Craft Beer

With Michigan craft beer kingpins like Arcadia, Atwater, Bell’s, Founder’s, Right Brain and Short’s—

Okay, okay, if we didn’t name your favorite, don’t foam over.

Let’s just simply state that the Michigan Brewers Guild had lots of good reason for trademarking its anointment of Michigan as “The Great Beer State.”

We didn’t earn that title overnight. There is evidence that folks have been brewing beer commercially in Michigan since the 1820s, and it’s an historical fact that breweries were open for business by the late 1830s.

But since the mid-1990s, Michigan craft beer has experienced a resurgence. Almost every town of any size now has a craft brewery.

To hit some of the state’s leading craft brewery towns, aficionados often plot a trip from one B&B to another because a bed and breakfast innkeeper is likely to have good intel about the most popular of the seasonal brews.

Start your planning right here. The B&Bs on this page all link to useful info about Michigan craft beer in their towns and immediate areas.

Michigan craft breweries produce everything from stouts and ales to lagers and mead. Michigan-grown products are often incorporated — not only the hops but also cherries and other berries, maple syrup, even vegetables.

Innovative brewmasters are producing so many pumpkin beers in Michigan in season that they have their own Top 10 and Top 20 lists.

And don’t overlook the exploding hard-ciders category.

Who knew that pumpkins and apples could create such a buzz?

Ask your Michigan bed and breakfast innkeepers for directions to the nearest Michigan craft beer trail. Have fun exploring the state, one pint at a time.