2017 Michigan Homebrew Festival

[LouieMacGoo]

This last weekend my homebrew club was one of 18 clubs from around Michigan to attend this years Michigan Homebrew Festival. Every year this event get bigger and better and this year was no exception. With not only several homebrew competitions such as the Iron Brewer Contest and the newly created Gang Beer Challenge that was sponsored by my club, the Sons of Liberty HomeBrew Club but also a Bar-B-Que /Smoke Challenge.

Every club there displayed their best beers, ciders, meads and other homebrewed options such as Kombucha and even some distilled spirits. Not only was the quality amazing but also the variety and uniqueness of what was there. One club, the Mead Mamas had mead Sangrea Slushies that were out of this world. Another club KGB had their very best mead and cider makers with samples of their PB&J mead, Red Hots Candy Cider and so may more I lost track of. There were literally hundreds of homebrewed goodies to sample and taste and not only could you sample but also talk to the people that actually brewed it and that is what makes this such a unique and valuable event. Being able to not only talk about and sample beer but also the many different methods that are used gives a great insight and perspective on the hobby as a whole and really helps to get one's head back into the game.

My Son's of Liberty Homebrew Club had 12 beers on tap including my Citra-Nilla IPA, a Vanilla Bourbon Porter, a Wine Barrel aged Russian Imperial Stout, an Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Stout and our Gang Beer entry which was a Chocolate Stout with habanero peppers, ginger and Arabica Beans. That recipe by the way ended up winning the Gang Beer Challenge that was voted on by other clubs. My Citra-Nilla was the first beer to tap out on Saturday.

All in all it was a great event and I highly recommend if you're in Michigan you come to the next one. If you're not in Michigan see if your state has something similar.

Here is a link to some pictures and videos to give you a better idea of what it's all about.

2017 Michigan Homebrew Festival Photos

[Inkleg]

That sounds awesome Leigh!! Congratulations on first keg kicked.

[Beer-lord]

Nothing says "me like" like an empty keg.

[Dawg LB Steve]

That is so cool that this can be done in Michigan, need to check Ohio's laws to see if it is allowable. Your Citra-Nilla is a great beer and that Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Stout was great when we ended the night @ Liberty Street when we there in the spring.
PS We will be up for the Browns-Lions game in November. Probably come up Friday after work, SE Mich Browns Backers are having a Saturday Bash and hosting the tailgate Sunday in a lot very near Ford Field.

[FedoraDave]

Sounds like a great event! Congratulations on having such a popular beer. They all sound great, and I'd love to sample every single one.

Ditto the BBQ/Smoke challenge. Luv me some Low-n-Slow smokin'.

[BlackDuck]

Nice job Leigh. That event sounds like a lot of fun!!

[LouieMacGoo]

That is so cool that this can be done in Michigan, need to check Ohio's laws to see if it is allowable. Your Citra-Nilla is a great beer and that Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Stout was great when we ended the night @ Liberty Street when we there in the spring.
PS We will be up for the Browns-Lions game in November. Probably come up Friday after work, SE Mich Browns Backers are having a Saturday Bash and hosting the tailgate Sunday in a lot very near Ford Field.

Steve, one of the ways they get around it is that the "Michigan Homebrew Festival" is actually a club and by paying your "membership" (entrance fee) it gives you all rights of membership to taste and share homebrew. So basically The Michigan Homebrew Festival Club invites other homebrew clubs to participate and the members of those clubs have to be come members of MHF to keep it all legal. I think this is the 8th year that the Festival has been going on. 2 yrs ago it relocated from the campground that it started at because non-members were causing problems. Where we are now allows us to monitor membership much better.

The Browns-Lions game is November 12th I will make sure to mark it on my calendar to we can go brewery hopping again!

[mashani]

Ohio as far as I know simply follows Federal guidelines and has no specific laws of it's own when it comes to beer.

Michigan does have specific laws of their own that allow clubs/organizations to be sharing beer.

Federal law doesn't get that specific and is really targeted at judging or competition, and a nebulous "organized affairs" term that would probably cover for example a family reunion or the like or a homebrew club like Steves, or it might not, I think it really would ultimately depend on how much of a bastard some local community/government wants to be about things and if folks want to get lawyers involved. Nobody around here harasses Steve's LHBS / club that I am aware of, but a festival might draw more attention / scrutiny. Especially if you were to head in a southerly direction from us.

[Dawg LB Steve]

We don't get any flack as far as the HBC goes. Our club has been recruited for a couple of wine and beer fests for pouring volunteers, but everything is commercial at these. Leigh looking forward to a bit of brewery hopping with you again, pretty much looks like we will be staying downtown. They are trying to get a block of rooms at Greektown.