GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Once again according to the MDHHS bars and restaurants must be closed for indoor dining.
With the cold weather upon us outdoor seating isn’t as easy to accommodate, so the owners at Brass Ring Brewing came up with what they’re calling “beer shanties”.
Owner Chris Gibbons was able to build them just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Each beer shanty will seat up to four people and they’re asking everyone to keep it to their immediate household so they can adhere to current COVID guidelines and keep everyone safe. You can make a reservation online.
They will also take reservations so people won’t have to wait in any lines.
Gibbons says in a way it’s similar to an ice shanty.
“So it's an outdoor structure that's designed to meet the requirements of the health order with regard to outdoor seating. But it will be a structure that is wind resistant, it'll be a place where you can sit and body heat creates a lot of warmth, we think it's going to be a comfortable spot where we can have outdoor seating with table service. So we're excited about that. I call it a beer shanty. So it'll be a lot like an ice shanty. Only you'll have beer just like you do it in a shanty. And at the end of the day, you won't have any fish just like most people do in an ice shanty,” says Chris Gibbons, Owner of Brass Ring Brewing.
Brass Ring will also have takeout, curbside and delivery options available.
Something else to note, at the start of the first shutdown they created their Neighborly IPA and an amount equal to 20 percent of those beer sales have been going to Kids Food Basket, already providing thousands of meals for kids in our community.
“I mean, you can look at things and be upset that you have to do things differently. Or you could say, hey, here's an opportunity for us to shine, and to really show people what we can do, and how we can still do what we want to do and still be responsible business owners and community members. We've really tried to make sure that we have honored all the social distancing requirements, we had a social distancing ladder last spring, and will maintain all of that. So it's really just looking at the bright side. And I think things tend to be a little brighter when you do that,” says Gibbons.
Coming up at Brass Ring they are continuing their quarantine travel series making food from around the world that we can’t visit right now like, Paris and Rome. The first week of December they’re taking you to grandma’s house since many of us won’t be traveling for the holidays. They want to give you comfort food at home.
Most importantly if you want to help support local restaurants, don’t forget to buy gift cards and utilize their take out options.
