before the grand opening

The new BW3 is opening in downtown Grand Rapids on Friday. I was fortunate enough to receive a V.I.P. invitation through various connections in the HPC. One of the other Commissioners and I decided we would go check it out. Bill had a meeting at the B.O.B. so he would join us after our HPC meeting.

Everyone did a nice job and seemed to know what they were doing. My (boneless) wings were delicious. We got appetizers too; fried pickles (good, but not as good as the Corner Bar in Rockford) and the "southwest bites". Those were yummy.

The best part? It was all free.

Beers were $1. I think there were some other alcohol related beverages that cost money, but all that food was free.

We will likely never eat there again. I love the boneless wings, but there are too many other (locally) owned restaurants in GR that we would chose over BW's.

For instance another Commissioner has just opened a brew pub with his siblings. We need to get over there and check that out. "Harmony" is the name (in case you're a local and want to check it out, it's on Lake Dr. over in Easttown). Right now they're only serving pizza and beers. They will have more beers on tap as the days go by (and the beers get brewed).

GR is known, as is all of Michigan, for the micro-brewery and brew pubs. That's a good thing. It means lots of choices.

hop, skip and a tick

Yesterday I mentioned that Heather, Jenny and Ginger were coming to visit. We went to Brewery Vivant and had the brewery tour. It was very interesting, I didn't really know anything about the process. Our Brew Master told us that the most important part of beer is the water. Most people will say it's the hops or the process.

After the tour we got to sample four of the beers. We also ordered the frites (it's a Belgium Brewery, so Belgium fries were not unusual). They were delicious! The beer was good too. I'm not a light beer drinker, I like the stouts... so while I liked a couple of them, I was happy that they were just samples.

From there we went downtown to the Hopcat. I sampled the Brewery Vivant Peppercorn (the Brew Master told us about it, but Brewery Vivant had just sold the last of it the night before). It was a lager. It wasn't bad, but I decided to go for the Milk Stout from Colorado. It was really good.

Jenny got a hot pretzel and a raspberry Frambroise Lambic. Heather and Bill shared a quesadilla and Bill ordered a Smoked Charkoota. It smelled and tasted like liquid smoke. It was not good. Heather ordered the (I'm sorry but this is what it's called) "Raging Bitch".

From there we headed to Gardella's for dinner (because clearly we hadn't eaten enough). Bill, Heather and Jenny ordered Bloody Mary's. I enjoyed more water. Bill and I had the beef and cheddar sandwich, Jenny went healthy and had a salad and Heather ordered the perch.

Today, after Bill's big Sunday breakfast, Heather, Jenny and Ginger and I took a walk. We didn't skip... just walked.

Shortly after Heather left, Jenny found a tick on Ginger. It was engorged. We didn't realize what it was until after Surgeon Bill removed it and I looked it up online.

Ginger is recovering right now. The three humans may be a little worse for wear...

brew tours and Saturdays

*Editor's note: With regards to yesterday, 11/11/11 we watched "Ocean's Eleven". Thought you'd like to know

It's Saturday morning. We have a lot to do. We have company coming for a short fun-filled visit. Heather W., Jenny and Ginger (her Wheaten Terrier). The house is mostly clean, we just have a few last minute things to take care of.

The reason Jenny and Heather are coming is because in our recycling program I found free brewery tours to one of the local breweries. The cool thing about this Brew Pub (in case you're not into beer) is that it's in an old church. I can't wait to see it.

I invited Heather because she lives in the middle of the state with nothing around her. When I met up with her to go to Dahlia Hill, she mentioned how bored she is in the winter. She needs live music, a hip city scene and other human interaction (seriously, she's surrounded by a lot of woods...). So when I found these coupons, I knew this was something she would like to do.

Then I invited Jenny because John is out of town. We took a winery tour for her birthday a couple years ago. It was a lot of fun and I knew she would enjoy the brew tour too.

We are looking forward to it. But now my coffee is finished and it's time to get the house ready before they arrive.