Pure Michigan Pints

Greyline Brewing Co.

Grand Rapids, Michigan

I’ll admit I feel lost sometimes in knowing which breweries are worth checking out in “Beer City USA.” There are so many!

Greyline has been one I’ve been to quite a few times. One thing is always for sure: their IPAs hit right. And they definitely do it better than anyone around.

Beer Selection

While they have many beers here, it’s clear their specialty is IPAs—what do you expect when it’s half of their menu? It’s not that it’s bad, but their beer menu lacks versatility. In their defense, they tried with offerings such as a blueberry lactose sour, known as Blueberry Brunch.

Vibe

It’s pretty straightforward here. Nothing stands out but nothing really takes away either from the vibes. The bar is like many bars you will sit at. There’s no noticeable theme here.

Service

The server was friendly and had a ton of energy. He was more than enthusiastic about Greyline’s beers and food choices. He told me his personal favorites, taproom favorites, etc. He checked in regularly to make sure I was doing okay as well.

He even gave me an additional taste of their double IPA.

Beer Quality

As I said before, their IPAs are on another level and would be hard to compete with. Mosacca IPA (7.8% abv) stands out (and I REMEMBER having it years ago after hundreds of other IPAs). I would even argue Beer Advocate has this one wrong and the score of 88 is underrating this beer. It has everything you’d want in an IPA and can definitely rival the Big Boys like Two Hearted and Cenntennial.

You almost can’t go wrong with any of their IPAs on this menu. Bunny Style (double IPA coming in at 9.2% abv) is deceptively smooth.

They are the best brewery I have visited for IPAs.

The blueberry lactose sour felt out of character for them. I get they were trying to create a beer to hop on the sour train trend, but at the end of the day it felt like they were forcing something that just wasn’t there.

Food

I got the West Side Dip: a roast beef sandwich with provolone, giardinera, and wasabi mayo.

While the sandwich was good, I didn’t feel like it really stood out. It was a good sandwich but really not a great sandwich. The menu proved fairly versatile. I’m kind of on the fence if I’d want to eat here again.

Overall—Recommend (If You Like IPAs)

I recommend going here to check out their versatile style of IPAs. However, if you’re not a big IPA fan, this place might be worth skipping. They do the style well. Is it true that the style has been overdone to the point of frustrating some beer-goers? Absolutely.

But it’s still a classic craft beer style that were many people’s first favorite style. I’d 100% check out Greyline for this.

Rating- 16/20