Raise your spirits: it’s Flat Lander’s Whiskyfest

GRAND RAPIDS — Gregg Palazzolo was standing 30 feet from where he’s sitting now when he got a call. He was next door at the future Grand Butchers, helping some clients of his design firm get their business started, when another client called and asked about good locations for a craft spirits venue.

“Hang on,” he said, and ran next door to a vacant storefront to snap some photos. His friends saw the photos and came running themselves, and that’s how the place where Palazzolo is sitting now became Flat Lander’s.

Flat Lander’s is a “barstillery” — that’s a place that sells house-branded liquors alongside beer, wine and food. (It’s also a term Palazzolo, ever conscious of “the brand,” is trying to trademark).

Opened just this March on Michigan Ave. NE in Grand Rapids, Flat Lander’s is the first of a wave of new West Michigan businesses trying to harness the tide of craft beverages as it rises to include spirits as well as beer and cider.

It’s the perfect time to check the place out: now th

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