Scotch Ale not bad had a chocolate coffee taste
Smugglers Hazelnut Stout tasted like watered down stout
Expresso Booze Hound Brown decent..peppery taste
Peppercorn Porter Nitro eh
Cement Shoes Stout watery
Gangster IPA decent
9am Hazelnut IPA decent
Belgium Double it was like a cider, decent
Dark Porter not bad
Hot Dog Ale (YES a hot dog beer, it was gross)
Pickle Ale(YES a pickle beer, it tasted and smells like dill I won't lie it wasn't bad I was shocked)
Trigger Man IPA decent
Chocolate Rye good
Kolson Rice decent
Sparkling Cider sour and just eh
Dark Rice eh
Bubble Gum Ale smells and tasted like bubble gum, so depends if you're a bubble gum fan, I'm not
-My girlfriend ended this trip with buying me a glass and nicely asking if they had stickers or coasters (since she knows I collect them) and the girl basically laughed and said "stickers? Why would we have stickers? No we don't have stickers...". Like REALLY? You have a medal door right behind you covered in stickers from some of the best breweries around but you are confused and shocked that a customer asked for a sticker from YOUR brewery?

-After speaking with locals, workers at other breweries,  we basically found out the owners wife left him, the workers hate their jobs, the brewers left and they hired new ones (who can't brew), basically the place is a dump.  I HIGHLY recommend do not give a penny to this place. The ONLY saving grace they had was their mason jar glass they sell..if not for that I would give this place 0 out of 100. I'm not even posting their website on here..if you'd like to actually suffer at this place then feel free to Google them.   

Perrin Brewing - Comstock Park, MI

Few hours of driving after Quay and we made it to our first "Grand Rapids" brewery (it's technically not in Grand Rapids).  This place is HUGE. Tons of tables, decent sized bar and lots of merchandise for sale.. Just look below and can see how nice this place is.

-We had a snack here also...fried pickles and onion rings.  Both were very good and just like Quay they came with great sauces.

-As for the beer we tried just about all of them on the massive beer list. The Rye Wine was strong not bad, Golden Ale usual taste but good, Raspberry Blonde not bad, Amber was light and good, Gateway XPA was very nice, Pale Ale was very nice, Peace Out stout was smokey not bad, Grapefruit IPA tasted a lot like grapefruit which I'm not a huge fan of so I didn't love this beer, the IPA was tasty I liked it, Black Manifesto was very good, and the Rapture Strong Ale was different but good.

-Overall the place is out of the way but I highly recommend this brewery, lots of good beer, good food, nice atmosphere, plenty of parking...check them out! www.perrinbrewing.com/