Grand Rapids Beer and LaughFest Finale
My friend Lisa and I started our morning with a room service
breakfast at the
Amway Grand Plaza, Curio Collection by Hilton
.
I had the Michigan Cherry Bread French and she chose the Eggs
Benedict. Both were excellent.
After breakfast, we headed to Founders Brewing Co. for a
tour and tasting. It was pouring rain so we decided to take an Uber.
I didn’t know too much about this place before we arrived,
but left with a lot of knowledge and a very positive experience.
From the outside, the building could blend into the
neighborhood. Inside, Founders Brewing was massive, new, and modern, even
though they are working on yet another expansion.
The history of Founders Brewery only goes back a few
decades, but it’s rise in its industry came swiftly and has continued to
flourish. The tour is definitely worth it to learn more about it. I have never
seen such a clean and detail oriented brewery.
It has been set up so that everything could be done to make
quality beer under this roof.
All the employees we encountered were also generally happy
to be working there.
At the end of the Founders Brewing tour, we finished up in
their tap room. This was far from an ordinary tasting room.
They give the
option to enjoy all of their beers here, in addition to buying food.
Lisa, my official beer taster, really liked the rich,
coffee-flavored Kentucky Breakfast, as well as their signature Dirty Bastard.
I was quite impressed with the deli menu. It included snacks such as nachos and Beer
Cheese Dip, as well as handcrafted sandwiches.
I had to give the Louis A. Cornelius a try when I read the
description: Corned Beef, Roasted Chicken, Cheddar & Cream Cheese, Dirty
Bastard Sauerkraut & 1,000 Island Dressing on Polish Rye.
I am not a sauerkraut fan and left that out. The sandwich
was outrageously good, and so big the two of us together couldn’t finish it.
Lisa and I still had a full night to go on this rainy day so
we decided to head back to the
Amway Grand Plaza Hotel
for a few hours of rest before
we showered and got ready for dinner.
We just had to walk across the street to the Six One Six
restaurant at the JW Marriott Grand Rapids.
There we met Stephanie and Kelly from Experience Grand Rapids for dinner.
Everything on the menu sounded wonderful. We took some
advice from the women, who had been there before, and ordered some small plates
to start with our cocktails.
I was unable to eat the Truffle Fries because they were
cooked with the seafood, but Lisa loved them while I enjoyed the Cheesy Pesto
Flatbread.
All the main courses were popular, but I definitely picked
the best of the bunch with the Butternut Chevre Pasta, filled with fresh
ingredients and a perfect balance of flavors.
The desserts at Six One Six were also hard to pick from. We
ordered an assortment. While the Crème Brulee was very good, the winner was
definitely the Chocolate Madcap, a
chocolate lover’s dream.
We didn’t have long to sit around with our desserts as Lisa
and I needed to go down to the Fountain Street Church to catch one of the
LaughFest acts I was especially looking forward to.
Chris D’Elia is known for his stand-up comedy as well as his
stints on the television sitcoms Whitney and
Undateable. I had enjoyed watching
him on the latter and his performance kept everyone in the audience laughing.
We headed back to the Amway Grand Plaza by Hilton for our final
night in Grand Rapids after the show. It had been quite a trip and I was sure I’d
be returning to this city again.
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