The 19th Annual Winter Beer Festival is set to take place today, Saturday, February 22 in Comstock Park, MI. This festival is put on by the Michigan Brewers Guild. The festival runs from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm in the parking lot surrounding the LMCU Ballpark. Enthusiast members get in an hour early at noon.
We’ve looked over the festival’s beer list of around 90 breweries* and almost 500 beers. We narrowed down the list to our Top 20 beers. They are organized by style – Dark Lagers, Fruit Beers, IPAs, Baltic Porters, and Dessert Beers . Within each type of beer, beers are organized in alphabetical order by brewery name. Here are the 20 beers we think you need to try!
Dark Lagers
Let’s take a little break from standard light looking beers and switch over to the Dark Lagers. These are the only four at the festival, so walk around to all the tents and compare them all.
Photo Credit – Arbor Brewing Company
Table Talk – Arbor Brewing Company (Ypsilanti / Ann Arbor) – 4.7%
Aphos – HOMES Brewery (Ann Arbor) – 4.7%
Solace – Old Nation Brewing Company (Williamston) – 5%
S’more Dark Lager – Petoskey Brewing (Petoskey) – 5.3%
Fruit Beers
Winter Beer Festivals are chock full of dark, roasty, boozy wonders! Let’s expand our palate and give our taste buds a little fruit to balance everything out.
Jam Jar (Sour) – Vivant Brewery and Spirits [fka Brewery Vivant] (Grand Rapids) – 5%
Blueberry Fruit Tart (Fruit Beer) – Flatiron Brewing (Manistique) – 5%
Jammy Mist (Sour) – Mothfire Brewing (Ann Arbor) – 5%
My Snackrifice Vol 2 (Sour) – Transient Artisan Ales (Bridgman) – 6%
IPAs
IPAs are still a very popular style that every brewery seems to always have 19 of on draft. There are a ton more than 19 at this festival, so narrowing it down to four was a challenge. We picked a selection to keep you on your toes.
Unicorn Piss (American IPA) – ByGeorge Brewing (Munising) – 6.5%
Thioldriver (New England IPA) – Ogma Brewing Co (Jackson) – 7%
Ripped Right (New England IPA) – One Well Brewing (Kalamazoo) – 7%
DAMP (Session IPA) – Pigeon Hill Brewing Company (Muskegon) – 2.5%
Baltic Porters
Originating in the Baltic region, these Porters offer a unique profile from the Porter family that we’re always excited to see. You can read more about them here from the BJCP. With five total at the fest, we thought it’d be another great style to explore. Bonus Quest: Find which of the breweries listed below also has a Barrel Aged one at the festival.
Hela – Looking Glass Brewing Company (DeWitt) – 9%
OwninPohja – Oakestown Brewery (Grandville) – 6%
Baltic Porter – Third Nature Brewing Company (Rockford) – 8%
Porter’s $70K – Thornapple Brewing (Grand Rapids) – 9.5%
Dessert Beers
Yup, you read that correctly – dessert beers. You know what we’re talking about when you have them. These beers have been hand selected because they sounded like a slice of yummy dessert in beer form.
Belgian Waffler Porter (Porter) – Burzurk Brewing (Grand Haven) – 6.1%
Oatmeal Cookie Stout (Oatmeal Stout) – Cheboygan Brewing Company (Cheboygan) – 6.5%
Chocolate Covered Cherry Dessert Shark (Pastry Sour) – Niles Brewing Company (Niles) – 4%
Carrot Cake (Cream Ale) – Perrin Brewing Company (Comstock Park) – 5.8%
If you make it out to the festival, have fun, drink beer, stay warm, and be safe!
Cheers!
*We wanted to note that this is around a 30 brewery drop from 2024. Ninety breweries in one location is a strong showing, but times are tough out there for Michigan breweries. If you are going to the festival, try stopping by one or two Grand Rapids breweries or some on your way home. If you’re not going to the festival, go to a few breweries in your area this weekend. Cheers!
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