It was so hard getting up today and getting back to work. We had a three-day weekend and we jammed it with exercise, craft beer, the best pizza we have ever had, and one of the best concerts we have ever attended!
Let’s start with Friday. We ran at home (4 miles) then proceeded to drive to Rockford. We parked the car and rode our bikes along the White Pine Trail to the Cedar Springs Brewery. The Brewery is located right off the trail and an easy 8-mile bike ride from Rockford. This brewery is one of our absolute favorite breweries and since we had tickets to see a concert in Holland, we thought why not visit Cedar Springs since it’s so close. Whenever we go to this brewery, we always order the same food and beverage. Blackened Salmon Wrap with brussel sprouts on the side, and of course their award winning beer the Kusterer Salzburger Marzen– ABV 6.7% and it has a malty, caramel, soft molasses taste that pairs so nicely with salmon. We were in heaven.
Eating this sandwich requires lots of napkins- but it is so worth it!
After getting our fill, we headed back to Rockford for some quick shopping. All of these would have come home with me if I wasn’t on my “try not to spend money every time we go somewhere” kick. 🙂
Super cute magnet for Christmas stockings!
Perfect sign 🙂
So, if you have followed this blog for a while, you know that Dave and I can’t say no to a bar stool. Especially when the beer is fantastic. We tried every one of 424‘s beers (except IPA’s) and each one was better than the last. We actually sat there longer than we anticipated so we ended up ordering a pizza from the pizzeria next door and had it brought over to us. The pizzeria is called Sluggo’s and it was by far the best pizza we have ever had. We ordered the Polynesian which was a grilled chicken with pineapple, red onions, green pepper and basil pesto sauce. The beer with the pizza was superb! We are already planning our next trip to Holland just so we can have Sluggo’s pizza and 424’s “Straight Outta Glasgow” beer!
The venue was spectacular! The concert took place at the Dimnent Memorial Chapel on the campus of Hope College. The acoustics were perfect, the setting intimate. Mat sang most of his songs off the City of Black and White album and a few other titles the audience kept asking for. It was such a good concert. He sounded amazing and we loved his backup band. His opening act was an artist named Eli Teplin. He also sang back up for Mat and he played the piano. He is very talented (a trained classical pianist) and he was discovered by Quincy Jones! His songs were beautiful and heartfelt. We will look forward to hearing more from him. 🙂
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