West Michigan Craft Beer Recommendations

By Matt Stein

Craft beer brewing has been around for a really long time and has a rich history. Over the years, the history of craft beer has evolved into many new traditions and many brewers have focused towards creating brews that are environment-friendly, innovative and provides a new taste and flavor that consumers demand. Let’s take a quick look at three new local craft beers that offer great taste and flavor.

FARM HAND 

Brewery Vivant
925 Cherry St SE, Grand Rapids, MI 4950
Style: Saison / Farmhouse Ale
5.5% ABV

Breweries started in olden times in France and almost every farm had one. Beer was given to the workers and it was actually safer to drink rather than water. Farm Hand is a brew, which we think relates very closely to what the old timers brewed and drank.. Brewed with “Michigan-grown wheat”, this beer is unfiltered and  has a rustic feel to help focus in the “natural lemon-citrus tartness” from the process of fermentation.This is an easy drinking beer, but there are layers of complexity to be discovered as it is sipped and enjoyed. The beer is golden in color and does not have a full head on it. It has a great point for sip-ability and enjoyment.

SKY HIGH RYE 

Perrin Brewing Co
5910 Comstock Park Dr NW
Comstock Park, MI 49321
Style: Rye Beer | 6.0% ABV

This beer is brewed with 80% English barley malts and 20% rye malt, giving it a combination that is sure to please the palette. It has a great floral aroma of hops, notes of lemons, peaches and pine needles and it is combined with the flavors of “sweet toffee and freshly baked pumpernickel bread”. Being that it is a rye beer, it has an amber color and has a medium body and carbonation. It is thicker than light beers and it has a creamy head.

DIRTY BLONDE 

Atwater Brewery
201 Michigan St NW
Grand Rapids, MI 49503
Style: American Pale Wheat Ale | 4.5% ABV

Dirty Blonde is brewed to be bright in color, fairly sweet, with wheat to create a crisp finish. Crushed Orange Peel and Coriander are also added which helps to lend to the clean head and aroma. The head of the beer is hazy gold in color and there is a similarity to Blue Moon with this beer. It is a lighter beer and is easy to drink. Given the fruity notes, this would be a perfect beer for summer and spring.