The 18th Annual Winter Beer Festival is set to take place today, Saturday, February 24 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 120 breweries and almost 700s beers. We narrowed down the list to our Top 20 beers. They are organized by style – IPAs, Robust Porters, Barrel Aged beers, and a directional-related grab bag selection. 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!

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IPAs

The IPA category at any beer festival is always packed. Here are six that caught our eye for you to try!

Citra Citra Citra

Arvon Brewing Co | Grand Rapids | New England IPA | 6.5%

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Arvon Brewing Co will be celebrating their fourth anniversary the same weekend as the Winter Beer Fest. Their Citra Citra Citra is a NEIPA made with … Citra hops. It should be a great way to celebrate with them heading into their fifth year.

Mango Dreamshake

Ascension Brewing Co | Novi | Imperial New England IPA | 8.2%

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This brew originated as a collaboration with Ypsilanti’s closed (as of 2022) Cultivate Coffee & Tap House and Ascension Brewing Co. It’s great to see collaboration beers continue beyond the initial batch. We’re curious how this version stacks up.

Check out our interview with Ascension’s Adam Czap on Episode #39 of the #MichiganBeer Series.

W.A.B. IPA

Barleydoodle Project / B. Nektar | Ferndale | American IPA | 7%

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The W.A.B. resurrection has continued in Ferndale with more of this brew being brewed by B. Nektar’s brewing project, Barleydoodle. The location / venue reopened its doors the first weekend of this month. Relive your favorite W.A.B. memories with a taster at the festival!

Episode #38 of the #MichiganBeer Series covered B. Nektar’s newest project Barleydoodle Project.

Mi Gente

City Built Brewing Company | Grand Rapids | American IPA | 6.5%

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City Built Brewing Company is bringing Mi Gente back for another Michigan Brewers Guild festival! It was created to celebrate Latino and Hispanic brewers and had similar intentions as the “Black is Beautiful” movement created by Weathered Souls in 2020.

After collaborating with Batch Brewing Co for its initial release in both taprooms and the Detroit Fall Beer Festival, there haven’t been a lot of updates according to the beer’s website. We are hoping it picks up more steam with it back on the Winter Beer Fest list (twice! [Burzurk Brewing Company is also bringing one to the festival]) and receiving a nominated for “Best Beer Label” for USA Today’s 10Best Awards.

Check out Episode #36 of the #MichiganBeer Series featuring Edwin Collazo here.

5th Division

Texas Corners Brewing Company | Kalamazoo | Black IPA | 5.8%

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Texas Corners Brewing Company’s 5th Division is both a seasonal release and a nod to the owners’ grandfather who served during WWII. We love beers with history AND a story!

Grave Digger

Tombstone Brewery | Chesterfield | American IPA | 7.2%

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Tombstone Brewery is one of the new breweries in the Michigan beer scene and we are happy to recommend them at the festival.

Grave Digger brought back a bunch of Monster Jam memories, and the beer name fits well with the macbre theme that the brewery is going for.

Robust Porters

We narrowed down the eight Robust Porters available at the fest to a burly four. Each has a unique add in too.

So Sticky Salted Caramel Porter

The 707 Winery and Brewery | Caledonia | Porter | 5.5%

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Is it car-mel or car-a-mel? Mull it over with the 707 Winery and Brewery’s take on a Robust Porter with caramel.

Cerberus Peanut Butter Porter

Brewery Outré | Kalamazoo | Porter | 6%

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We’ve heard great things about Brewery Outré’s portfolio, especially when they have a beer named after Cerberus. This is the second version, a bit of a variant if you will with peanut butter. Watch out for the second head, right?

Parvati Chai Porter

Gravel Bottom Craft Brewery | Ada | Porter | 6.3%

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Gravel Bottom always has solid beers. A Chai Porter sounded like something that will keep all of us warm at a Winter Beer Festival.

White Pine Coffee Porter

HomeGrown Brewing Company | Oxford | Porter | 6.4%

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This Coffee Porter is roasty and flavorful. The White Pine Coffee melds well with the Porter base that HomeGrown has perfected.

Barrel-Aged Beers

Buckle up for these barrel aged beasts. Do everyone a favor and pace yourself with all Barrel Aged beers. We wouldn’t want you to get a nosebleed.

Bog Berry

barrel + beam | Marquette | American Wild Ale | 6.4%

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Bog Berry by barrel + beam may go against your definition of “barrel aged beer”, but it fits our qualifications. This American Wild Ale has been barrel aged with 40 lbs of cranberries.

Whiskey Villainess

Guardian Brewing Company | Saugatuck | Imperial Milk Stout

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Guardian Brewing Company is closing up shop here in Michigan this spring to be closer with family in Indiana. This will be their last Michigan Winter Beer Festival as a brewery. The Whiskey Villainess is made with Oreos and barrel aged in a Whiskey barrel for 12 months.

Stop by and enjoy all of their beers to send them off! No seriously. Let’s send them off with empty kegs!

BA The Resurrection of the Fat King

Loaded Dice Brewery | Troy | Imperial Pastry Stout | 14.6%

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Loaded Dice Brewery’s Fat King series is kick ass! This Imperial Pastry Stout packs a serious punch at 14.6%. The aging in a Journeyman Rye Whiskey barrel probably has something to do with it.

Fart at the Devil: Blueberry

Niles Brewing Company | Niles | Imperial Stout | 11%

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It’s unclear why Niles Brewing Company is farting at the devil, but as one of the newer breweries in Michigan, they are always shaking things up with their styles and ingredients. This sour stout (?!) is a collab with Iron Shoe Distillery. The beer is aged in Rye Whiskey barrels and conditioned on Michigan blueberries.

Thicc as Fuckley

Transient Artisan Ales | Bridgman | Imperial Stout | 17%

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Hell of a beer name, Transient Artisan Ales! Bravo!

This Imperial Stout is heavy AF at 17%. The thiccness is probably due to the maple syrup used, along with being barrel aged in Pinhook Rye barrels for 30 months.

Submerged in Spirit

Watermark Brewery | Stevensville | Imperial Stout | 13.5%

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Watermark Brewery kept things simple with this one’s beer description – “bourbon barrel aged imperial stout.”

Somethings less is more.

Northern Grab Bag

Did you know there are scheduled to be four breweries with “North” in their brewery’s name? We thought it was a fun fact and took a grab bag approach to these suggestions.

Dreams in Red Altbier

*North Center Brewing Company | Northville | Altbier | 5.6%

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North Center Brewing Company has the only Altbier on site. We can already hear Ken’s grumbles about the style. If you’re like Ken or just enjoy Amber Lagers, then this one is right up your alley.

DagrNott

North Channel Brewing Company | Manistee | Schwarzbier | 5.6%

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When was the last time you had a Schwarzbier?

North Channel Brewing Company promises that this Schwarzbier is balanced, light, and easy drinking.

Kneecaps

North Grove Brewers | Montague | Weizenbock | 7.3%

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How about them Lions?!

The Detroit Football Lions had quite a season, so there needed to be at least one nod to them on this list. Hopefully the Weizenbock from North Grove Brewers is just as promising.

Humongous Midwest Red Ale

North Peak Brewing Company | Traverse City | Red Ale | 9.6%

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The Humongous Midwest Red Ale looks like a fun one from North Peak. A little bit of digging seems to suggest that this beer may be a rebrand of the Humongous Imperial Red Ale that was part of the Grizzly Peak Series. With only a handful of Untappd check ins at Jolly Pumpkin locations, methinks that that is what it is.

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Which beers did we miss that you are looking forward to at the 18th Annual Winter Beer Festival?

Cheers!

*Thank you to North Center Brewing Company for their sponsorship of Better on Draft Media.