Distributor Locations
If anything bad can be said about Chicagoans, it’s that we have a tendency to think of the city as the only worthwhile part of the Midwest. Beer Trips (Driveable Craft Beer Destinations) is a blog series about places that are just within our reach. These posts will put you in the passenger seat of Lakeshore Beverage’s blogger and beer traveler, Matt Tanaka as he journeys to nearby craft beer destinations to see what makes them worth the trip.
In the second installment of the series, we take you on a trip to lovely Bloomington, Indiana to visit Upland Brewing Co.
If anything bad can be said about Chicagoans, it’s that we have a tendency to think of the city as the only worthwhile part of the Midwest. Beer Trips (Driveable Craft Beer Destinations) is a blog series about places that are just within our reach. These posts will put you in the passenger seat of Lakeshore Beverage’s blogger and beer traveler, Matt Tanaka as he journeys to nearby craft beer destinations to see what makes them worth the trip.
After reading these guides, you should find yourself equipped to make the same journey… or at the very least with a whetted appetite for a fresh pint.
First up: Founders Brewing Co. in Grand Rapids, MI.
It’s 7:30 in the morning and I’m drinking gas station coffee while flying down the highway and cursing myself for the now-empty bag of Taco Bell’s breakfast tacos greasing its way into my passenger seat. Despite this, spirits are high because I’m heading to Virtue Farms for a unique blending session with Virtue’s Cidermaster Ryan Burk and Chef Chris Consentino. No amount of bad breakfast decisions can take that away from me.
Chef Chris Cosentino, winner of Top Chef Masters, is known for his incredibly unique nose-to-tail cooking and offal dishes. He’s adventurous and award-winning with, as his website claims, “meat as his muse.” Today he’s visiting the farm to work with Ryan and the Virtue Cider team to construct a beverage with food and flavor in mind. By the end of the day, he’ll have created a custom cider to complement his unique cooking.