Schmohz Brewing Company

drxandy

Michigan

3.59/5  rDev -0.8%
vibe: 2 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

Schmohz is located right off of a main road in GR and quite easy to find. The warehouse facade made me think twice if it was actually the place I had been looking for, but luckily their signage is quite visable.

Entering the taproom I got the feeling like I was out of place, as there were a handful of middle aged regulars seated around, and I being 21 and young looking possibly made them suspicious of my goals for the evening.

As for entertainment they had, 2 electronic dartboards, a tommy pinball machine, a pool table. I really liked the fact that they offer games of pool for free and the other machines are likely 25c at most.

I went up to the bar and inquired to try a sampler and was promptly helped by their owner/brewer Jim Schwerin (from what the pictures on their website tell me, as i didnt get too indepth with conversation, feeling slightly akward from the vibe), He seemed nice. Another brewer, Chas Thompson was behind the bar as well discussing the brews with a few middleaged folks and was offering tastings to them to better explain himself.

They had 10 different taps running, and since I dont make it over to Grand Rapids often, their 5oz (i think?) samplers were a godsend. After trying all of them, I found their variety to be a nice change of pace and there were possibly at most 2 that i honestly didnt care too much for but unfortunately I don't remember their names as the website doesnt seem to be updated too often.

At $3.75 for a sampler (which is apparently the price of a pint as well) i found them to be quite reasonably priced. The beer overall was good, not the best brewpub in the state but loads better than picking up swill beer from a gas station or the like. If you're concidering a brewpub crawl, i liked the fact at how close the grand rapids brewing company is located to here.

I could easily see myself visiting the place often if I lived closer to grand rapids, most likely getting a growler filled once a month or so.

My only complaint is that their taproom is smoke free, I do like to enjoy a fine smoke so i most likely wouldnt stick around - but this could be a selling point for nonsmokers or those allergic to smoke.

02-17-2007 15:58:45 | More by drxandy

trumick

Michigan

3.48/5  rDev -3.9%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | $

Schmohz is a welcome addition to the quality breweries already established in the area.

The atmosphere is freindly fun loving and dare I say family oriented. There are video games for the kids (although I don't know why you would bring little ones to a brew pub there were a few running the floor) the staff is out going and will answer pretty much any question a customer might have.
The service is freindly and attentive with a flair for beer knowledge.
Selection is a bit limited and the quality seems to suffer from the lack of attention to detail.
Food consisted of brats and burgers on the day I was there. I am pretty sure that there is little or no food on any other day.
The location is horrible. It is stuck at the end of an industrial complex with no available out front advertising. The brewery that was here prior failed. If this one fails the location will be it's demise.
If you go try the porter, it is by far the best on their list. It rivals Great Lakes Porter..

07-22-2005 05:08:07 | More by trumick

jimbotrost

Michigan

3.81/5  rDev +5.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $

This is a tasting room at a brewery. Located in a Butler style building in an industrial park type area. This is pretty straight forward, they had 7 beers on tap, and a rootbeer. There is a small bar, 10 stools or so, with 2 tap cabinets behind it. A window shows part of the brewery, but nothing was going on. The sampler platter, a rootbeer and free peanuts came to 3.95 $ that was cheap. The beer was not memorable either way but did leave some room for improvement. I overheard the brewer is leaving, should not be that great of a loss. They also list numerous beer mixes on a big chalkboard. Definitely a place to visit if you are near.

07-19-2005 23:45:57 | More by jimbotrost

granger10

Wisconsin

3.71/5  rDev +2.5%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 3.5

Mike (tiki) and I visited this place last night to see what it was all about. The place was really lacking tables and there was a lot of open room, it looked like they hadn't finished furnishing it yet. Two tvs, a bar, and like 4 tables didnt really fill the decently sized bar up. There were no games of any kind, a pool table, foosball table, dartboard, or something like that would have been nice. The bartender said they're hoping to add a South Park pinball game soon which would definitely help.

The service was really good, she was interested in my take on the beers and really friendly but there were only like 10 people there so that probably helped.

There were four beers on tap with the IPA coming out sometime next week. Me and mike got the chance to sample all the beers for free which was really nice. The styles were very interesting and unique for a startup brewery. They had a bock, steam, cream ale, and robust porter (very unusual lineup). All these beers had a euro accent on them which I applaud the brewer for doing since there's enough high alpha acid, huge malt bomb, intensely bitter beers in West Mich as is. These beers are definitely unique. The bock was decent, the cream ale was really good for its style, the steam didn't do it for me, and the porter was for sure the best.

They had pop and chips and some other bar food but nothing else, you can order pizza to be delivered there.

I'm really excited about seeing this place take off. It's close to my home and will definitely be a nice place to stop for a drink or two after class. I hope they're still planning on expanding with tables and some sort of entertainment.

12-31-2004 16:24:52 | More by granger10