Fuego de Brad: A Commemorative Beer for Brad Etheridge at Michigan Brewers Guild 25th Annual Summer Beer Festival (2024)

The Michigan Craft Beer community is coming together at the upcoming Summer Beer Festival in memory of one of their own.

Brad Etheridge, a family man, brewer, and friend, unfortunately passed away on November 25, 2023. He leaves behind a legacy not only with family and friends, but also within the Michigan Craft Beer community. He was a brewer at Dragonmead Brewery and Atwater Brewery and was set to be the head brewer at the upcoming Six Spoke Brewing Co in Detroit.

Jeremy Altier (Royal Oak Brewery) and Erik Harms (Dragonmead Brewery) are spearheading the endeavor to remember their late friend. “We didn’t want a fest to go by without doing something for him. We wanted to do a beer in honor of him to drink together and remember him.” The shared recipe is based on one of Etheridge’s well-known beer recipes. Each of the beers brewed in his honor will be named Fuego de Brad. “Fuego” means “fire” in Spanish.

We’ve been researching the Beer List for our list of beers we think people should check out at the festival and noticed over 20 breweries brewing up a tribute beer for Brad under the beer name “Fuego de Brad” to highlight. Here is the list of the participating breweries, their location(s) in Michigan, the style of the tribute beer they are planning on bringing to the festival, and if there is an alternative name to “Fuego de Brad” that way you can find them all at the Summer Beer Festival and honor this amazing man!  

• Arctic Circle Brewing Company (New Baltimore) – American Wheat Beer
• Baffin Brewing Co (St Clair Shores) – Fruit Beer
• Batch Brewing Co (Detroit) – American Wheat Beer
• Block Brewing Company (Howell + Brighton) – American Wheat Beer
• Brew Detroit (Detroit) – Fruit Beer
• Brown Iron Brewhouse (Washington Twp + Royal Oak) – Wheat Beer – “A Wheatwork Brad”
• City Built Brewing Company (Grand Rapids) – Fruit Beer
• CJ’s Brewing (Commerce Twp) – Witbier – “Mango Wit”
• Copper Hop Brewing Co (St Clair Shores) – American Wheat Beer
• Detroit Beer Co (Detroit) – American Wheat Beer
• Dragonmead Brewery (Warren) – Fruit Beer
• Fillmore 13 Brewery (Pontiac) – American Wheat Beer
• Great Baraboo Brewing Company (Clinton Twp) – Fruit Beer
• Kuhnhenn Brewing Company (Warren + Clinton Twp) – American Wheat Beer
• Lansing Brewing Company (Lansing) – American Wheat Beer
• Loaded Dice Brewery (Troy) – American Wheat – “One Mango, Two Men Went on Fire”
• Niles Brewing Company (Niles) – Blonde Ale – “Mango Bliss”
• The Mitten Brewing Company (Grand Rapids + Northport + Saugatuck) – Fruit Beer
• Old Nation Brewing Company (Williamston) – Hefeweizen
• Pigeon Hill Brewing Company (Muskegon) – American Wheat Beer
• Rochester Mills Beer (Rochester) – Fruit Beer
• Royal Oak Brewery (Royal Oak) – Fruit Beer
• Rustic Leaf Brewing Company (Waterford) – American Wheat Beer
• Schaendorf Brewing Company (Allegan) – American Wheat Beer
• Sherwood Brewing Company (Shelby Township) – Witbier

UPDATE #1: After we published our blog post about Fuego de Brad, it was brought it our attention that other breweries also made a beer in Brad’s honor. It was not our intention to leave off these tribute beers and breweries.  We will continue to update the above list as more details comes through, and to look for the Orange Heart Symbol in the program when you get yours going into the event to find them!

UPDATE #2: On July 24, the Michigan Brewers Guild released their program for the beer fest. We went through the program and added breweries with the Orange Heart Symbol signifying the breweries and beers made in Brad’s honor to the list above.

The Summer Beer Festival will take place on Friday, July 26 from 5-9 pm and Saturday, July 27 from 1-6 pm at Ypsilanti’s Riverside Park.