Distributor Locations
Arguably Founders Brewing Co’s most sought-after release, KBS is a barrel-aged version of a variant of the brewery’s Breakfast Stout. Massive amounts of chocolate and coffee combined with the character the bourbon barrels impart are what make this beer so popular but it’s the difficult brewing process that make it a labor of love for the brewers.
Founders Brewing Company in Grand Rapids, MI has a story of guts, risk and a fierce commitment to staying true to itself. As the tale goes, a few years after co-founders Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers opened the brewery, they were on the verge of bankruptcy. As Dave Engbers likes to put it, “when we started, we brewed well-balanced, unremarkable beers. We were brewing the same things as everyone else.”
It eventually got so bad that Mike Stevens recalls getting a phone call from their loan officer warning them of the lock that would be placed on the brewery’s door that coming Monday. That’s when they knew something had to change. They told themselves “if we’re going to go out of business it might as well be on our own terms. Let’s make the beer we want to drink.” This new commitment brewing beer for themselves produced Dirty Bastard, Curmudgeon Old Ale, Kentucky Breakfast Stout and other genre-defining, big, bold, strong, flavorful beers. It wasn’t long before the public took notice. Now, a little over a decade later, Founders Brewing Co. is preparing for a year producing over 200,000 barrels of beer… all while continuing to push the envelope.
To get a better feel for what makes Founders, Founders, we sat down with one of Founders’ Co-Founders, Dave Engbers.
There are meals and then there are MEALS. Last night I sat down for a five course beer dinner prepared by Chef Stephanie Izard and her fantastic team. Each course was paired with a Founders beer, including the extremely rare CBS and an exclusive taste of the upcoming Blushing Monk.
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.