I hope you are all Having a great 4th of July.  and I hope you are all celebrating with your favorite Michigan Craft Beer.  One of my choices today was from the Belgian brewery out of Grand Rapids, Brewery Vivant.  Standing tall and unique in Michigan with Belgian style beer in cans, Brewery Vivant is always in my field of view when I am looking for something new to try.  And today I decided that I would try their Belgian Dark Ale, the Undertaker.  A dark beer with the distinctive Belgian flavor, Undertaker stands out
tall in it’s field.  So check out my review after the break and have a fun and safe 4th of July. Continue reading

A Cryptic Beer Review

A Cryptic Beer Review of Brewery Vivant EscoffierSometimes I find a beer to review that has a certain, experience, to it.  I don’t mean the bottle of rolling rock that has been sitting in the back of your dad’s fridge for years, watching the leftovers get moldy and the milk go bad.  That beer may have plenty of stories, and it can be fun to listen to at parties, but it certainly doesn’t have experience. I’m also pretty sure that it tastes like crap.  I am talking about a beer that tastes like it has the knowledge with living a life well-lived.

Brewery Vivant has been on my radar for a little bit, and I am always interested to see what they have going. You may be able to tell from my previous beer reviews.  And it is not just because I love Belgian style beers.They do seem to take the Belgian styles and add enough creative twists to them to make a nice catalog.  And as someone who enjoys a good canoe trip, I love to see more craft beers in cans.  Now that is not to say that they all twist in a good direction.  Anise? Not in my beer thank you (although for those of you who have been dying to pour a little jager into your beer,  knock yourselves out.  You sick bastards).  But here we have a good example of a beer that certainly seems to know what it is doing. A collaboration between Vivant and New Belgium (I feel like I’m hearing a lot about them all the sudden), that seems to make a good pairing. Speaking of pairing, since they tout this beer as a good one for enjoying with food, I will look forward to finding some nice pairings for this one.  So for a beer with some creative twist here is a creative beer review. Continue reading

How did you like the Mad Science?  Did anyone try it?  You really should, it was a good surprise.  this week I am back to my less understandable nature.  This beer fits right in with that idea, at least in that i had to try a couple of times to describe just what i was tasting.  I do think I got it in the end.  Brewery Vivant is quickly becoming a pretty strong draw for me.  their different takes on Belgian ales certainly run the gamut.  This time i picked up a can of their Zaison.  That stands out to me too, that they can their beers.  Despite your own feelings on canning, it certainly does helps them to stand out.  Check out my review after the break. Continue reading

Happy St Patrick’s Day, and welcome back to another edition of This Week in Beer.  This week we have another video from the Michigan Brewers Guild Winter Beerfest.  I’m not going to lie to you, if is hard to think about how cold it was that day while the weather here is taking a turn for the f*cking AWESOME!  It certainly is going to be a great weekend, involving sunny skies warm weather patio seating and lots of green beer.  Now I would be remiss if i didn’t implore you to please try not to get too out of hand this weekend.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.  I should be telling you more about this great new beer I tried last month.  This sweet sweet concoction comes from Grand Rapid’s own, Brewery Vivant.  So here for you after the break are my thoughts on their Hubris Quadruple Anniversary Ale. Continue reading