Packing up the cars, clubs and the coolers before the Labor Day weekend to travel south of the Pure Michigan border to play golf at Blackthorn, visit Touchdown Jesus and find our September Beer of the Month became a much easier crusade once the party found out that Creston Brewery in Grand Rapids was already filling crowlers.
Sent on a mission to the northeast corner of Plainfield Ave. and Sweet Street to chase
down some fine ales for our weekend adventure to South Bend, I quickly found a seat at the bar when I arrived at the former DeKorne Furniture building in the recovering Creston neighborhood on Grand Rapids’ northeast side.
After a celebratory cheers to August and the hoppy GRale, it was off to the land of Hoosiers. We held off on the Polar Bear brew with enough patience to count to ten in latin or spell Iehovah in Hebrew, but it felt like they were ripping the hearts out of our chests. If you need the skinny on the GRale, click here.
We each found ourselves with crawlers of Polar Bear, a multi-grain brew with citrus and midwest hops and a 4.20% ABV. Knowing the holiness we were searching for and what was at stake, it was time to test our fate.
Our taste buds quickly informed us we had chosen wisely. And so, Polar Bear by Creston Brewery in Beer City, USA was named our September 2016 Beer of the Month.
The rest of the story belongs in a museum.
As I drove south on Plainfield Ave. toward downtown last Wednesday morning I noticed a group of news vans parked and three random people standing outside the glass doors to Beer City’s newest local watering hole, Creston Brewery. Obviously, stopping in was mandated by William Miller, my own Jiminy Cricket-like conscience imagined to walk and talk in the manner of Patrick Fugitt’s wonderful rendition of Cameron Crowe’s innocent, wide-eyed reporter in Almost Famous.
When we finally figured out who was the designated driver for the day, the crew headed out 
us to Railtown Brewing, who renamed their Bike Ride Blonde as Brody’s Blonde for the day. Railtown was donating $1 from every pint sold to the Hope for Brody fundraiser, there were also growlers for sale dedicated to the cause. Gim Lee and the guys at RB were serving some limited editions in the beer tent.
businesses were on hand to get to know the public. We never made it over to the Motorcycle and Car Show or the Kids Zone, but found a gem in local legend and Grand Rapids Chicks star Dolly Konwinski. Dolly had pictures, cards and books available for sale and autographing. After we talked for a bit about her days teaching kids andumpiring games, including some of my own, through Kentwood Baseball Little League, I was lucky enough to get a photo with her.
This past weekend, the team headed down to Bob’s Bar to chase the Grand Army and follow the mob down to Houseman Field for the match against Detroit City FC.
Brewing as our April 2016 Beer of the Month during the same week that our friends at Behind The Mitten have named it Beer of the Week. Honestly.
