Long Road Distillers

Craft spirits maker opens event space (Grand Rapids Business Journal)

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A local distillery has opened up an addition.

Long Road Distillers just opened its upstairs, The Rickhouse at Long Road, at 537 Leonard St. NW.

Event space

The space holds 160 people and is available for special events and general overflow on the weekends.

The space rents for $100 an hour for a three-hour minimum and a $500 food-and-drink minimum on weekends. The weekday rate is considerably cheaper, said Kyle Van Strien, co-founder, Long Road Distillers.

“We want people to use it, but we do anticipate to raise it as we see demand,” Van Strien said.

Cocktail classes

Long Road Distillers will use the space to host its first cocktail class next Tuesday.

The class is the first of many events Long Road expects to host in the space.

Cocktail classes will be an ongoing series for the distillery, said Jon O’Connor, co-founder, Long Road Distillers.

“There’s a heightened awareness in the country about cocktails, and it’s just starting to make its way to Grand Rapids,” O’Connor said. “We’re hoping to be a part of that transformation.”

While the first class will be a general overview of the history of distillation and cocktails, future classes will have a specific focus on different cocktails.

The class on Tuesday will be hands-on, as students will taste every aspect of the cocktails, from simple syrup and sugar to bitters and the spirits.

“This class will be history and structure, techniques,” Van Strien said. “We use many methods to craft cocktails and how to make better drinks at home. It will also require lots of tasting.”

Grand Rapids Business Journal, Pat Evans

Full Article

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Long Road Distillers

Long Road Distillery offers ‘bathtub gin’ kit as part of prohibition museum exhibit (Mlive.com)

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During the prohibition era, people used to distill their own liquor in their bathtubs.

Long Road Distillery, the recently opened craft distillery on Grand Rapids’ West Side, is offering an unusual way to remember that slice of American history.

In conjunction with the Grand Rapids Public Museum’s opening of the exhibit “American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition,” the distillery will release a “bathtub gin kit” featuring a bottle of Long Road vodka, botanicals for infusing, straining cloth, funnel, instruction card and commemorative bottle with specially designed label.

“Bathtub gin” was a phrase used in reference to any inexpensive, homemade liquor, not just gin.

Of course, distilling liquor at home is still illegal. Long Road features the first four legal stills ever in the city of Grand Rapids. The kit is designed to enhance the flavor of the vodka, the kit is also in the spirit – pun intended – of the 1920s era, when Americans used ingenuity to make their own alcoholic beverages, a trait in common with modern craft distilleries and breweries.

The kit is priced at $49.99 and for sale at the distillery, 537 Leonard St. NW, with $5 from each kit sold donated to the museum to support the exhibit.

“It’s a simple botanical blend included with the kit,” said Long Road co-owner Kyle Van Strien. “It’s not just going to cover up the flavor, because I think our vodka is exceptional. But it will enhance it, make it different and unique.”

The National Constitution Center’s exhibit, which opens Sept. 26, 2015 and runs through Jan. 17, 2016, will cover the temperance movement, the Roaring ’20s and the repeal of the constitutional amendment banning alcoholic beverages. More than 100 artifacts will be featured, including flapper dresses, prohibition propaganda, Al Capone’s guilty verdict and, of course, home equipment used to brew illegal beer and moonshine.

Related: Look back: Grand Rapids embraced both sides of Prohibition

Van Strien said the idea for the tie-in came when he attended a museum fundraiser for the exhibit, and inquired whether Long Road would feature the city’s first legal still. He and Long Road partner Jon O’Connor considered making a special sugar shine or corn whiskey in conjunction with the exhibit, similar to how Founders Brewing Co. created Furniture City Stock Ale for a museum beer exhibit in 2012. But they struggled to come up with a good, unique liquor, and faced time restraints in getting legal approval for a new formula and label.

So they decided to make the product interactive, and reusable. Van Strien said different botanical blends will be sold at the distillery, adding that people could go to the spice shop and use the kit to experiment with their own flavors.

“Honestly, it was easier for us to use an existing product, then have people do the alterations at home,” Van Strien said. “It’s a fun way to commemorate the period and it’s period-specific.”

Long Road opened in June 2015 and offers vodka, gin, whisky, apple brandy and more, made on-site. The distillery offers tours, cocktails and a farm-to-table food menu.

John Serba is film critic and entertainment reporter for MLive and The Grand Rapids Press. Email him at jserba@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter or Facebook.

Full Article Here.

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Long Road Distillers

West side businesses throw block party (GR Business Journal)

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When Mitten Brewing Co. was getting started in 2011, owners Chris Andrus and Max Trierweiler were a bit apprehensive as they attended the West Grand Neighborhood Organization Christmas Party.

They meekly told then-executive director Nola Steketee they were the guys opening the brewery on Leonard Street.

“She gave us a big hug and cried about how happy she was,” Andrus said. “Ever since then, we felt like we belonged and we haven’t forgotten.”

Steketee stepped down earlier this year, and the city’s second largest neighborhood organization is trying to regain its footing under interim executive director Robert Tolbert. So this weekend, several Leonard Street businesses are coming together to throw the inaugural WGNO Block Party, led by the Mitten. All profits will head to WGNO.

There is a suggested donation of $5 for admission.

“The organization needs the help financially,” Andrus said. “This helps give them a fresh start and some operating funds so they can continue the programs they’ve provided the neighborhood.”

The block party will be held noon-8 p.m., Saturday, in the parking lots of the Mitten and Long Road Distillers, along with a portion of Quarry Street north of Leonard, between the two businesses.

Both the distillery and brewery will be open, while Two Scotts Barbecue— from across Leonard Street — will be closed and only serving at the block party.

Andrus said WGNO has supported the brewery countless times, so it’s time to repay that generosity.

“We couldn’t have done it without their support,” he said. “They came to planning meetings on our behalf and spoke up for us; they gave us assistance with the city when we needed it.”

Mercantile Bank, with its headquarters on Leonard Street, is the presenting sponsor, with several other businesses with a west side presence supporting, including 616 Development, Open Systems Technologies, Westside Garage, Ferris Coffee and Nut, Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. and Rockford Construction.

Music will be performed from 2-8 p.m., by bands such as JOE, AOK, The Legal Immigrants, Shane Tripp, Boot Strap Boys and DJ Vinyl Fetish.

“This is great timing for this party,” Andrus said. “We’ve got three businesses rolling and it’s a great excuse to get together on something, close down the street and have a party that will showcase the hot corner we have going on here.”

– Pat Evans, Grand Rapids Business Journal, August 27, 2015

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Long Road Distillers

Long Road takes long view with trio of expansion plans (GR Business Journal)

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Distillery gains approval for full kitchen, rooftop deck and expanded production area.

The city’s first distillery has set its sights on some big expansion projects.

Long Road Distillers went in front of the Grand Rapids Planning Commission last week seeking approval for three projects, all of which gained unanimous approval.

The planned expansions include a full kitchen, a rooftop deck and an expanded production area.

Owners Kyle Van Strien and Jon O’Connor have recognized the need for expansion since prior to opening earlier this year but mulled the details for the past sixth months before heading to the city’s planning panel.

Van Strien, who is also a member of the planning commission, recused himself from the meeting.

“We knew the space we have would never be quite sufficient if everything went as we planned,” O’Connor said. “As we continue to grow after having our second still installed, it increased our potential capacity. And to fully optimize our equipment, expanding is necessitated.”

Enlargement of the production space is crucial if Long Road is to max out its capabilities and hit the distribution market it desires. Van Strien said he expects the distillery’s products to begin showing up on store and bar shelves within the next two months.

Current production space is cramped with equipment as well as with full and empty bottles, barrels, grain and fermenting liquid.

An addition would free up some elbowroom, Van Strien said.

Adding on to the back of the building would take up three of the business’s parking spots, but would double the footprint of the current production space with an additional 1,200 square feet.

“We’re hamstrung in how much we can do. It’s tight,” Van Strien said. “(An expansion) would enable us to store both finished and product in process, as well as potentially expand fermentation capabilities so we can fully optimize our equipment.”

Also in the works is a full kitchen. Currently, Long Road utilizes a partial kitchen to serve mostly small dishes. The owners said the kitchen is limited and restricts potential business during lunch and dinner times.

The proposed kitchen would be constructed in the back portion of a building at 539 Leonard St. NW, which also is owned by the distillery’s investment group and currently is occupied by Chicago Style Gyro. The gyro restaurant will stay in the building by consolidating its storage.

The project will add 1,200 square feet of kitchen space with cook-tops, hoods, walk-in coolers, dry storage and a dish-washing area.

A proposed rooftop deck will seat 60 people and have limited hours, O’Connor said. In the proposal, Long Road notes the deck is in line with recent projects by neighbors Mitten Brewing Co. and Two Scotts Barbecue.

Long Road expects its upstairs overflow seating area and event space to be finished by the start of ArtPrize next month and likely will host live music during the annual art competition.

O’Connor said because of the business’s alcohol use, any change must go in front of the planning commission. Instead of getting the projects approved one at a time, they sought to move them all through at once.

Van Strien said the projects will cost “a lot of money,” but the exact amount is an unknown at this point. He also said the projects aren’t imminent, and this is just a proactive move on the company’s part. The expansions will not be concurrent, and the first one won’t start until next spring. O’Connor said that’s because most West Michigan contractors are booked through the end of the year.

“Rather than go back multiple times, we thought we’d get it all done at once so, as funds become available, we can do them,” he said.

– Pat Evans, Grand Rapids Business Journal, August 14, 2015

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Long Road Distillers

Two months after opening, Long Road Distillers seeks to double production space (MiBiz)

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While Long Road Distillers LLC just opened a little more than two months ago, the maker of craft spirits already plans to expand in Grand Rapids’ west side neighborhood.

The company will go before the Grand Rapids Planning Commission on Thursday, Aug. 13 with a special land use request to add 1,200 square feet to double its production space at 537 Leonard St. NW, as well as expand its kitchen.

For the craft distillery, the added production space will help it make the transition into producing enough product to start distributing its spirits, said co-founder Kyle Van Strien.

“This is making sure we’re satisfying the needs we have now and in the near future for production,” he said. “We just continue to grow. We’re going to two shifts (this) week for our production team just to meet demand. We’ve met demand from the front of the house … but as we go to distribution in a month and a half, we need to have enough room.

“With the amount of storage that we have and our production space, it can get tight. We hope to alleviate some of the strain on our production team.”

Demand from Long Road’s pub thus far has “exceeded our expectations,” Van Strien said. While the company expected to use 70,000 to 80,000 pounds of wheat in its first year as part of the distilling process, it used that much in its first three months of production.

“We’ve seen the demand in the front of the house,” he said. “To this point, we’ve been producing to meet demand, not for the long-term.”

The company has added fermenters to help the production crew keep up, and the second shift should also make a difference, Van Strien said.

The company plans to launch distribution with three spirits in the next month and a half.

“We probably could have had the supply to go into distribution this month or last month, but we don’t want to limp into this. We want to run full-steam into this distribution thing,” Van Strien said.

Long Road is also asking the city to allow it to add a rooftop deck to the neighboring building at 539 Leonard St. NW. The affiliated River Bed Investors LLC owns both buildings, according to county records.

Meanwhile, more kitchen space will allow the distillery to grow its food offerings and offer a “cohesive” menu, Van Strien said.

“Our menu is focused and great, but we want to become a place people go for dinner and an appetizer,” he said. “With an expanded kitchen, we can really blow up our menu with a full line of great food.”

As for the theme of the expanded menu, “we’re still coming up with what that might be,” Van Strien added. “We want it to be cohesive and fit with our cocktail program.”

The added kitchen capacity also will allow Long Road to use its soon-to-be-completed upstairs space for events and other special uses, he said. Adding the upstairs and the rooftop deck will expand the capacity to around 260 people, Van Strien said.

Long Road’s current street-level space seats 80 people.

The Grand Rapids-based distillery’s expansion comes during a period of explosive growth for spirits producers. The number of small distillers grew from 92 in 2010 to more than 700 last year, according to data from the Distilled Spirits Council.

The Michigan Craft Distillers Association said nearly 40 distilleries were in operation in the state as of last year, enough for the state to rank third in the nation for the number of producers.

– Joe Boomgaard, MiBiz, August 9, 2015

Full Story Here.

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Long Road Distillery: Mixed drinks from local spirits (Fox 17)

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Even though it was early, we had a great time hosting Fox 17 at Jackie Green for “On The Scene with Jackie Green” this week!

Check out the early morning videos here.

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Long Road Distillers

Long Road on Fox 17 Evening News with Christian Frank (Fox 17)

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Long Road Distillers is Grand Rapids 1st Craft Distillery.  They also feature farm fresh food and bottles-to-go.

They are at 537 Leonard NW in Grand Rapids.  They are open Monday thru Thursday from 4:00pm – Midnight, Friday and Saturday from Noon – Midnight, and Sunday from Noon to 9:00pm.

Check out the full story here.

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Long Road Distillers

Shaken, stirred and spirited: Local distilleries on the rise (Rapid Growth Media)

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While Grand Rapids, aka “Beer City, USA,” is the so-called epicenter of the nationwide craft brewery boom, West Michigan has quietly played host to a related trend in artisanal spirits. Independent distilleries have been popping up across The Mitten, spearheaded by folks with a passion for finely wrought booze featuring locally sourced ingredients and other notable elements. These days, Michigan is home to over 40 distilleries and that number is growing.

“I think if we look at places like Washington State and Colorado, you see craft distilling trailing brewing by about 15 years. [Michigan is] in a similar trajectory,” says Kyle Van Strien, co-owner of Long Road Distillers, which opened this spring on the Westside of Grand Rapids. “In West Michigan we have this desire to eat local food and drink local drinks. The craft beer movement is strong and we feel [independent distilleries are] the next step in the movement.”

Van Strien believes that before the craft beer craze, many consumers felt that specialty brews were too flavorful. But “they’ve learned to love it,” he says, citing evolving tastes and a new desire to seek out diverse taste experiences “I think we will see the same [evolution] with craft spirits. I think that…people don’t really know what it is they are drinking. They assume vodka has to burn your throat, that it is odorless and tasteless, while it’s a much more beautiful spirit, depending on what you are using to make that spirit.” Crafted with grain sourced from local farms, Van Strien describes Long Road’s vodka as “soft and sweet with a little bit of a vanilla flavor to it.”

With Long Road Distillery located in the heart of a working class region, many patrons come in for a drink not because they are necessarily connoisseurs of the many nuances of different spirits, but because “they are coming in for the great cocktails,” he says.

One of the early players on the craft distillery scene was Grand Traverse Distillery, based in Traverse City and in operation since 2007. In December 2014, the company opened a tasting room at Grand Rapids Downtown Market, which has enabled them to reach a wider market. According to Van Strien, state law allows for multiple tasting rooms. Some distilleries take advantage of that capability in lieu of, or prior to, full distribution. “Grand Traverse Distillery is one of the distilleries we respect the most,” says Van Strien, because they create all their products in house.

Some distilleries are not capable of producing a full range of liquor on site and circumvent the process through a variety of tactics, which is a topic that has been covered by a number of notable publications, like The Atlantic. “We wanted our equipment on display,” says Van Strien. “If you don’t see that at a place, you want to ask where [the product] is coming from.” According to him, Long Road Distillers is operating the first legal alcohol still in Grand Rapids.

Near the lakeshore, Holland is host to two distinct distilleries. Coppercraft Distillery, launched in 2012, prides itself on a “grain to glass experience.” They feature locally grown herbs and fresh-pressed juices in their “classically inspired cocktails.” Patrons can also enjoy weekly tours of the stills.

New Holland Artisan Spirits hit the taproom in 2008 as an extension of the popular New Holland Brewing company. “Distilling is a continuation of fermentation,” says Fred Bueltmann, vice president and author of the book The Beervangelist’s Guide to the Galaxy: A Philosophy of Food and Drink. “We get to see the fruits of beer making into malt whiskey and other spirits.” Some of their well-known products include Knickerbocker Gin and Clockwork Orange liqueur.

Bier Distillery is another example of brewery-born spirits. Operating out of Cellar Brewing Co. in Sparta since 2013, the micro-distillery recently gained approval to distribute beyond the brewery. Product features include their signature moonshine called JUSTtheSHINE, which is created in a “traditional backwoods style.” Notably, Bier Distillery’s website features detailed information about each spirit, including cheeky historic facts, the distillation process, flavor profiles and even a handful of recipes and food pairings.

Later this year Grand Rapids is set to gain Gray Skies Distillery, aptly named for a Michigan-based company, which specializes in small batch spirits. Located in the former Rapids Spring & Stamping warehouse just outside of downtown, the new distillery is nestled along the small industrial stretch that is also home to several bars. According to their mission statement, “Grand Rapids North Monroe industrial district is a place where things get made. Unfortunately in many of the district’s structures that just isn’t true anymore. Entire stretches of buildings have fallen into disrepair. For at least one location Gray Skies Distillery is changing that.”

True to the passions of any artisanal craftsperson, many new and established distillers across the state cite the desire to create a fine product with superior and local ingredients in mind as a driving force behind their operations. “In the brewery culture and distilling, it’s just people that decided do it, and we’re back to this culture of making things,” says Van Strien of Long Road Distillers. “We are proud to be makers in Michigan where we’ve made cars and furniture for years and years. Now we are back to a maker’s culture.”

By Audria Larsen, June 25, 2015 in Rapid Growth Media

Photo Credit: Adam Bird Photography

Full Article Here

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Long Road Distillers

Long Road Distillers opens as Grand Rapids premier Grain-to-Glass Craft Distillery (ImaBeerHound.com)

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Long Road Distillers held it’s grand opening to the public on Thursday, May 28th at 5 PM. The distillery is located at 537 Leonard St NW in Grand Rapids with The Mitten Brewing Co. as their neighbor and the also the recently opened Two Scotts Barbecue across the street. The distillery is a true “grain-to-glass” operation with everything milled, mashed, fermented, and distilled in-house. Their handcrafted vodka, gin, and whisky is sourced with as locally available ingredients as possible. The tasting room features a full cocktail menu of specialty drinks with Long Road’s spirits as a base and also features a kitchen with salad, and sandwich options.
The drink menu includes a variety of selection using each of Long Road Distillers currently available products. For instance, the A.B. Garden features their juniper-forward in made from Red Winter Wheat along with cucumber, green tea, mint, & lime. Also featuring the gin is the LRD Martini. Featuring their vodka is the Lower West Side with orange cordial, lime and rhubarb. Whisky options include a white Manhattan with vermouth and orange bitters. The gin, vodka, whisky are also available as a flight as well as to-go in 375ml and 750ml bottles. Additional products in the planning stages include Patriot gin, raspberry & blueberry vodkas, and a spirit crafted with Michigan maple syrup. Long Road Distillers also features three draft selections being a gin and tonic, a non-alcoholic ginger beer, and cold brew coffee on nitro.

Wayfarer’s Guild is Long Road’s take on a mug club. A members-only opening event was held a day prior to the Grand Opening. Annual membership is $65 and include choice of t-shirt or logo glass. Member’s drinks are served on an individually numbered wood coaster, with drink specials on Guild nights and $1 off cocktails throughout the week. Additional members-only events are planned for later in the year. Long Road Distillers food menu includes sandwiches, and salads, as well as kielbasa. The Dancing Goat “Merze Tate” Cheese served with baguette makes for an excellent appetizer. Long Road also has a variety of merchandise for sale including t-shirts. Long Road is open 7 days a week from 4 – midnight Monday through Thursday, Noon to midnight Friday and Saturday, and Noon to 9 PM on Sundays.

www.ImABeerHound.com – Full Article

Dan VanderKooi, June 2, 2015

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Long Road Distillers

The beginning of a Long Road (Grand Rapids Business Journal)

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Distillery opens with superior equipment and goal to create a cocktail culture in the city.

Bureaucratic hoops, equipment delivery delays and a desire to create a world-class product help explain why it’s taken Long Road Distillers nearly six months longer than expected to open.

That wait, however, is over, as the first distillery in Grand Rapids opened last week at 537 Leonard St. NW.

“My eyes were bigger than my mouth,” co-founder Jon O’Connor said. “Our whole intent was to open when we were ready and to do it the right way.”

The right way took O’Connor and partner Kyle Van Strien along a turbulent path of obstacles, including helping the city understand exactly what will go on inside the walls of the distillery, covering both real and perceived dangers. The licensing also had to go through federal and state approvals.

“Navigating the various layers of bureaucracy is hard,” Van Strien said. “It’s not just opening a new bar or restaurant. There’s a lot more that goes into it.”

The project also cost a lot more than the co-founders and their investors expected.

“It’s about four times more than we expected,” Van Strien said.

“North of a million — something-point-something,” O’Connor said, explaining they hadn’t added up all the costs, but it’s more than the $750,000 they’d estimated, as reported by the Business Journal last April.

One of the unexpected costs was a new still that became available well before they had planned on buying it. The whiskey still from Kentucky’s Vendome Copper & Brass Works was always part of the plan, but adding one prior to opening will nearly double the distillery’s capacity.

With its original Müller GmbH still from Germany, Long Road was able to produce approximately 6,000 cases of a dozen 750ml bottles of spirits a year. The new still gives them the capability to produce 10,000 cases a year.

Vendome and Müller make two of the best stills for what Long Road produces, O’Connor said.

“Vendome is the best whiskey still maker in the world — any reputable bourbon is made on a Vendome, whether it’s Wild Turkey, Four Roses, Jim Beam or Maker’s Mark,” O’Connor said.

As for vodka, he said, “There are five people in the world that make world-class vodka stills — all out of Germany.”

The equipment was the first step in helping O’Connor and Van Strien toward their goal of creating a world-class product. Through plenty of market research — more than just drinking — the pair learned they would need the best to make the best.

They also hired two experienced employees in Brian Pribyl and Kevin Coffey to be head distiller and assistant distiller, respectively.

Long Road opened with a vodka, gin and white whiskey, but could have two or more additional new products by late June. After the first several runs, they already believe the company is making some of the best spirits in the world.

The week prior to opening, a group of seven employees discussed the correct blends of juniper, cardamom and coriander in their gin.

“I’ve tasted it. We know good spirits when we taste them,” Van Strien said. “We went out to find the right equipment you need to make it; we found the guys capable of making it; we’ve put the pieces together to be able to make the best liquid.”

If Long Road pushed production, it likely could surpass the 10,000 cases mark and quickly become one of the largest distilleries in the state, which currently has more than 40 in operation.

That’s not the plan, however, O’Connor said.

Instead, they’ll focus on being one of the few distilleries in the state to make all of their products “grain-to-glass,” with much of the grain bought from fewer than 30 miles away. The region’s agricultural heritage will allow Long Road to explore plenty of new products in the future.

“It isn’t a competition to see who can produce the most,” O’Connor said. “This is about making the best product at a scale we make money. We want to focus on the quality and the craft.”

Once the operation gets a feel for demand in the tasting room and finds a “groove” for production, Long Road will begin distribution across Michigan, which Van Strien expects to occur late this summer.

An aged whiskey is at least two years away, leading the distillery to also focus on clear spirits.

“We wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t get to make whiskey,” O’Connor said.

“Whiskey — that’s the get-down, but we don’t always drink whiskey. Vodka is the No. 1 selling product in the United States. There are complexity and flavors in many clear and lightly aged spirits that we love to drink.

“You want to taste the wheat that’s grown 30 miles from here. It’s sweet, subtle and approachable. It lends itself well to a cocktail or straight out of a glass.”

The complex flavors of all the company’s spirits will be at the forefront of the cocktail program in the tasting room, Van Strien said. The cocktail team will be encouraged to enhance the nuances of the base spirits by layering flavors instead of covering the spirits up. All of the company’s cordials, bitters and simple syrups are made in-house, offering the bartenders a chance to flex their creative muscles, O’Connor said.

Long Road looks to help develop a stronger cocktail culture in Grand Rapids. O’Connor said that culture is one he’s not really been able to detect in the city, save for at a few bars.

“It’s not the scene that has developed in some other cities,” he said, adding the drinks will be at a price “just about anybody can afford.”

“We want to elevate it here. We want to be part of the growing movement. We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel; we just want to use our spirits to help make the best cocktails we can.”

Long Road also has a small kitchen. The menu includes small plate items and sandwiches and salads. Offerings may be expanded in the future to include brunch items, which would allow Long Road to showcase its vodka in Bloody Marys.

“I had expectations and we exceeded them,” Van Strien said. “Why I don’t say ‘high expectations’ is because of the situation we put our kitchen staff in. It’s a limited menu and a limited space, but they’ve put out some amazing menu items.”

Long Road is at the heart of a growing movement of entertainment options opening on the west side of Grand Rapids. The distillery is across Leonard street from The Mitten Brewing Co. and the newly opened Two Scotts Barbecue. Nearby, on Bridge Street, several options will soon be open, ranging from brewers with tasting rooms and restaurants such as New Holland Brewing Co. and Harmony Hall, to bars The Black Heron and The Sovengard.

Most of the new businesses appreciate the historical significance of the west side’s beverage manufacturing, O’Connor said. Opening a business on the west side has long been part of the plan for Van Strien and O’Connor, both of whom are residents of the area.

“We’ve given so much time and work to this neighborhood because we believed in it on a grassroots level,” O’Connor said. “When it came time to put up or shut up, this is the only place we could do it.”

Pat Evans, May 29, 2015

Grand Rapids Business Journal – Full Article.

 

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