MJ Meets: A Museum Mix of Myths And Malt

By Mollie Jo Swendrowski

I love mythical creatures. Dragons, unicorns, mermaids-I have always found the idea of these things fascinating since I was a small child. When I found out over the summer that an exhibit (ironically) called “Dragons, Unicorns, and Mermaids” was going to be coming to the Grand Rapids Public Museum, I promptly got a museum membership so I could go on multiple visits.
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Last week Adam (the ever supportive and equally as into mythical creatures boyfriend) and I were able to attend one of the GRPM’s Beer Explorers series, and this one was centered around the new exhibit.

Full disclosure: I do not (usually) like beer.

With that being said, the Beer Explorer series is right up the alley of someone who would consider themselves a beer snob. About once a month, the museum pairs up with a local brewery or restaurant to do a presentation and/or pairing on beers and sometimes various food items. If beer is your thing, I could not recommend this series more. Even though it is NOT my thing, I still enjoyed myself.

At this particular session we were able to sample four beers from New Holland Brewery. There were tables set up in the main atrium under the blue whale skeleton for people to sit and sip. My trend as of late is to never be right on time (contrary to the first 25 years of my life) but instead coming in hot on two wheels, so we stood for the duration of the beer presentation.

Two of four of the beers were a bit too “hoppy” for my taste, but the other two were dark and lovely and more how I like my beer if I drink it, and included New Holland’s famous Dragon’s Milk brew. It was fun to hear how the presenters chose the beer to fit the exhibit, as well as learn more about the brewing process for each. (I wish I could give more precise details on what those entailed but my mind was focused on getting upstairs to the exhibit.)

The exhibit itself was better than I could have imagined. It examines different mythical creatures across many cultures and how those creatures may have been come to be, based on legends and maybe ever tricks of the eye.

Without giving too much away-go to the exhibit. It is completely unique and makes you think about legends and lore that we have all grown up with, and how they became exaggerated to the extent of things like Bigfoot (or ARE they?).

“Dragons, Unicorns, and Mermaids” will be at the GRPM through May 20.

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