March 2017: Founders’ KBS

It’s March Madness and that means its time for Founders Brewing’s KBS release!

Kentucky Breakfast Stout is one of the most sought after brews throughout Beer City and the rest of the USA.

Aged in bourbon barrels for a year in the cavernous underground beneath Grand Rapids, KBS is frequently included as one of the best beers in the world on numerous lists and has crashed the web servers in years past because folks wanted to figure out how to find it.

This year, KBS Week runs from March 6-11 and tickets for the 25 local tapping events sold out quickly. Founders held a first-come, first-serve event on March 11 in their Taproom.

It’s an imperial stout brewed with a massive amount of coffee and chocolates, then cave-aged in oak bourbon barrels for an entire year to make sure wonderful bourbon undertones come through in the finish.

It’s 11.8% ABV may be one of the reasons RateBeer gave it a ranking of 100.

You better be quick on the trigger, this rarity goes fast. And once it’s gone, it’s gone!

 

Bobby Kozminski charity basketball game to benefit KCSD’s Pavlovic family

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – On Saturday night at Kenowa Hills High School, the 10th Annual Robert Kozminski Memorial Games took place to benefit Hayden Pavlovic and his family with Childrens’ Hospital bills.

In 2007, GRPD Officer Robert “Bobby” Kozminski was killed in the line of duty. Every year since, a basketball game between the Kenowa Hills school’s teachers and local law enforcement to celebrate his life while raising money for a great cause.

Hayden, the son of Kent County Sheriff’s Department deputy Jeff Pavlovic, was born with Cri du Chat Syndrome and Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome. Both syndromes are rare. Hayden is the only child known to have both.

 

The first game was between local police and Kenowa Hills teachers.  The KHHS staff took an early lead behind Ross Hillock and Ken Fustian and never looked back. Kozminski’s son even got in on the action, scoring for the Kenowa Hills team in the second half, helping the KHHS team to a decisive win.

The KCSD had their K-9 Units, handlers and dogs both, in house meeting and greeting friends and family of both the Kozminski’s and Pavlov’s, as well as all local fans in attendance from throughout West Michigan. 

The second game was between Grand Rapids Police Department and KCSD. Local radio icon Bill “Huge” Simonson, who has been a big part of the Koz Classic Annual Golf Outing, threw on his basketball gear and played with the GRPD squad in the second game, promising to limit his game to only ten threes in the game.

It’s about Robert Kozminski, honoring his legacy. It’s about law enforcement, first responders…Kenowa giving back. Looks like one of the bigger crowds we’ve ever had nine years in on it. So, it’s for a great cause, a Kent County Sheriff’s Deputy’s family…It’s about West Michigan..so we respect law enforcement.

-Bill “HUGE” Simonsson, who promised to only take 10 three-point shots on the night

Cri du chat syndrome gets its name from the characteristic cry of affected infants, which is similar to that of a meowing kitten, due to problems with the larynx and nervous system. Wolf–Hirschhorn syndrome characteristics include a distinct craniofacial phenotype (microcephaly, micrognathia, short philtrum, prominent glabella, ocular hypertelorism, dysplastic ears and periauricular tags), growth restriction, intellectual disability, muscle hypotonia, seizures, and congenital heart defects.

February 2017: Blue Sunday from New Holland

Our February 2017 Beer of the Month is Blue Sunday from New Holland Brewing.

First brewed in 2007, this “unique anniversary libation, heritage-blended from our library of barrel-soured beers, exhibits deeply layered flavors of malt and oak, with a tart finish.”

A 7.0% ABV sour ale that boasts 18 IBUs with blended grains and hops from several beers, Blue Sunday adds yeast of an American Ale and bacteria cultures, and pairs well with wild game, poultry & charcuterie.

Make sure to get your hands on some while it lasts whether at the Pub on 8th Street in Holland or The Knickerbocker here in Beer City, USA.

January 2017: Hopslam from Bell’s Brewing

Our January 2017 Beer of the Month has hops! It’s Bell’s Hopslam!

Big hops, a taste of honey, bittersweet. This 10% ABV double IPA is sought after by many, hoarded by few and loved by the masses.

If you’re one of the seekers, you better act fast as this one flies off the shelves. Available in six-packs only (there will be no mini-kegs produced this year), Hopslam will be celebrated with a limited-time only badge on Untapped.com from Jan. 6-Feb. 6, 2017.

 

“Huge upset.” November 2016: FRUITOPIA from Greyline Brewing

Well, it only took us about half the month to decide what November’s Beer of the Month was going to be. Better than the 30 days in October we waited, right?

When the Pick6 crew headed out On The Mitten Road to Greyline Brewing to meet up with Chef Ronnie Mack, we decided that if he was going to run the gauntlet with the helmets, we’d ask him to select our November winner. His choice was Greyline’s Kona Brown Ale.

But, because it was Election Month, we’ve rigged the voting and named Greyline’s FRUITOPIA Fruit Beer as our electoral college winner!

With Kona Brown being TRUMP’d up by Chef Ron’s lobbyists, FRUITOPIA took it’s message directly to the people and spread the word with its raspberry and 7 other fruits (probably ‘member berries) and upset the mainstream media around here, which was expecting an IPA in a landslide. Fruitopia polled around 5.2% ABV.

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October: Ichabod Pumpkin Ale from New Holland Brewing

If you’ve been holding your breath for us to announce our Beer of the Month this October, you’re probably a zombie by now.

And that’s perfect, it’s Halloween!

Had we named this beer earlier in the month, it would have coincided with Oktoberfest and everybody does that. So, we dressed appropriately for the end of the month party, searched far and wide for something mysterious and picked the creepiest local we could find on the shelf. We hope you’re not too scared to join the spooky fun.

The 3-Point Turn podcast’s Beer of the Month for October 2016 is Ichabod from New Holland Brewing.

Ichabod is a pumpkin ale with 5.2% ABV and 26 IBUs that combines malted barley, pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg to leave you speechless.

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September: Creston Brewery goes back-to-back with Polar Bear

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 chaseBlackthorn Golf Club 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.

Polar Bear by Creston BreweryWe 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.

 

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August: Creston Brewery’s GRALE

I wasn’t meant to be there when the doors opened. It just happened. Coincidence, I guess. Or, the stars? However it came to fruition, our August Beer of the Month is Creston Brewery‘s GRALE!

IMG_0737As 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 the crew unlocked the door for business at 11am, I happened to be the 6th person in line. Somehow amid all the calamity I missed my favorite beer-guzzling, classically trained chef, Amy Sherman from WOOD Radio’s Behind the Mitten and IRON GR. (How many times has this happened at a new brewery? Countless. Maybe, every time.)IMG_0738

Without time to sit and partake in the festivities with Chris from EatGR.com, I grabbed a quick taste of the GRALE. It’s the closest thing to an IPA that Jarrod and the staff have on tap. While they don’t specify what specific “kind” of beer they serve(think IPA, Porter, Stout, etc.), the Creston team lets you see what the beers are brewed with as not to bias your tastebuds pre-tasting. Their coasters are adorned with a color- and malt-coded scale, as well as a bitterness and hops scale, to let the customer understand where their likings fall on the spectrum.IMG_0736

Want to be a part of the Creston Crew? It’s their insiders club with some great GR benefits like $2 off EVERY drink.

Some of you are asking yourselves, “did he sneeze?”

Yes.

That’s why GRALE from Creston Brewery is our August Beer of the Month.

 

 

 

 

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July: CS IPA from Cedar Springs Brewing

July’s Beer of the Month is the CS IPA from Cedar Springs Brewing!

On July 16th and 30th, CSB hosted their own Sippy Saturday Beer Release parties.

On the 16th, they opened the special dry-hopped cask on CSIPA 1.1: The Comet. Brewed with Citra and Cascade hops, it’s dry hopped with Comet, then served as a real ale from the cask.

Following up two weeks later, the crew then released CSIPA 1.2: Citra-riffic, brewed with Citra and Cascade hops and dry hopped with Citra.