MI Chef, 7 Breweries Featured At Great American Beer Festival

MICHIGAN — Some of Michigan's favorite brewers are competing this week at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. At the Thursday-Saturday event, they’ll be competing for gold, silver or bronze medals and the coveted "Brewer of the Year" title.

Now in its 40th year, the festival will feature more than 2,000 beers from 500 breweries. Among them are the following seven breweries:

Brown Iron Brewhouse, Washington Township, will showcase its beers:

• Dark Nemesis: S'mores
• Mood Changer
• Orange Jules
• Pineapple Mango Smoothie
• Rage Against the Gingerbread Man

Handmap Brewing, Battle Creek, will showcase its beers:

• BA Daryl's House
• OTIS
• Rye of Sunshine
• Spreadsheet Blood Orange

One Well Brewing, Kalamazoo, will showcase its beers:

• Only Gose to Show
• Ripped Right
• State of Bean
• Tequila Barrel Aged Only Gose to Show
• Xalapa

Saugatuck Brewing Co, Douglas, will showcase its beers:

• Bonfire Brown
• Cottonmouth Crusher
• De Peche Monk
• G.O.A.T. Oatmeal Stout
• Paled It!

Schoolcraft Brewery, Livonia, will showcase its beers:

• 275 Kolsch
• College P.A.
• Off The Cuff Pale Ale
• SC Alt
• SC Grand Cru
• Well, I've Never Been to Spain

Short's Brewing Co - Production Facility, Elk Rapids, will showcase its beers:

• Chuggasus
• Local's Light
• Melt My Brain
• Mule Beer
• Pure Michigan Autumn IPA

Third Nature Brewing Co., Rockford, will showcase its beers:

• 3NEIPA
• Cuke’s of Hazzard
• Ryger
• S'mores Baltic Porter
• Sunshine Sour

Hosted by the Brewers Association, the trade organization representing more than 5,600 small and independent American craft brewers, the festival is once again an in-person event at the Colorado Convention Center after two years of a pandemic-imposed hiatus.

The festival’s craft beer and food pairing event, PAIRED, is back with the in-person event. It pairs 25 chefs and 25 breweries collaborating on a tasting menu. Michigan is represented by Ji Hye Kim, the award-winning chef/owner of Miss Kim, a Korean restaurant in Ann Arbor.

Kim will be paired with the Narrow Path Brewing Company from Loveland, OH. She will be preparing roasted korean baby back ribs, chile and fruit glaze to go along with the brewery's Wainwright, and beets, soft tofu and ginger garlic vinaigrette to go with the brewery's Purple Haze-On.

The craft beer festival, considered a beer lover’s bucket-list item, has grown exponentially over its 40-year history. Just 24 brewers brought 47 beers to the first Great American Beer Festival in 1982.

If you love beer and happen to be in or traveling to the Denver area, check for ticket availability.