3480 Gull RoadYou know how the other day in a blog post for Harvey’s on the Mall I mentioned I’ve been writing this blog/journal for a really long time?
Well, sometimes I forgot which places I’ve actually blogged about.
This is one of those times. I’m going to get in to my story about why I went to Wax Wings Brewing last weekend but preface by saying, I totally forgot I wrote a blog about it in 2019. That seems so long ago.
We went to Wax Wings so many times during the pandemic to pick up beer that I totally forgot I actually did go sit in the tap room once before the pandemic.
I took pictures and pretty much had figured out what I was going to write before I realized it so I’m gonna go ahead and write a new blog post. There have been some changes since 2019 so maybe it’s time for a new one anyway.
I actually made a special trip to the brewery because of a Facebook post I saw. One of their brewers is a discus throwers and will be representing the United States in Paris coming up in the next couple of weeks. He brewed a beer for the occasion and I wanted to get a couple of cans.
Wax Wings Brewing Company is on Gull Road just to the west of Nazareth Road on Kalamazoo’s east side. The brewery shares a building with a few other businesses including Mi Pueblo a few doors down. The tap room part of the brewery was one of those predatory cash lender places before Wax Wings moved in and transformed the place in to what it is today.
I stopped in just after they opened at noon on Sunday. I had just worked seven days in a row and had a lot of around the house stuff to catch up on as I was only getting a one day weekend. I hit the Menards down the street to pick up a couple of supplies then headed over to the brewery for a beer.
It was empty when I walked in but they literally just turned the “Open” sign on. The tap room is a really cool space with a nice long bar that runs the length of the tap room. The lighting is kept pretty low relying on natural light coming in from the outside and some LED Christmas type lights strung across the bar. The bar itself has a barn door pattern going across the front and white metal backless chairs to get you as close to the bar as possible. There are a couple of TV’s behind the bar but I wouldn’t really call this a “sports bar” but it will be the absolute best place to watch some Olympic discus throwing next week.
There are also some large, heavy wood tables in the remaining part of the tap room. These all have bench type seats and encourage communal seating. The place is great for large groups after work or just hanging out with friends on the weekends.
A cool feature that has been added since my last visit is the dart boards. There are a number of boards on the walls but there is a really cool feature on the three main dart boards. These were hand made by one of the brewers and feature used barrels from the brewery operations.
I really didn’t have a lot of time and my mission was to try the beer that was released on Saturday and made by Olympian Andrew Evans. The beer is called The Comeback Kid. Evans made the 2016 Olympic team in Rio but then didn’t qualify for the 2020 games in Tokyo. He won the US Championship a few weeks ago in Oregon to qualify for this years games in Paris earning him the nickname The Comeback Kid.
I ordered the full pour of the IPA and damn was it tasty. I don’t get to just sit at the bar very often and enjoy a beer. I didn’t have a ton of time on this day but I took fifteen minutes out of my busy day to just sit and enjoy this. It’s a really hazy, juicy IPA…my absolute favorite.
Wax Wings still doesn’t have a kitchen but they do have a few food offerings now. It’s mostly stuff that can be heated up quickly in a toaster oven but they do have a small snack menu now. That’s something new since I was here last in 2019. They also offer the occasional food truck and allow you to bring food in from other places…including Mi Pueblo a few doors down.
The Comeback Kid was so good I had to take a few cans home. I was planning on that anyway just as a collectible thing but I really couldn’t wait to drink more of this later. There’s a really cool label that replaces the Olympic rings with tri-clamps and a great picture of Evans. I asked for a 4-pack so the bartender grabbed then cashed me out.
The total for my beer at the bar and the four pack was right around $30.
Wax Wings Brewing Company really is one of my favorite breweries. Like I mentioned earlier, we spent a lot of money there during the pandemic when they would do drive up orders. My wife bought a ton of the Condor Valley releases and I always grabbed whatever barrel aged beer or new IPA they were putting out. We don’t go the actual tap room just because it’s on the other side of town and not having food makes it hard for us to keep the kids entertained while we enjoy the beer. We still do take out beer from their occasionally and I don’t see that changing. I really wish we could sit down and enjoy the place more often because it really is one of the great Kalamazoo breweries.