Last weekend’s first annual Spring Clean 15 Festival of Beers was a blast! Sure, it wasn’t the first annual Michigan Brewers Guild Spring Beer Festival in Traverse City or the World Expo of Beer in Frankenmuth, but it was a great time full of great beer.

I threw my own beer festival because the other festivals were canceled or postponed, respectively. I cleaned out my cellar and found 15 new-to-me-beers from the state of Michigan.

Over the course of three days, I sampled five beers a day. Here’s the breakdown in order of how much I enjoyed each beer matched up with the beers from that day along with initial thoughts based on a taster of each beer. It should be mentioned that these beers range in age from a month to three years.

Friday

Bean Ball Blonde – The Mitten Brewing Co – Grand Rapids

Strong coffee upfront with sweet notes of almond and cocoa to balance things out

Baba Yaga IPA – Brooks Brewing – Shelby Charter Twp

Heavy in the hop and malt departments

Revitalization – Exferimentation Brewing Company – Pontiac

Dark red color yet light and sweet malt notes

Rascal – North Peak Brewing Company – Traverse City

Strong, roasty porter with subtle cherry

Bad Acid – Rake Beer Project – Muskegon

More sour than tart, tons of pineapple and mango

Saturday

Sweet Potato Soufflé Rye Ale – Odd Side Ales – Grand Haven

Light sweet potato with nutmeg and cinnamon, enjoyed the rye barrel

Ninja Turtle Milkshake Stout – Rochester Mills Beer Co – Rochester

Smooth stout with tons of chocolate, only 5.2%?!

Hyrrokin – Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales – Dexter

Refreshing and crisp with ginger, light in the blood orange department

Urbanization – Speciation Artisan Ales & City Built Brewing Company – Grand Rapids

Funky and wild, crisp

Hello Tasty – Short’s Brewing Company – Bellaire

Hello, grapefruit!

Sunday

BBA Stolen Souls – Vanilla – Block Brewing Company – Howell

Excellent variant of Stolen Souls, vanilla sweetens up the boozy stout

Pivot Point – barrel + beam – Marquette

Tons of fruity notes from the red wine barrel

Happy Guy – North Pier Brewing Company – Benton Harbor

Hoppy, light, and bright

Whiled Away IPA – Stormcloud Brewing Company – Frankfort

Stormcloud’s Belgian spin present, along with heavy hops and light malt

Morning Glow – Arvon Brewing Co – Grandville

Light, hoppy, crushable

As of today, May 20, 2020, three of my favorite beer festivals of the summer have been canceled – the annual two-day Michigan Brewer’s Guild Summer Beer Festival, Great Taste of the Midwest in Madison, WI, and Burning Foot Beer Festival in Muskegon, MI. Because of all this, be on the lookout for the Summer Clean 15 Festival of Beers to take place at the end of July/early August.

Cheers!