USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards are back for 2021!

For years, USA Today’s 10Best has been known to provide “trusted travel and lifestyle advice” to locals looking to explore their backyard and travelers visiting a new city all across the United States. The 10Best contest gave Michigan’s own Grand Rapids the title of Beer City USA, a title Michiganders still hang our hats on.

Readers and fans are encouraged to vote once per day for their favorite establishments from the nominations. For the categories shared in this post, polls close on Tuesday, March 16 at noon ET and winners will be announced on Friday, March 26. If you’re interested in the official rules, you can check them out here.

According to USA Today, “industry and beer experts” nominated 20 establishments for each category. These experts and their bios are published at the end of each category page.

As a Michigan-based media group, we’re going to highlight the nine Michigan nominations, provide the poll links, and offer insight on the categories that Michigan didn’t receive nominations.

Best Beer Bar – 2 nominations

• Hopcat (Grand Rapids)
• Slows Bar BQ (Detroit)

Vote here.

Best Beer City – 1 nomination

• Grand Rapids

Vote here.

Best Beer Garden – 0 nominations

One would think that Michigan winters aren’t the greatest for enjoying beer outdoors. With the absence of the Michigan Brewers Guild‘s Winter Beer Festival due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, breweries across the state have innovated and adapted to rules and regulations put in place by the MDHHS to have a wide variety of beer gardens for any time of the year. Hopefully a Michigan Beer Garden will get a nomination in 2022.

Vote here.

Best Beer Label – 1 nomination

• Prague Underground – City Built Brewing Company (Grand Rapids)

Vote here. Check out our monthly Beer Labels posts here.

Best Brewpub – 3 nominations

• City Built Brewing Company (Grand Rapids)
• HOMES Brewery (Ann Arbor)
• Salt Springs Brewery (Saline)

Vote here.

Best Cidery – 1 nomination

• Virtue Cider (Fennville)

Vote here.

Best New Brewery – 0 nominations

The “New Brewery” category spanned from 2018 to present. In that time frame, 75+ new breweries opened up in Michigan. Curious about where the 75+ are located? Want to see if they are near your mainstay breweries? Check out the Michigan Brewery Map app for an inclusive list of Michigan breweries and plan your next beer adventure!

Vote here.

Best Small Town Beer Scene – 1 nomination

• Traverse City

Vote here.

Cheers!