Beer and government, what’s the connection? We’ve all heard the media and lawmakers crying for small business owners to step up and create jobs. To create jobs you must make a product that the consumers want and oh boy do the consumers want craft beer. Craft beer is the fastest growing segment in alcohol sales in the United States and as so the breweries that make the beer are some of the fast growing small businesses.

During the mid-90’s regulations against small breweries were lifted and breweries started popping up throughout Michigan. Now we are entering two decades of brewing in our state and these 80+ small business owners and legislators are working together to further grow this industry. But it’s still young and the laws on the books are somewhat out of date and need tweaking to facilitate a climate that keeps this business steaming forward. We are also running into issues that we didn’t have before because these businesses didn’t exist.

Right now one entity can only own a certain number of breweries. Only have a minimal number of offshoot pubs. The tax bracket for brewpubs (don’t distribute) and microbreweries (do distribute) are different and can those tax amounts change to promote more growth. Also at what point does a microbrewery grow beyond its tax bracket?

Meeting with legislators in Lansing, the brewery owners found themselves being warmly welcomed by both the House of Representatives and Senate. With both honoring the industry by declaring the month of July “Michigan Craft Beer Month” for the fourth year in a row. This symbolizes the attention and admiration that our legislature has for these trailblazers and former home brewers turned dreamers turned businessmen and women.

Most of the breweries in Michigan are expanding in physical size, staffing and reach throughout the rest of the country. Creating more jobs in brewing beer, selling beer and giving the consumer an enjoyable and tasty way of supporting local Michigan made products. More restaurants are seeing the potential of serving Michigan made beer. Even seeing customers asking for Michigan beer. There are a few, and hopefully more on the way, restaurants that offer multiple Michigan beers on tap and/or in the bottle.

1 in 10 Michiganders work in the restaurant industry and this industry supports our tourism industry and a growing part of that tourism industry is… visiting our now over 80 different breweries. See the cycle? There are a rumored 20 more breweries to open in Michigan within the next year. Adding those breweries in might move Michigan from 5th in number of breweries per state to 3rd or 4th. With that growth comes jobs, comes more tourism, comes more tax revenue and a new industry that all Michiganders can stand behind and proud of.

With all of this growth there is still room to grow. In Michigan craft beer sales only make up around 2% of total beer sold, while in Oregon craft beer is at 28% and growing. So help your local and state economy, grab a Michigan brewed beer, visit www.michiganbrewersguild.org to find out where the breweries are and go on a brewery tour, and please every time you’re out having a beer ask “What Michigan beer do you have?”

Brewers Guild Summer Beer Festival
Ypsilanti, MI Paul Stewart

Mother Nature was the first one there and the last one to leave. The Brewers Guild Summer Beer Festival is a two-day celebration of beer and the love of beer. It was a beautiful weekend in the middle of July in which it rained really hard just before the gates opened on Friday the 22nd. Then cleared up and turned into a great weekend until about 2 minutes before the end on Saturday when the heavens opened again and baptized the event’s good times. And I for one thought it was amazing, every minute of it.
I hung out with the gang from Short’s on Friday and poured beer at one of their (boat) tables. This year the Guild let breweries fan out. The layout took over more of Frog Island Park and breweries were encouraged to bring their own set up or take over multiple tables. All to help festival-goers by alleviating long lines and make it easier to get to the beer(s) you want.

Short’s made two table out of a boat that was cut in half, a third that was made out of old water skis and a fourth hand made shack for merchandise. With signs that read “We Hate Lines”, Dark Horse made a lot of people happy by having 5 different tables in different tents throughout the grounds. One festival attendee showed off her love of craft beer with tattoos, she had many and 3 of them were Dark Horse labels and logo. Arcadia and The Livery claimed the gazebo next to the river, which became one of my go to spots. It seemed like every brewery in the state was there and of course their glorious beer. Looking at the line before the gates opened I wondered if there was enough beer…for both them and me, and every brewery had people filling a cup but the Dark Horse mantra rang true for the event as a whole. With waits shorter then ever, sometimes you’d still have a beer in your cup as you got to the table of the next brewery.

With over 10,000 people between the 2-day fest and a port-a-potty for everyone to take home (lots of water closets) the mood of the event was always positive. Live music from Michigan bands, food from Michigan restaurants and HOOOO chants with smiles from ear to ear the Summer Best Festival is always one of my favorites. Now by the time you’re reading this the UP Fall Beer Festival in Marquette has already happened, but the 3rd Annual Detroit Fall Beer Festival at the Eastern Market in Detroit is still ahead on October 22nd 1pm-6pm. Tickets are $35 in advance or $40 at the gate. You can get your ticket online at www.michiganbrewersguild.org. If you’ve missed the Guild Festivals before tell your boss you quit, your wife you want a divorce and sell the kids, ‘cause it’s worth every minute.

Kris and I got some great video of the event and the interviews of Tim Suprise of Arcadia and Kim Kowalski of Mountain Town Station are already up on the site.

Back again with another interview from the Michigan Brewers Guild Summer Beerfest.  Today we share with you our conversation with Kim Kowalski from Mountain Town Station. Check it out.

Michigan does not suffer from a lack of breweries.  Living in the Lansing are, I am about a.5 hours away from more than a dozen great breweries.  Unfortunatly, not everyone is so lucky, especially our friends from north of the Mackinaw Bridge.  But just because they don’t have the concentration of great breweries we enjoy down here, does not mean that they are out of luck for getting great beers.  In fact they get to play host to one of the Michigan Brewers Guild’s four annual festivals.

On September 10th, in Marquette’s Mattson Lower Harbor Park MBG will be holding its 3rd annual U.P. Fall Beer Fest.  The festival starts at 1PM (noon for Guild Enthusiast members) and runs until 6pm.  Hopefully enough time to samplesome of the more than 200 different local beers that will be available.  So if you live up north and couldn’t make the trek down to any of the other festivals, or live under the bridge and want to make a journey northward, I recommend you check it out.

More information and full press release after the break

U.P. Fall Beer Fest Returns to Marquette’s Mattson Lower Harbor Park

Michigan Brewers Guild Hosts 3rd Annual Event – Saturday, September 10

 

(Lansing, Mich) – Nearly 30 Michigan craft breweries will gather at Mattson Lower Harbor Park on Saturday, September 10 for the 3^rd Annual U.P. Fall Beer Festival where attendees will be able to sample from more than 200 different locally-crafted beers – along with food prepared by area restaurants and live, local entertainment.

This is one of four annual festivals presented by the Michigan Brewers Guild. Festival hours run from 1-6pm; Guild Enthusiast members are admitted one hour early – at Noon.

MBG Enthusiast membership is $35 per person, per year and may be purchased in advance online at www.michiganbrewersguild.businesscatalyst.com/membership.html or on site prior to the opening of the festival. Benefits include discounts at participating member breweries, a free t-shirt proclaiming your enthusiasm for Michigan Beer and VIP status at the four official festivals, with one hour early admission.

The Michigan Brewers Guild festivals are eco-friendly events, with cups, plates, cutlery and napkins all made of biodegradable materials. Festival attendees are asked to aid in the proper disposal of all refuse throughout the festival at one of the many recycling stations placed around the grounds, helping to reduce the overall waste sent to landfills to less than 10%. Volunteers will be on hand to assist at the recycling stations, making sure all the recyclables are properly sorted from the food items.

Tickets for the U.P. Fall Beer Fest are $30 in advance ($35 at the gate, if tickets are still available) and are available online at www.michiganbrewersguild.org, at participating member breweries and at select retail outlets. For a list of ticket outlets and other festival updates visit www.mbgmash.org. Each ticket includes 15 drink tokens, each redeemable for a 3-ounce sample of beer. Additional tokens are available inside the festival grounds, for 50 cents each.

The festival is held, rain or shine. Festival attendees must be 21 years of age or older and have valid ID to enter. Designated Drivers are encouraged and DD tickets will be available on line and at the gate for $5 each. Designated Drivers are not permitted to drink beer.

Michigan’s thriving brewing industry contributes over $24 million in wages with a total economic contribution of more than $133 million. In terms of overall number breweries, microbreweries and brewpubs, Michigan ranks #5 in the nation – thus supporting its claim as “The Great Beer State.”

The Michigan Brewers Guild exists to unify the Michigan brewing community; to increase sales of Michigan-brewed beer through promotions, marketing, public awareness and consumer education; and to monitor and assure a healthy beer industry within the state. For more information, including a list of Michigan microbreweries, log on to www.michiganbrewersguild.org.

 

I’m glad you asked, because I didn’t know either.  But a quick look at the wikipedia page tells me two things, first, that “Kombuchais a is an effervescent tea-based beverage that is often drunk for its health benefits or medicinal purposes,” and second, that the Image they choose is downright frightening.  Why am I talking about this strange and intriguing beverage?  Because Michigan’s own Unity Vibration Living Kombucha Tea has created a Kombucha Beer.  And if that isn’t exciting enough, it will be available at the Michigan Brewers Guild Summer Beerfest in Ypsilanti this coming weekend.  I will tell you this, I am very excited to give this a try.  If you’d like some more information, I have the full Press Release after the break.

Unity Vibration Releases Kombucha Beer at Michigan Summer Beer Fest

(Ypsilanti, Mich) – Attendees at the 14^th Annual Michigan Summer Beer Festival will have the opportunity to sample the nation’s first pure Kombucha beer – crafted locally by Tarek and Rachel Kanaan of Unity Vibration Living Kombucha Tea. The festival will be held this weekend, July 22-23, at Riverside Park in Ypsilanti’s Depot Town.

Relatively new on the American scene, Kombucha is a raw, living, fermented, naturally-carbonated, unpasteurized beverage – with a long history in Russia and China. The lightly sparkling beverage is made by fermenting black or green tea and sugar with a culture of various bacteria and yeasts (often referred to as a SCOBY: Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast).

“You feed the Kombucha mushroom the black tea and sugar and it converts most of the sugar,” says Tarek. “This process creates many beneficial acids, enzymes and viable probiotics.”

Kombucha also contains anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals and more, which help people to balance their metabolism, aid in digestion, raise energy levels, detoxify and alkalinize the body and is even said to help prevent or heal cancer.

Unity Vibration will have three flavors of brew available at the Summer Beer Festival, including plain, pineapple/ginger and the current seasonal: strawberry rhubarb.

Triple Goddess Kombucha Beer will also be available. Described as a marriage of 30 day brewed Kombucha, featuring organic dried hops and either organic raw ginger or organic fresh raspberries, the brew is open air fermented in a Lambic-style, then oak barrel aged and bottle conditioned.

“Our Triple Goddess yields a unique refreshing exceptional fruit beer,” says Rachel. “The refreshing and slightly vinegar character of Kombucha is a perfect complement to the bitter hops and aromatic fruit.  We are an all organic and gluten free product that contains 8-9% alcohol by volume.”

Each batch is brewed by hand and infused with healthy, fresh organic ingredients, as well as positive and loving intentions.

Unity Vibration has been in business for about two years – producing non-alcoholic beverages. Last summer, the federal government issued testing for all Kombuchas on the market. Many came in over .5% alcohol – as they are all raw and viable living creations – changes were required.

“We decided to go the route of ‘microbrewery’ to keep all of our products authentic and to not be forced to dealcoholize, says Tarek, who has experience in brewing wine and beer from wild edibles, as well as more traditional ingredients.

What makes the Kombucha from Unity Vibration different? It’s homemade, meaning the full potency of the enzymes is apparent. The couple began experimenting and brewing their own Kombucha in 2007, playing around with the various unique formulas and flavors. Their products were first introduced to the marketplace in 2009.

Now, under distributorship with Imperial Beverage, their products are found in more than 50 retail outlets statewide.  They will also be offering for the first time a single serving bottle and new labels for all of their products created by Flow Design out of Northville.  Rachel says: “It is like New Years Eve for us and we are coming in with an incredible BANG!  This is really going to take off for us and we are ready!”

In the not too distant future, the Kanaans will be living on their own family farm, growing much of what they infuse into their flavored Kombuchas.