It's a big, beautiful space and just off the well worn path of 8th Steet in downtown Holland -- Big Lake Brewing is just one street away. And, with a brand new food menu their new location is making hungry people happy. So, WZZM Weekend Morning team checked it out for this week's Taste of My Town -- cheers!
Big Lake Brewing was formerly a pub on Butternut in Holland, but they outgrew the space and wanted to expand into the brewery they are today.
"We're now at on West 7th street with 160 seats inside and 60 seats outside. We have a full kitchen, seven barrel system and a 15 barrel system at our production facility," explained general manager Jeff Genova.
It all started with 3 home brewers who worked at Gentex together.
"They went to a lot of beer festivals and decided that they could brew better beer so they started brewing together," explained Jeff.
And that has been a recipe for success.
"Our breakfast stout, Dark Star, it's a coffee stout, beat out all other breakfast stouts in Michigan. We beat Founders, Bells, Shorts. It's a fantastic beer. It's one of our mainstay beers. Ryeco, Dark Star, Citrus Session and Leroy Brown, and Ramarillo are all our mainstays. We can those and distribute them throughout Michigan."
Known for their brews, adding food at this new location has been a hit.
"The food is amazing," said one visitor, "they have a different variety than you normally see at a pub."
And with most of their food, "We add our beer. We do a Citrus Session vin, all of our meats are smoked with Leroy Brown, so it gives it that flavor. Our loaded tots with the smoked meat on them are our top seller, they are fantastic.
They also have a unique dessert that has people talking. "It's a our Dark Star shake. It's a chocolate shake, it's not a float, or a malt like a lot of different beer places do, it's a shake. We take chocolate ice cream, we take that breakfast coffee stout, pour that in there, and blend it. It's smooth, it's rich its creamy, but it also has that hint of coffee in it," explained Jeff.
And people love it, "I couldn't get over it, it's delicious," said a visitor.
If the food, brews and good vibes just weren't enough for you, Big Lake Brewing often host live performers as well. Click here to check out their entertainment calendar and their menu. Big Lake Brewing is open 7 days a week.
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