Brewery Vivant

We have stopped at this new place a couple of times in the past but the wait was too long. Friday night we got there around 6 PM and it hadn’t quite filled up yet. This place is in an old church building and has a European feel with benches and long tables. They have their own beers and French style foods. The Beers and the food is based on Southern Belgium style. They also make a big deal about buying local. We think that is a good thing, but are really more interested in the food quality.

This is the place if you are bored with the “same old thing”. Many items were a bit too gourmet for us, but we were definitely in the mood to try something new.

Salad

We started with a “salad” of Watermelon and Speck. According to Wikipedia, Speck is Speck is ‘a distinctively juniper-flavored ham originally from Tyrol, a historical region that since 1918 partially lies in Austria and partially in Italy’ . It also had Pine Nuts, Feta Cheese , a few mint leaves and Australian River Salt. Really? Australian River Salt? Anyway, it was good !! Would be even better with more Pine Nuts and Mint leaves.

Soup

We took advantage of the convivial atmosphere to ask the table next to us how the Curry soup was. They loved it so we both tried it. Tomato soup with a spicy curry and topped with roasted almonds. Flavor in West Michigan !!

Burger and much more

We finished up by splitting a burger. It was in fact, an excellent burger. Artisanal cheese with chutney and baguette looked good with the expected pricey cost of $14. We somehow never made it to a full entree, like a tasty looking pork loin among others. The waiter swore by the Duck Confit nachos, so we will be brave and try those next time. They also have several kinds of fries (they call them frites) with a mayo-bernaise sauce.

This, after all, a brewery. We tried a flight tasting sized beers. They were good, with decent flavor, but not terribly complex. We tried the brown, the dark , a hard cider , a blueberry cider that is a bit sweeter. Pretty good, not great, but places have have a tasting option are always more fun, especiallly with a group.

This is a friendly, noisy place. Break out of your shell and strike up a conversation !!

All the staff seem to be enjoying themeselves and we felt extremely welcome, not rushed and generally had a great time.

Not the place for a cheap meal. We were conservative and still spent $60 for the two of us, but that included two tasting flights of beer.

Located at 925 Cherry Street right across from the Green Well. Their website is http://www.breweryvivant.com/

This is a high quality, fun place. We will go back.