Brewery Vivant celebrates fall with different style of brewing

Community members of all ages joined in the Brewery Vivant parking lot on Saturday to celebrate fall and the third annual Wood-Aged Beer Festival. The event gave participants the opportunity to engage in the forward-moving beer culture in Beer City USA. 

The festival featured 20 different styles of barrel-aged brews. Attendees were given Brewery Vivant collector's tasting-size snifters which were used to sample the different varieties. They picked their favorites while socializing with friends. 

Festival attendee and Grand Rapids citizen Brian Greenleaf particularly enjoyed the opportunity to discuss craft beer, and he noticed he wasn't alone in this respect.

"You could kind of hear everybody's comments about what they thought about the beer; there was like a buzz," Greenleaf says.

The festival, he says, allowed him to appreciate the beer community in Grand Rapids.

"It becomes something bigger than just having a drink. This is an art," he says.

Those drinking at the festival waited in lines in front of four different tables for different selections of the wood-aged brews. They could choose from a selection of wheats, IPAs, saisons and others aged in bourbon barrels, whiskey barrels and wine casks.

Portable festival food was sold as well. Consistent with the style Brewery Vivant's pub menu, the food was gourmet and was intended to pair well with the beverages served. Attendees walked from group to group while munching on large smoked turkey legs. Other dishes included pulled pork sandwiches, Weisswurst, portobello mushroom sandwiches, various kinds of food on a stick and popcorn for those who just wanted a light snack.

Participants had the chance to share stories about Grand Rapids and the growing beer culture in the area with The Rapidian at the story fort. Their anecdotes were recorded on video and are starting to be shared on The Rapidian Story Matters page as well as GRTV.