GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A bar set to open this month is aiming to bring a taste of Nashville to Grand Rapids.

Rapid River Stillhouse is set to open at 401 Stocking Ave NW at the intersection of Bridge Street on Oct. 18. The bar comes from the Rapid River Beverage Company, which stemmed from moonshine company Sip Shine LLC.

The three-story bar will have everything from whiskey tastings and merch to a stage for performers and a rooftop deck.

“We wanted to bring whiskey to Grand Rapids in an unbelievable Nashville-style concept,” Dale Kivinen, the experience director of Rapid River, told News 8. “We’re offering many, many different things inside this building. It is a restaurant, it is a bar, it is an entertainment venue, it is a rooftop deck.”

Everything served up behind the bar will be Rapid River products, from the whiskey and other spirits to the wine, beer and seltzers. Even the syrups and garnishes — like an edible flower — are made in-house.

The company offers flavored whiskey, with flavors like watermelon, honey, vanilla and maple.

There will also be cocktails like The Morning Man, a smoked maple whiskey with walnut liqueur and maple bacon bitters, and the Grand Rapidian, a vodka cocktail with lemon juice, triple sec, white cranberry and dragon fruit syrup.

The menu will offer refined Southern cuisine, like dry-rubbed jumbo wings with smoked house veggies and a white BBQ sauce, or brisket pops, with smoked and caramelized brisket, pickled red onion, jalapeno and sweet corn cream.

The first floor will offer a spot for express lunch in the afternoons. In the evening, it will offer a spot for people to hang out while waiting for a table.

“There’s a lot to do while you wait for a table at Rapid River,” Kivinen said.

There’s a Gatlinburg-style tasting bar, which will rotate its flavored whiskey and other products out on a weekly basis. There’s also a cocktail bar, and a spot where people can buy Rapid River products and merchandise.

The second floor includes a bar, the main dining area and a stage for musicians. The stage has an open-air concept with an opening door and a view of the Grand Rapids skyline.

“One of the things that we really wanted to feature is a good entertainment platform with live music, just like you’d experience in Nashville or Gatlinburg,” Kivinen said.

Rapid River is currently audition musicians to take the stage, and has also partnered with iHeart Media to bring in celebrities and Nashville performers.

Kivinen said it won’t be strictly country music.

“We’re going to be doing many different things on the stage,” he said. “We’re splitting off into many other genres, from blues to classic rock to variety. You may see an Elton John performer on the stage, or (a) Billy Joel (tribute).”

Guests will be able to hear the performer wherever they are in the building, he said.

He said that the company has a database of performers, which was started when it ran an online concert series during COVID-19.

“We started … realizing that there’s people sitting in their bedrooms at night playing their guitars that are really, really good, and we wanted to give people like that an opportunity to come in here,” he said.

The third floor includes an area for events and a rooftop deck where people can enjoy a cocktail and the view.

Kivinen said the company spent two years renovating the building, which dates back to 1908, with an addition added around 2010.

It was formally a sausage factory, then Little Mexico Café. Most recently, it was Harmony Hall.

As the crew gets ready for the grand opening, they’re hosting several soft openings, Kivinen said. Doors will open to the public at 6 p.m. on Oct. 18. The grand finale of the opening will take place on Saturday, Oct. 19, when Rapid River brings in Nashville performer John Morgan.

The “Friends Like That” singer is an opener for Jason Aldean.

Kivinen said the team is excited to bring a bit of Nashville to Grand Rapids.

“We started out as a flavored moonshine company, which is southern, so we spent a lot of time in Tennessee — Nashville, Gatlinburg — and we always liked that vibe,” we said. “We always thought this corridor of the city would be a perfect fit for a mini-Nashville.”

He added that the Grand Rapids nightlife has recently taken off along Bridge Street, which is adding other new businesses and will be near the planned soccer stadium.

“We thought this would be a really neat fit for Grand Rapids,” he said. “We’re music fans, we’re whiskey fans, we’re foodies. We wanted to bring all of that, all of our expertise into one location.”