HopCat

October 6, 2008
Thankfully I stopped bye on my way to Founders. This place is a great sophisticated beer bar. Great selection of Michigan beer. I consider myself a bit of a veggie chili coinsurer might have had the best with some great draft beer.

September 28, 2008
Fun! A ton of brews on tap. ANY draft brew sample for $1.50. Good service with pub grub menu. Wife and I enjoyed the brats. Lots of free on-the-street parking on weekends.

September 19, 2008
Great stop just off of 131S towards Kalamazoo, and glad I took Ryan’s advice (for once). Dimly lit, carefully decorated bar area with a significant outdoor seating area with tons of plush couches and greenery. I could see myself sitting outside daily. Loads of great local Michigan beer on tap: Shorts, Kuhnhenns, Bells, Founders, the Livery, New Holland, etc., and a fair selection of local bottles as well (nothing overly rare, but a good spread of Michigan brews and abroad). Very friendly service, great place to crash, and this is the kind of place where there will always be something on tap that you haven’t tried.

August 4, 2008
The GM at another brewery suggested this place to my friend and I mainly because they have 48 taps and a wide variety. Stopped in on a Friday night and it immediately struck me as a trendy pick-up bar a variety of ages but predominantly twenty-somethings out for a night or out looking for a date. Thus, it was loud and distracting. The bar itself has some classy decor and a generally warm feel to it. The beer selection is excellent with plenty of local and far away beers on tap. Indeed, I had a hard time deciding what to order and opted for a porter from CA (t’was good!). Service was slow but probably because the place was so busy. I think I’d prefer to go back in the daytime when it is quieter (coming from a 37 year old married guy who didn’t seem to fit in). Worth a look just to sample the diverse menu.

July 28, 2008
Awsome place! Loved everything about it. Clean, modern, bathrooms are sweet, the menues are easy to follow. Sample sizes available. nice extensive selection of bottles. Great crowd, nice outdoor area. Even though Grand Rapids is all that, this place is. Wish I had this place in Chicago. i was overwhelmed with it all. A few of the brews on the tap list were not available and they did not have Expidition Stout either, but still a great selection. A beer lovers dream.

July 11, 2008
very chill atmosphere, nice artwork and appropriately dim lights. servers are hit-and-miss. either really knowledgable and attentive, or totally clueless and useless. selection is probably the best in town, really great selection of local/michigan beers, plus a great group of others. food is above average, especially the crack fries.

July 4, 2008
The most interesting beer menu in Grand Rapids (if not Michigan) as far as beer bars are concerned. Over 30 carefully selected taps. No boring stuff and at least half the selection goes off the beaten path (beaten path being classics like Dogfish 90 minutes, Fouder’s Red Rye, etc.). Atmosphere is cool, really cool. Quite an extensive bottle menu too and they have license to take out. The place is actually rather large and with lots of room between the tables. The place can probably sit a little over 100 but packed it can probably hold 200 with people standing. Super-large screen projector tv, ambiance on a Sunday night was Alien (the first of the series) at high volume.

July 2, 2008
Awsome stop to try out Michigan beers with limited distrobution. The taplist is quite impressive. Also an extensive list of bottles. Really comfortable atmosphere. They have a relaxing smokers lounge upstairs with couches. Old school darts are free to use. I didn’t try out the food, but the menu looked good. The staff knew what they were doing and were quick and very helpful. A must stop in Grand Rapids.

April 17, 2008
Great beer selection and pretty friendly staff. I did not try the food, but it looked pretty good.

April 6, 2008
Directly on Ionia Street with parking lot on the side and street parking. Clean brick and wood older building with bar on right and tables in front and on the left. Forty plus taps with list on chalk board on wall. All were drinkable brews with many Michigan selections. Freindly bartender and staff with good knowledge. Was shown a location in lower level for future brewing operation. Interesting selection of distilled products. Reviewed good menu, but did not have food. Interesting location and well worth the visit.