Perrin Brewing Company
5910 Comstock Park Drive NWThere are so many great breweries in Grand Rapids and so many I haven’t been able to check out yet. After spending a night on the southside of Grand Rapids, we wanted to hit up some place for lunch. We don’t get to Grand Rapids often as a family because I work there five days a week. J doesn’t like making me drive to Grand Rapids on my off days.
Even though it was probably the furthest from where we were, we decided to drive out to Perrin Brewing Company for lunch. Both of us have gotten several recommendations on the place, so we made the 25 minute drive from Cutlerville to Comstock Park just to grab a couple of beers and some delicious food.
Perrin Brewing really isn’t near anything. It’s on Comstock Park Drive just off 7 Mile Road NE between Alpine Avenue and Pine Island Drive (closer to Alpine). The building is a huge warehouse that houses both their brewing operation and a large taproom.
We walked in to the industrial space just before noon on a Saturday. The sign at the door said to seat yourself so we headed towards the all season patio near the front of the space. During warm weather, it appears as if large waist level garage doors will open up and bring the outside inside. During the cold months, these doors are closed and there are warming lamps hanging from the ceiling.
A waiter saw us come in and was right behind us with menus. He left them on the table then gave us a few minutes to look over the tap selections. I noticed they had sampler sizes, but it didn’t say anything about flights. I’m assuming they do, but I wasn’t in the mood to drink that much so I just ordered a You Bretta Run. This sour, which they call “wildly tame and drinkable,” is made with brettanomyces yeast. Yeah, I have no idea what that means. It was just one of their specialty beers, so I thought I’d give it a try. Sours are not at the top of the list as my favorite beers, but I really enjoyed this one. It had that sour taste that makes you pucker a little, but it actually is a really easy to drink beer.
J was really wanting to try the Grapefruit IPA since that’s all anyone talks about when they mention Perrin Brewing, but it wasn’t on tap, so she chose the Razzbery Blonde instead. This is the kind of beer J really likes. She said it almost had a sangria taste to it. Very sweet and not too bitter. I had a few drinks just to taste it. I enjoyed it, but not the kind of beer I can drink a lot of.
The food menu at Perrin looked so good neither of us knew where to start. After reading it over several times, I headed back to the burger section. My choice was the Black and Blue Burger. The interesting thing about this burger to me was the cajun seasoning. A lot of places say they put cajun seasoning in the beef, but I have never tasted it like I did on this burger. I could actually taste the heat and that worked incredibly with the bleu cheese. The sandwich also came with crispy bacon and mayo (which I left off) on a bakery fresh roll. The sandwich came with house made chips which I had to share with L because they were just that good. Seriously though, the cajun seasoning in this burger really made it something special.
J ordered the Mac & Cheese. The large shell noodles are covered with smoked Gouda, Parmesan, and sharp cheddar cheese. It’s served with pretzel bites. This very generous portion was incredibly cheesy and incredibly delicious. The pretzel bites were alright. I’m not a huge pretzel fan anyway, but J liked them. They were pretty much what they say they are. A soft pretzel that had been baked and cut in to bite size pieces. Had I thought of it, they probably would have been delicious dunked in the cheese sauce.
L picked the Grilled Cheese off the kids menu. The sandwich is two large pieces of sourdough bread with cheddar cheese in the middle. L ate this thing like someone was trying to steal it. Before long, she had eaten to the crusts on both pieces. Her sandwich came with fries which she traded to me for some of my chips. The fries were skin on that were still a lot soft, but not undercooked.
The bill for our meal and two beers was just a little over $33. I haven’t had much experience with Perrin beer’s in the past. I’ve had them a couple times at different bars, but I was extremely excited to get out to their taproom for lunch. J had heard from several people who have made the trip from Kalamazoo and raved about the place. I’ve heard from my Grand Rapids colleagues how great it is. All of them were right. Perrin Brewing Company is one of the best brew pubs I’ve been to in the area. They have a great space, they have a great menu, and duh, they have a great selection of beers as well.
You Bretta Run
Razzberry Blonde
Black and Blue Burger w/Chips
Mac & Cheese w/Pretzel Bites
Kid’s Grilled Cheese w/Fries
SW Michigan Dining 