- These establishments were the social media of the day, back before people were attached at the hip to their phones.

- [Stefanie] The times before cell phones were just different times.

David Ringler, a West Michigan native continues the legacy of those days of gathering without modern day distractions.

He tries to anyway.

- And now suddenly they get to talking and they create conversation and a connection.

And now they're meeting here every once in a while, you know, and they recognize each other and say, hey, you know, good to see you again.

It's those types of connections with these large gathering places, large tables that build community.

- [Stefanie] David is the owner, well actually, Director of Happiness at both Cedar Springs Brewing Company and Kusterer Brauhaus near downtown Grand Rapids.

Each one is modeled after those iconic beer halls in Bavaria, Germany, complete with authentic menu items from the old country in addition to their American style foods, - Brussels sprouts are to die for.

(David chuckling) But we also feature a kitchen that's directly from Oberbayern, upper Bavaria.

And we all stick our kitchen staff over.

We've taken them over three times, so they've spent a week working in Munich Kitchens.

But we have a very nice Bavarian menu, a Munich menu with schnitzels and bratwurst and (indistinct) and some of these typical dishes that you might find in a beer hall in Munich, - [Stefanie] Whether it's at the Cedar Springs or GR location, it really feels like you just stepped into a different time and space.

Colorful flags from various sports clubs and German states adorn the walls and ceilings.

Authentic beer mugs, line the shelves.

David credits Christophe Kusterer, a mid 1800 German brewer whose legacy in the West Michigan area lasted nearly a century as the inspiration for their style of beers that followed those strict German beer purity laws.

- Christophe Kusterer was kinda lost to history a little bit.

So we adopted this name as for our German lineup of beers, and we dedicated this to the Reinheitsgebot, which is the German beer purity law.

We have taken our brewing team over to trains three times, and our beers have won, especially this original vice beer, which is a Bavarian style wheat beer that dates back centuries.

But we've won 40 international awards, including the Great American Beer Festival a couple of times, World Beer Awards in London, the Australian International Beer Awards, the World Beer Cup in Japan.

Tons of them around here.

- [Stefanie] There's no doubt so much to celebrate here from the dishes to the drinks.

What matters most isn't actually what you see, it's what you feel.

- And one of the things we found cool, we have a Stammtisch and in that tradition that's usually reserved for the regulars.

So our mug club have reserved seating, and we found that there's people who have lived in this community their whole lives, and they show up here on a Tuesday and they meet somebody across the table who also has lived here and they never met.

The whole key really is this German idea of gemutlichkeit which doesn't have a true translation, but it's kind of just that warm, fuzzy, comfortable feeling of relaxation that you're trying to foster when you're sitting around on the friends, and maybe in Michigan, you're out in the beach with your feet in the sand and you're like, isn't this great?

That's that feeling of gemutlichkeit.

In some cases, lubricating the conversation can help.

But breaking bread with friends, old and new fosters and that's where we get that sense of community where, you know, maybe we're not just being mad at somebody 'cause they disagree with us politically, but yet we can know that person and they're a good person regardless.

And we can still be friends.

And I think that hopefully helps keep us close going forward.