The Smoke Room - Grand Rapids

I'm an alcoholic from California. Loved Founders when I still drank, so on a random visit to Grand Rapids I was stoked to come here with friends. The bar tenders were all super kind and on it with a large crew of Phish fans in town. They also make a mean Arnold Palmer. Thank you for just giving it to me

Brewery #261 Founder's is one of those mega craft brewers that you can get almost anywhere in the country. They specialize in stouts but they brew all kinds of stuff. Their facility in Grand Rapids is huge and that includes their ginormous taproom/restaurant. We had just had lunch so we went up to the very nice long bar and each got a flight. The place was super busy but the beertenders were friendly and efficient. There are no flight boards so you just order the number of samples you want. I got 4, oddly none of which were stouts. I got 3 IPA's and a wheat beer. All of them were solid. Founders is cool but it's not like visiting a small local brewery, this place is on the scale of damn near Miller or Coors. Keep that in mind when you visit.

A classic stop while in Grand Rapids! My mom and I came in just for a pre dinner beer, and both got flights which were a fun way to each try 4 5oz pours at $2.50 each (regardless of selection)! I enjoyed trying two taproom exclusives, which is probably the best part of visiting. It's just kind of fun to be able to try beers that I'm not going to find on shelves back home. My pours: All Day Twist (exclusive); All Day with citrus forward hops and a kiss of lemon and lime Centennial IPA Azacca (exclusive); IPA with a touch of caramel malt with intense tropical fruit notes Nitro Oatmeal Stout I enjoyed my whole flight! Got a couple that I know I love and of the exclusives, really enjoyed the All Day Twist. Merch store on site as well, with decent options. My mom ended up getting a nice zip up hoodie.

Walked in here on a random Saturday and found out that there was a wait unless you had some type of a reservation. Therefore, you could not get to a table, but you could sit at the bar at the other room if there were seats available. Luckily there were seats available for a group of six. Pretty standard a little bit limited, considering that it is. Meaning that I expected to see multiple options of fries beyond just poutine fries. I also expected to see more options for the sandwiches, the handheld and entrées as well, considering that I looked around the room it wasn't just meant for partying as there were lots of families and children there Pretty impressive as far as the scale, the building the ambience, the indoor outdoor seating as well. So this is definitely a must stop. I'm not sure about the parking here as we walked here and there is a bus station directly across the street OK, however I probably probably expected more considering that Grand Rapids seems to be a burgeoning tourist town

Food was alright. Standard pub fare and nothing especially noteworthy... pretty good fries if I remember correctly though. It's a brewery though so you come for the beer!! I came for the Oatmeal Breakfast Stout on nitro which was absolutely fantastic and still one of my favorite beers! Soooo much better freshly pulled than in the bottle (which so still love). We are from VA so there were a few beers on tap that I had never heard of or found locally which were great to try: I really enjoyed the MI Pilsner and the Red's Rye IPA I think those might only be available in Michigan so definitely give them a try!