Winter Beer Festival to pour over 800 kinds of local beer varieties

The 10th Annual Winter Beer Festival is returning to Grand Rapids on the last weekend of February. This year, the Michigan Brewers Guild has extended the event to span two days instead of just one, like it has been in previous years. 

Beer lovers were invited to join local breweries Feb. 27 and 28 to enjoy a day of local beer tasting in the crisp winter air.

Held at the Fifth Third Ballpark at 4500 W. River Drive NE in Comstock Park, the festival will host over 100 Michigan breweries from as far north as Marquette and as local as Grand Rapids Brewing Company. Together, the breweries will tap around 850 Michigan-made beers for attendees to enjoy. 

This is the third year that The Mitten Brewing Company will be attending the festival since the brewery’s opening in November 2012.

“It’s beneficial to showcase what we do, especially in Grand Rapids, a beer tourism town,” says Wob Wanhatalo, a brewer at The Mitten Brewing Company.  “[As brewers] we get to decide what we want to showcase for people to try. Our selection process is what we want to best showcase to... people who have never been to our brewery before.” 

Last year, the event sold around 6,500 tickets for the one-day event, so expanding to a two-day event will bring in about double the beer mavens and tasters alike. 

Tickets have already sold out for Saturday, but there are still tickets available for the Friday, Feb. 27 event, which runs from 3 p.m. until 7 p.m.

For people who prefer to drink beer indoors, the "Cool Brews. Hot Eats." beer promotion will be taking place Feb. 16 through Feb. 28 and will bring new, local beers into restaurants around Kent County.