Oktoberfest Dinner & Brew Cruise on MI Princess

The 11th annual Winter Beer Festival was held Friday and Saturday, February 26th and 27th at Comstock Park’s Fifth Third Ball Park, just north of Grand Rapids. This year marked the second year of an expanded two day festival with the addition of a Friday afternoon session as the popular Saturday session continues to sell out very quickly each year. While last year’s event proved brutally cold with single digit temperatures and issues with freezing beer lines, this year’s festival featured much milder weather with temperatures reaching the mid 40’s.

Here we are again, another Winter Beerfest beckoning to us from the (not so) icy tundra of 5/3 Ballpark! Hopefully we're looking at a beerfest not quite as bone-chilling as last year, and the breweries have brought us an expansive and intense list of beers to try this year!

It takes a certain amount of moxie to host an outdoor beer festival in the month of February, in wintery Michigan where temperatures are low and snow is high. New Holland Brewing is raising a glass to the hard-core brewers and drinkers of Michigan and beyond who are attending the 2016 MBG Winter Beer Fest by committing their booth, which is anchored by their 20-tap, Carhartt-outfitted, 1949 Spartan trailer, to Dragon’s Milk Bourbon Barrel Stout, the Unlimited Release.

This year’s Winter Beer Fest featured the debut of an expanded two day festival. Whereas previous festivals have sold-out quickly, the additional day guaranteed everyone wanting to go was able to get in this year. I took a bus from Muskegon with a group of friends for the well attended (but not sold out) first day of the festivities. This year’s event included 1000+ beers from over 100 breweries as Michigan’s craft beer scene continues to grow at almost seemingly exponential proportions. New breweries I visited this year included (but were certainly not limited to) new local favorites such as Pigeon Hill and Fetch Brewing Company of Muskegon and Railtown Brewing Company of Dutton.

The Michigan Brewers Guild held its first Winter Beer Festival in Old Town Lansing on February 25, 2006 in Old Town Lansing, on Turner Street at Grand River. That first year, 40 breweries poured approximately 160 beers to 1200 thirsty Michigan craft beer drinkers.

The now regionally famous Michigan Brewer’s Guild Winter Beer Festival is upon us yet again, welcoming thousands of people to 5/3 Ballpark in Grand Rapids for the tenth year of the festival. People come from all over the nation to join thousands of ever-enthusiastic Michiganders in the cold tundra to explore the very best of what Michigan beer has to offer.

Fermenta has been busy getting ready for the Michigan Brewers Guild Winter Fest (Friday tickets available here).

In conjunction with Motor City Brew Tours, we will be giving away 2 Saturday free tickets to the upcoming Winter Beer Festival held at Fifth Third Ballpark in Grand Rapids. This festival, along with its summer version held in Ypsilanti, are the premier annual beer events in Michigan. It is also a unique experience in that it is held in the outside in the parking lot of Fifth Third Ballpark, so dressing warm is very important as this is all-day event. Tickets this year Saturday sold out quickly, so if you don't already have them, this might be your only shot at scoring a couple.

 

Don't stay inside all winter! Get out your favorite winter boots, coat and gloves and enjoy some craft beer and cider with friends. Here are my top 5 picks ordered by event date.