Cedar Rapids Brewing Society

I discovered Grand Rapids is spoiled with a couple of great beer places. One many of you know is Founders. Their tap room is really cool and they have fantastic sandwiches. The had a wall of glass garage doors open to a patio and the place was packed when I visited. It was two blocks from my hotel so I went ahead and indulged. Here are the drafts I had and all were great!
-Backwoods Bastard, Oaked Scotch Ale, 11.0% ABV
-Devil Dancer, Triple IPA, 12.0%
-SZRP of Doom, Douoble IPA 11.2%
-Curmugeon, Old Ale 9.8%
-Imperial Stout 10.0%
-MPG IPA 7.2% served on Nitro

I went back to the hotel and shot some hoops for a bit. Yes I just aim for the one in the middle and it seems to work well. Then I went back out to HopCat a couple blocks from the hotel for a couple more.
-Kuhnhenn DRIPA (Double Rice IPA) 10.5% which was nice
-Hop Cat Hoppopotamus, IPA 7.1% so so

Then one of their Chief Beer Geeks, Steve Smith, offered up some of his private stash and opened an Alpine Exponential Hoppiness. I could hardley stop smelling it to drink it the aroma was so amazing. It was incredible. Thanks Steve!

Basically if you find yourself in Western Michigan, spend the night in Grand Rapids. You won't regret it. Well, maybe a little in the morning.

I won't bore you with my beer list from San Diego - Stone, Green Flash, Alesmith, yada-yada.

But, if you're in the Gas Lamp District, besides the Yard House (120 taps), check out the Neighborhood. Not only some good taps, serious bottle selection (care for a 3 liter bottle of Dubel? It was only $128), but they make a truly great burger! Good vibe and the waitstaff actually knew something about beer - bonus!

No doubt, San Diego has one of the top beer scenes in the world. I love it. It is nice having a step sister that lives there and brings me back beer when she visits. Ironically, several bar owners there have her go to Johns in IC for some belgians they don't get in San Diego. At least we have something they don't have besides winter.