If you live in Grand Rapids, it’s hard not to know it was victorious in the recent BeerCity USA voting. Every city had the same opportunity when it came to social media and voting more than once when it came to using multiple devices. To me, there’s one thing that separated Grand Rapids from the rest of the field: city pride. Earlier this evening, that pride was shown with a citywide toast at 6:16PM (616 is the local area code). My wife and I were at Founders when this toast took place.

With about a minute to spare, Dave Engbers (one of the founders of Founders) took the stage to give a quick toast and thanks to everyone present or not, for their support and excitement for the great craft beer scene that has been consistently growing for many years. Given that Founder is our favorite place to meet for a beer for both personal and professional reasons, we were proud and happy to be there to raise our glasses with Dave, the fantastic staff and loyal patrons.

OK…I was raising a camera lens at the time and here’s a few photos as a result. But! I raised my glass a few times before and after to make up for it. Cheers!

Click on any picture to then flip through the full size version.