The beginning of summer beer festival season was supposed to happen the weekend of July 24 and 25 with the Michigan Brewers Guild Summer Beer Festival. As we all know, COVID-19 is causing cancellations of beer festivals across the state and country. Other beer festivals I was looking forward to attending was Great Taste of the Midwest in Madison, WI, and Burning Foot in Muskegon, MI.

In order to maintain the spirit of the summer beer festival season, I decided to have my own beer festival at the end of July. The Summer Clean 15 Festival of Beers was a similar concept to my Spring Clean 15 Festival of Beers – go through my stash of beers, locate 15 new-to-me Michigan beers, and sample them over the course of three days.

Below is a ranking of each day’s beer selections along with my initials thoughts regarding each beer based on a taster size of each. It should be mentioned that these beers range in age from a week to two years.

Day 1

Copperstar Galactica – Beards Brewery* – Petoskey

Balanced between fruity and hoppy notes

Snakes and Shamrocks – Wolverine State Brewing Co – Ann Arbor

Solid red lager, light malty taste

Catalina Mexican Lager – Pigeon Hill Brewing Company – Muskegon

Light and refreshing Mexican lager

Rain in Blood – Dark Horse Brewing Company – Marshall

Delicious pale ale with oranges

Cruiser – Detroit Garage Project (Mad Farmer) – Detroit

Unique hops and taste

Day 2

Borealis Broo – Keweenaw Brewing Company – Houghton

Malt bomb with coffee

Mandarina Lager – American Harvest Brewpub @ Schoolcraft College Brewery – Livonia

Light lager with tons of citrus

InifiniBee Honey Blonde Ale – Brewery Terra Firma – Traverse City

Crisp and bright, light on the honey

Training Session – tripelroot – Zeeland

Hoppy and clean session IPA

Electro Brut – Brew Detroit – Detroit

Very hoppy with a sharp, dry finish

Day 3

Bourbon Barrel-Aged Wee Heavy – Dimes Brewhouse – Dimondale

Delicious Wee Heavy with tons of bourbon notes

Kölsch – River’s Edge Brewing Company – Milford

Exactly what the can says “crisp, clean, refreshing”

Orange Julius – Unruly Brewing Co – Muskegon

Grew on me after a few sips. Soft mouthfeel thanks to the vanilla beans and lactose

Crop Duster – Grand Armory Brewing – Grand Haven

Very good American IPA

Cosmic Charlie’s Pale Ale – Latitude 42 Brewing Company – Portage

More malty than hoppy

As of the writing of this post, the Michigan Brewers Guild UP Fall Beer Fest in Marquette has been canceled. Will the Detroit Fall Beer Fest go on as planned with COVID-19?

Whatever the outcome, I will keep having my own beer fests until everything gets worked out for the better. Stay tuned for a Fall Beer Fest announcement.

Cheers!

*Disclaimer: Ed purchased all of the beers except for Mandarina Lager and Copperstar Galactica. Thanks to Matt Bush for passing along the beer from Schoolcraft and to Beards Brewery for providing Ed with the fresh beer.