4 minute read
Meet The Brewer
Volume 3 | Summer 2021 www.MiBrewTrail.com | 21
It’s Truly a Michigan Summer Again
Jon Becker MiBrew Trail
Michigan’s long love affair with beer, rekindled in recent years by the state’s crafty and creative microbrewery industry, is about to reach a fever pitch. Following Gov. Whitmer’s June 22 announcement that the state is lifting capacity restrictions on indoor and outdoor capacities, our friends from the Michigan Brewers Guild shared some exciting news with us: Beer Festivals are returning to the state. If this isn’t indicative that we can all return to some semblance of normalcy and enjoy socializing and partying with friends and family again, we don’t know what is. “We are happy and excited for the opportunity to get back to Michigan Brewers Guild beer festivals and look forward to seeing people in person,” says Scott Graham, Guild Executive Director. After a more than one year hiatus, the pro beer industry advocacy group is planning three beer festivals across the state for August and September. Tickets for all three events, featuring some of the state’s finest breweries (and we have a lot of them), went on sale to the general public on June 24. Enthusiast Member Pre-Sale Tickets became available on Tuesday, June 24, at 10.m. at MiBeer.com The first beer extravaganza is the Michigan Beer Festival-South. This event will take place on Saturday, August 14 at LCMU Ballpark, home of the minor league baseball club, West Michigan Whitecaps, in Comstock Park, just north of Grand Rapids. General Admission is 1-6 p.m., with the gates opening at noon for a VIP hour for Enthusiast Members. Tickets are $50 per person in advance ($50 day of) with designated driver tickets also available for $10. Two weeks later, Michigan Beer Festival-North will take place on Saturday, August 28 at Turtle Creek Stadium in Traverse City, home of the Traverse City Spitters, a baseball team that competes in the Northwoods League, a collegiate summer league. General admission hours and the pricing structure is the same for all three festivals. The Michigan Beer Guild Summer Beer Festival Series concludes on Saturday, September 11 at Mattson Lower Harbor Park, in Marquette. “We are currently working on logistics and safety protocols with our partners at the West Michigan Whitecaps and Traverse City Spitters,” Graham said. “This gives us the added benefit of the infrastructure and experience with their own events.” Coming out of stringent COVID-19 shutdowns and restrictions gives Michiganders added incentive to celebrate July—which is “Michigan Beer Month.” As part of this year’s celebration, a one-of-a-kind commemorative pint glass will be available at many member breweries. These participating breweries are also being encouraged to feature a special beer throughout the month—like a collaboration or a special re-
lease— to help celebrate. You may find additional details on these special promotions and the names of the participating breweries at MiBeer.com and the Guild’s social media channels: www.facebook.com/MichiganBrewersGuild; www.instagram.com/ MiBrewers; MGB YouTube (Podcast+); and www.twitter.com/MiBrewersGuild
Founded in 1997, the Michigan Brewers Guild represents nearly 300 members. Its mission is to promote and protect the Michigan beer industry with an overarching goal to help locally brewed beer attain 20% of all beer sales in the state by 2025.
... We wanted something you’d be able to get some flavors that maybe you weren’t used to, to make a little more interesting.
Greg Hall Is Brewing Again.
(Sort of.)
Karl Klockars MiBrew Trail
When a cider maker decides to pivot to brewing beer...well, that’s interesting. When the cider maker in question is Greg Hall, former brewmaster at Chicago’s Goose Island (aka the man who made Bourbon County Stout famous) and it’s his first foray into professional beer making in a decade? That’s big news. These days Hall is known in Michigan as the founder of Virtue Cider, and they’ve been making farmhouse-style ciders in Fennville for a decade. After finding inspiration in the flavors of Norway while also seeing many similar ingredients growing in Western Michigan, he and his team decided now was the time to release Vestland: a lager with juniper, rye and caraway. We wanted to more about how Vestland came about, what’s next for Virtue Farm (the brand his
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beers will be under), what it’s like returning to brewing after so long away and why the world doesn’t need another brewhouse right now: MBT: You brought your skills as a beermaker to cider a decade ago. Now that you’re brewing again, what skills from creating cider do you think you’ve brought over to making beer? GH: It’s pretty clear to me what the answer is: [it] is more about complexity than intensity. And I think if you look at beer right now, intensity is a pretty, pretty big deal for beer. A lot of beers have a lot of flavor. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But when you, when you drink cider for 10 years..in traditional old world style ciders, there’s really never, that kind of intensity. The flavors are more subtle.
See brewing again on 28
