Kalamazoo Brewing Co./Eccentric Cafe

January 7, 2009
Good hippie atmosphere. service is generally pretty good. Im a big fan of the interior, as its an older building with lots of character built in. beer selection is pretty good, as the tap menu varies on some of the beers, but sometimes I think the prices are a bit high...whatever. The outside "backyard’ kicks ass with the gazebo-whatever you call it that they grow hops on. Pretty cool. Its better that its within 5 minutes of my house.

December 15, 2008
Well, we made it. Took the trip north of the IN border. Eccentric is a fitting title for this place. Everyone there was superhappy in a nonannoying way. Very nice old railroad architecture. Kind of a hippy crowd. About 12 beers on tap, mostly oneoffs. Overall, just a very pleasant place, although caught us a bit off guard. didnt have any food, though definitely would like to try sometime. Unfortunately, no cask offering, though the multiple glass sizes are key. Overall, pretty cool and would definitely go back.

October 18, 2008
stopped in thursday afternoon. super clean, and an overall great room with character. this could easily be converted to overpriced lofts. very quiet inside, two hearted on tap was so fresh it was nearly alive. wonderful! strange system of ordering food: you speak with the kitchen direct through a window. they give you a handwritten ticket which you bring back to the bartender to pay, then they bring you your food. i had a cobb salad with raspberry vinegrette which was great. also swung by the general store around the corner, pretty expensive but you can make mixed 6 packs. they also had tons of shirts and clothes as well as brewing supplies.

September 25, 2008
Again a Michigan brewpub located in a very ugly, semi-industrial neighborhood where laods of traffic pass by (I wonder where they can be headed). Nevertheless, entering inside, you forget about the traffic, the brick and stylish arts make it appealing enough, though the very high ceilings removed any sens of coziness. I was surprised, but I would not want to spend a whole evening here... and I love Bells. The menu was certainly interesting enough. They even changed a keg while I was there, putting Double Oberon on, a nice bonus. Also could score some bourbon cherry stout at the adjacent shop (I’ve not seen it elsewhere). The prices are okays, but perhaps not as cheap as I’d anticipated (5$ pint, 4$ glass). I’d not necessarily stop by again unless I knew they had expedition or a particularly impressive seasonal on. I’d call ahead to know what’s on.

August 1, 2008
Very professional operation. Lots of bottles for sale along with Bell’s swag in the General Store. Huge selection on tap (well over a dozen) and a friendly staff in the Cafe. Well worth a visit for anyone in the area.

July 22, 2008
(Visited 7-12-08) What in the world makes you think that I WOULD visit here?!? I earned a LIFETIME BAN from this place in October 2000, but I just had to see how the enemy was doing... Very loud Lilith Fair castoff over head on the speakers, gave me a headache in 5 minutes and made me slam back the rest of my brew- nice to see things haven’t changed. The help was really pushing the new Grand Hotel Ale, but only had a Two Hearted and knew better. Cashier in the general store made the comment that Bells still doesn’t ship beer when she saw my license. Responded I spent less money at Old Hat ($28) than here ($42 for the pint and 2 six’ers, f’n EH!) and had a much better time. Overall- let eveyone come here- I’ll be down the street west until M40, then south until Lawton. Yep.

July 13, 2008
Finally made it to the reason for trip, Bells Eccentric Café. Thanks to terrible yahoo directions it took me a while to find this place. I was very excited to come here after checking the website the previous night was kind of disappointed to find the list on the board was nothing like the list on the website. Oh well, I’m still at Bells and there’s four offering I hadn’t had. Two level brew pub, seat yourself, order yourself and cash only. Food offerings were on the lighter side, though the pretzel with cheese was good. Gift ship had lots of interesting stuff. Perhaps I expected a bit too much from here, but the visit was still decent.

July 7, 2008
decent food, great beer

June 16, 2008 [ Updated July 26, 2008 ]
Cool little place tucked away in industrial park. Very neat decor...even if I couldn’t get what they were going for...eclectic I suppose. The waitress was very nice, but the tap list was a bit disappointing. Not sure if we came on an off day or if it is a typical thing. No growlers either. The way to order food was a pain too, but not bad because the crowd was light. Average fare.

June 6, 2008
An original place. Not very large is square meters but with very high cellings. Bricks and wood this place feels authentic old pub. Food menu is very limited. I had a California Ruben and it was good but really the menu there is more snacks than full meals. If you require a full meal and craftbeer go to the Olde Peninsula brewpub less than five minutes walk away. Eclectic crowd of all ages. Some your people playing chess, some old folks talking about the good old days, and so on… Surprisingly appropriate western/country music with a banjo sound that felt just right with the place, Also some more standard soft rock. When I was there they had about 12 beers on tap. Of the 12 only two were not bottled. Many of the regulars were there (Hopslam, Tow Hearted, etc.) and the two brewpub-only beers, the very good Wild One and the interesting Poolside Raspberry Wheat.