GRAND RAPIDS, MI – This, my friends, is a classic case of being crippled by choice: The 2015 Winter Beer Festival will feature 1,035 beers from 103 breweries, a new numerical pinnacle for the 10-year-old event.
Of those 103 breweries, 15 are new to the event (or didn’t participate in 2014). Also worth noting, due to the festival’s expansion to two days, some of those 1,035 beers will only be available one day or the other; the full list at the Michigan Brewers Guild website notes which brews will be available when.
In other words, that absurd dream some of us have, where we taste every beer at the fest, is even more ridiculous and impossible (and stupid?) than before. Which means you have some difficult decisions to make regarding what you want to sample – and that’s where I hope to be of some service. I’ve divvied up the brewery list by area and by who’s new this year, so you can either give a new brewer a shot, or check out a brew from a far-away corner of Michigan you rarely visit:
The newbies:
B. Nektar Meadery (Ferndale)
Black Lotus Brewing Co. (Clawson)
Cheboygan Brewing Co. (Cheboygan)
Elk Brewing (Grand Rapids)
Eternity Brewing Co. (Howell)
Fetch Brewing Co. (Whitehall)
Final Gravity Brewing Co. (Decatur)
Grand River Brewery (Jackson)
Mountain Town Brewing Co. (Mt. Pleasant)
Northport Brewing (Northport)
Old Mill Brewpub and Grill (Plainwell)
One Well Brewing Co. (Kalamazoo)
Pigeon Hill Brewing Co. (Muskegon)
Railtown Brewing Co. (Caledonia)
Rupert’s Brew House (Kalamazoo)
Sleepwalker Spirits and Ale (Lansing)
Territorial Brewing Co. (Springfield)
Tibbs Brewing Co. (Kalamazoo)
Traffic Jam and Snug (Detroit)
The rest of the breweries, by area:
Grand Rapids/West Michigan:
57 Brew Pub and Bistro (Greenville)
Big Lake Brewing Co. (Holland)
The B.O.B.’s Brewery (Grand Rapids)
Brewery Vivant (Grand Rapids)
Cellar Brewing Co. (Sparta)
Founders Brewing Company (Grand Rapids)
Grand Rapids Brewing Co. (Grand Rapids)
Gravel Bottom Brewery (Ada)
Harmony Brewing Co. (Grand Rapids)
Hideout Brewing Company (Grand Rapids)
Hopcat (Grand Rapids)
Jaden James Brewery (Kentwood)
The Mitten Brewing Co. (Grand Rapids)
New Holland Brewing Co. (Holland)
Odd Side Ales (Grand Haven)
Old Boys’ Brewhouse (Spring Lake)
Osgood Brewing (Grandville)
Our Brewing Co. (Holland)
Perrin Brewing Co. (Comstock Park)
Pike 51 Brewing Co. (Hudsonville)
Rockford Brewing Co. (Rockford)
Schmohz Brewing Company (Grand Rapids)
Unruly Brewing Co. (Muskegon)
Vander Mill (Spring Lake)
Walldorff Brewpub and Bistro (Hastings)
White Flame Brewing Co. (Hudsonville)
Detroit/Ann Arbor:
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