John Gonzalez and Amy Sherman of MLive and the "Behind the Mitten" radio show spend some time with Chris Knape and Garry Boyd of HopCat, which is celebrating its 9th anniversary on Jan. 21, 2017 with special bottle releases and a Crack Fries Eating Contest.

The celebration begins at 11 a.m. in Grand Rapids, the site of the original location, and at 10 a.m. at other statewide locations.

The Crack Fries Eating contest begins at 3 p.m. The entry fee is $5, which will be donated to local charity in each market. (HopCat plans to match the total donation.)

Even if you don't want to participate in the contest, customers will receive free Crack Fries from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. with any purchase.

In addition, a limited number of HopCat's 2017 Oil Spiller, its trademark Imperial Stout and 2017 Red Nymph, its Flanders Red Sour Ale, will be released in Grand Rapids. Other special releases are planned.

More information at HopCat.com. https://hopcat.com/grand-rapids

MLive story: http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2017/01/free_crack_fries_annual_eating.html