Brewery Vivant, Grand Rapids MI

21 September 2025

This is my fourth trip to Brewery Vivant and it continues to be a favorite spot. They took over an old funeral home so the indoor dining area is in the original chapel with the bar where the bar belongs:

Because I’ve been here so many other times, I didn’t do any flights but went straight for a pint; this is their Coqtoberfest, a 5.8% “Fest Lager” that is the nicest of this style I’ve had so far on my trip, and such a beautiful color as well!

I decided on the Cheddar Burger with fries and garlic aioli for my meal, and while the burger was very good, I did leave part of the bun and onion rings (not visible in this shot) behind in order to save room for an eventual dessert. Their food has been top-notch on every visit with no change today.

My next beer was their Farm Hand, a Farmhouse Ale that I’ve had before and enjoyed every time. It’s 5.5% and is so easy going down; I took a 4-pack with me as well because it’s just that good.

The food was gone at this point but I wasn’t ready for dessert yet, so I ordered another beer I’ve had before, Chromatic Shatter, a 5.5% Hazy Pale Ale. No complaints here! But I forgot to mention that the bartender stopped by my table with a taster size of Original Gangster, a 5.7% Kentucky Common that was done as a Pro-Am Collaboration with Eric Slater. He was surprised that I was familiar with this style, and theirs was very tasty.

And now for dessert — Brewery Vivant used to have Gin & Tonic on draft but they stopped doing that a couple of years ago. It’s still on the menu, though, and they use a local gin, so I’m always sure to have one. Accompanying it is their Carrot Cake (as good as mine, if you don’t mind me saying so!) with the G&T (and in case you’re wondering, the G&T was smaller than it appears here and the cake was larger!):

Brewery Vivant will continue to be on my list of favorite places in Grand Rapids, the self-styled Beer City, USA!