KBS Week Road Trip - 2016

Quite a few years back I was on the hunt for Founders Brewing KBS (Kentucky Breakfast Stout) and getting frustrated that I could only find it a bottle at a time. Given the amount of time I spent calling or going from store to store and the money I spent on gas I figured I could have driven to Grand Rapids and back.  So that is when I decided to just start trying for tickets to the KBS event to get the beer directly from the brewery and visit other breweries along the way.  I also had a few friends in the area that I could visit and have epic bottle shares with! Oh, all of these people I met on Instagram!

I personally think that this is one of the better bottle releases of the year in the terms of organization. When you buy your ticket you pick which day you will pick up your beers.  You have the entire day to do it and if you miss that day you are out of luck.  They host events throughout the entire week where they do special tappings of KBS. You can check this out at KBSWeek.Com. I almost didn't make it this year though as I had two browser windows opens and Brown Paper Ticket can recognize this and shut them both down.  I got back in right away and started refreshing my page and after about 7 minutes I was able to get tickets!! It would seem a lot of people had tickets in their cart but never checked out so they got released and I got my tickets!!  So I wanted to take some time and tell you about the places I visited, the beers (or food) I had and share some pictures of my adventures. Hope you enjoy it!! Some of the photos in the photo albums may be from previous years as well.




Perrin Brewing - Perrin Brewing Photos 




We started the day at Perrin Brewery to meet up with a friend who lives near by.  My first beer from them was No Rules and I really liked it so I wanted to see what else they had to offer. We grabbed a taster and tried Hot Box Brown Ale, Lotsa' Problems, Kingdom of Tonga Vanilla Porter, Russian Imperial Stout, Pellicle, You Bretta Run, and Blazin Hot Box. You can get crowlers of almost anything on tap so I grabbed the Kingdom of Tonga but my favorite beer from them was the Blazin Hot Box.  This was their Hot Box infused with Kopi Luwak Coffee... and it was simply amazing!! I wanted to grab a crowler of this but at $26 it was outside of my reach price wise.  The facility is pretty nice and they do serve food, but I was saving my eating calories for a special place!!  My buddy was heading up north so a quick visit and then off to Founders Brewery we went.

Founders Brewery - Founders Brewery Photos



This place is forever busy!  I think the only time I have been there when it isn't busy was right when they opened on a Thursday morning last year.  If you have never been, it's open seating and if you don't get there early enough you could be standing for a while.  The place is pretty massive with outdoor seating, but I don't think they can build a place large enough to hold everyone who shows up daily.  We were lucky to find a standing table outside pretty quickly so that is where we setup shop.  I happened to run into a friend from Michigan so we hung out while we were at the brewery.  Last year, CBS (Canadian Breakfast Stout) was on tap and available pretty readily but this year not so much.  I didn't think they would even have it on tap but found out that day that everyday at 4pm they were tapping a keg of it.  My friend decided to go wait in line for beer and the line was rather long.  I joked that by the time he got up there that CBS would be tapped.  Sure enough the Canadian Flag came out and CBS was tapped and my friend got me and him a glass of it.  I have had the good fortune of having this beer quite a few times and must say that the maple flavoring had fallen off quite a bit but was still present.  While fresh the maple syrup slapped you in the face but this time it had blended more into the beer.  Still an amazing beer and honestly I think I liked it a tad more with some age on it.  I have a friend who works at Founders and he told me that there is no more CBS in barrels so whatever is in kegs is it.  No idea when they will make more but I am sure at some point they will bring it back.  That was the only beer I had and I am not at all disappointed in that!!

Slow's BBQ
The original location is in Detroit and I had an opportunity to go there during their early years. It was by far the most amazing BBQ I have had at the time.  Since my visit they have perfected their art and added some awesome craft brews to their tap list. They opened a Grand Rapids location last year and serve the same great smoked meats and have a great tap list of awesome beers to choose from.  They are located really close to Founders Brewing in the Grand Rapids Downtown Market. If BBQ isn't your thing there is ton of other great food options there as well. One of my favorite non-beer places to go when I am in the area.

Odd Side Ales - Odd Side Ales Photos



The taproom is about 40 minutes from downtown Grand Rapids, so this was more a planned visit than an impromptu stop.  I have had quite a few of their beers in the past and figured a stop would be fruitful endeavor.  I plugged the address in the GPS and off we went.  So the problem was, we got there and couldn't find a sign for the brewery even though the GPS said we are there.  We deduced that it must be in this strip mall we were staring at because there was no other place it could be.  We walked in and saw some taps and figured that must be it.  No signage anywhere that we could see but by golly we found it!!  So what do you do when you go to a newer brewery? You get a flight! My beers of choice were Lucid Dreams, Pineapple IPA, Mayan Mocha Stout, Java Chip Mint Stout, Beerjito and Joker of Tarts.  All of them were solid but the favorite out of the group had to be Joker of Tarts. Inside of the taproom they have large tables but it feels a little crowded.  We didn't have a problem finding a seat though.  Bathrooms are a little bit of a hike since it is share with the entire building.  It was pretty loud and they had a live band which made talking to friends a challenge. Overall a nice place but since most of the beers didn't wowed me I am not sure I would be making another stop here unless I was in the area.

Previous trips to Grand Rapids have taken me to Greenbush Brewery, Saugatuck Brewery, Bell's Eccentric Cafe, Darkhorse Brewery, Elk Brewery and Brewery Vivant.  

I hope you enjoyed hearing about the trip.  Not sure what I will write about next, do you have any suggestions? Let me know but commenting on the blog!!

Cheers!!

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