Founders Brewing

Wow, food here was so good.  Had the cheese dip and french bread pizza.  I'm usually not a huge fan of super dark beers, but the ones here were great.

Visited this Brewery for the first time in late June.  My wife and I had excellent beers overall at Founders.  We dropped in on a Saturday afternoon, ordered a 5-beer sampler plus 2 others.  Nothing stood out as "must-have, must-drink again". (They just ran out of the All-Day IPA which I was told by many is amazing-- FML...).

The skinny: Huge beer hall and huge bar to match; old, early 20th century warehouse and loading docks.  Very casual and comfortable vibe here, and easily 2/3 the size of a football field; 'twas jam-packed and beer flowing by the river-full.  

Tremendous daylighting at this brewery, as the old dock doors fronting the street were all wide open.   However, the staff was sweating and overworked with an overflow crowd, yet still managed to sling lots of beer for everyone in a timely fashion.  Kudos to the waitstaff and their bartenders.

Front patio, also very large, is currently under construction (just started construction and it appears it will be going on til mid-late August).  Setting is in downtown urban area (nice urban but still urban, lots of concrete and buildings all around).  Not a relaxing location in context of outdoorsy vibe, so to speak, but overall still a pleasant experience.  Have to try the food next time, based on all these Yelp reviews.  Worth coming back to visit again, but not until the front patio construction is done.  PS Plant some trees and shrubs out there!  Too much concrete.

Crab dip and blushing monk was great! Super nice wait staff and cool dudes in the kitchen. Honey wheat on tap is awesome if you prefer a light tasting beer.