FAQ
Q. Do you make beer or do you make liquor? We make BOTH (and wine) at Bier Distillery! Bier is Dutch (we are Dutch) and German for beer. Quite literally whiskey is distilled beer. So we made a lot of beer and distill it into whiskey, but we also have beer available to drink.
Q. Is food available? Yes. We have a full kitchen specializing in Dutch Cuisine!
Q. Does someone else make your beer, wine and liquor? All the alcohol for sale is made from scratch right on site in our production area.
Q. Do I need to make a reservation? Unless you would like to reserve our upstairs mezzanine area for a special group or event, no reservations are required.
Q. Do you offer tours? While we don’t offer regularly scheduled tours, if our staff has a free moment they would love to give you an impromptu tour and talk your ear off describing and showing how we make our beer, wine, and spirits. If you do want a private tour, contact us at Info@BierDistillery.com or give us a call at 616-888-9746 and we will arrange one for you.
Q. Do you sell gift cards? Yes, we do!
Q. Do you fill growlers? Yes! And howlers. And cans.
Q. Do you make tequila? Tequila as in many other alcoholic beverages is a geographically protected product which means it can only be made in Mexico. Scotch can only be made in Scotland, Port can only be made in Portugal, and champagne can only be made in Champagne France. There are many more examples of this.
Q. What does the shape in your logo represent? Our logo is a stylized still inside the head of a whiskey barrel. If you mirror a couple lines at the bottom you get the shape of a pot, the vertical line represents the column, and the down angled line at the top represents the lyne arm or condenser.
Q. What spirits do you make and sell that are Gluten Free? It is widely (including the FDA) accepted that gluten doesn’t make its way through the distillation process so spirits by definition are all gluten free. However, we do have gluten at our facility and for instance the whiskey is distilled from wheat and rye so we can’t guarantee a microscopic speck of gluten hasn’t found its way into something it shouldn’t have. Our wine is gluten free as its made from fruit, but again it is make in a facility that uses a lot of gluten to make our whiskey and beer. Many of our food menu items can be made gluten free so please ask your server.
Q. How do you prepare Gluten Free food? Any menu item that shows “GF” indicates that it does not have gluten added to it. Because we cook most of our foods from scratch, it’s easy for us to ensure that dishes don’t have hidden gluten in them. However, this does not mean that items might not have been cross-contaminated. To ensure that you avoid cross contamination, please indicate to your server or in your online order that you have celiac or a gluten sensitivity that makes cross contamination a problem for you. Once you have done that, our kitchen staff will do whichever of the following is applicable: 1) Toast your burger bun on a dedicated GF pan; 2) Cook your burger on a pan instead of the shared griddle; 3) Use a separate cutting board, knife, spoon, etc.; 4) Change gloves in between GF and non-GF parts of your group’s complete order; 5) Utilize our gluten free fryer; 6) Sanitize surfaces and hands more frequently than usual. Be aware that there may be a longer wait time for a gluten free order due to the extra steps we take. Note that all of our dishes are washed, rinsed, and sanitized together in a low temperature commercial dishwasher.
All that said, be aware that this is a distillery/brewery–we house a lot of gluten here. As well, we have a small kitchen with very few extra cooking and preparation surfaces. We are sensitive to allergy needs, but our cooking surfaces are close together and there is gluten present in our kitchen. We think we’ve had success serving customers needing gluten free items and hope we can serve you in the future.
Q. Are you dog friendly? We love dogs and have been a dog lovers forever, but under Kent County’s waiver program the law is very clear–that we are completely responsible for a dog misbehaving, including but not limited to biting someone, stealing food, poop/peeing, etc. We also do not want to have to worry about vaccination status, disruptive pets or liability. Hopefully Kent County changes their code. We love dogs, but we should not have to be solely responsible and liable for our guests’ dogs. An option for our guests is that we do have a front patio that borders our parking lot, so your dog can remain in the parking lot and be a leash length away. We would recommend bringing a dog bed though because you’re going to want to stay for a while!