Annual Beer City Brewers Festival Celebrates the Grand Rapids Beer Scene

Sept. 28, 2024 at Calder Plaza

One of the most surprising features of Grand Rapids’ award-winning beer scene is how well the people making and selling the beer get along. They may battle each other for market share, but the brewers of Beer City USA are a collegial bunch with a history of supporting each other and our beer-loving community.

In fact, local breweries and related businesses came to together in 2016 to form the Beer City Brewers Guild. This non-profit venture was organized to raise awareness of the local craft brewing culture through events, charitable giving, knowledge sharing and collaborations.

Over the years, Guild members have produced collaborative beers, transformed area breweries into art galleries and organized alternative events for Winter Beer Fest ticketholders when that event was postponed due to flooding of LMCU Ballpark. They’ve teamed up with Friends of GR Parks to raise funds to purchase and plant trees around the city. They’ve helped member breweries achieve food safety certifications for their staff members.

And they’ve hosted an annual community festival inviting the public to sample and celebrate the incredible diversity and craftsmanship of Grand Rapids beers. This year’s Beer City Brewers Festival will be held Sept. 28 at Calder Plaza.

This is a new name for a festival that dates back to August 2016, when the Guild’s inaugural event, dubbed HopStock, debuted at Calder Plaza with beer samples, food trucks and musical entertainment. The event has switched names, dates and locations a few times since then – and it skipped a year due to Covid – but the celebratory spirit has remained intact. It’s always a fun and festive occasion for breweries and attendees alike.

Pros and Amateurs Working Together

The Guild ratcheted up the excitement in 2017 by introducing a ProAm component. Guild members collaborated with local homebrewers to create original beers and compete against each other in a fun and friendly competition. A panel of jurors evaluated the entries per Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) guidelines to determine a winner. The event was such a hit that it became the defining feature of the event going forward.

“I’ve been looking, and I don’t know of any other destination that does this kind of ProAm,” says Jeremiah Zimmerman, Head Brewer/Lead Fermentation Engineer for Thornapple Brewing Company and current President of the Beer City Brewers Guild. (He’s also a member of the Government Affairs Committee of the Michigan Brewers Guild, an Executive Producer of the upcoming Beer City USA documentary and the CEO of Beer City Tap Handles, which makes custom pulls for drinking establishments, so he’s pretty plugged in to who’s doing what in the beer scene.)

“Grand Rapids has a slew of homebrewing clubs,” explains Zimmerman, singling out PrimeTime Brewers as the oldest and largest. “Members of the different clubs compete to create the best homebrew each year. Their entries are evaluated by Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) judges and the members with the highest-scoring beers are invited to participate in the ProAm alongside local craft brewers.”

A May event brings professionals and amateurs together to determine ProAm teams. Homebrewers pick brewery names out of a hat, ensuring random assignments. The teams then get to work collaborating on an original recipe. More than 20 brewery-homebrewer teams are competing in 2024.

Altbier, an original Dusseldorf-style beer collaborated on by City Built Brewing Co. and home brewer Mark Staves, was declared the winner of the 2023 ProAm competition. 

Vote for the People’s Choice

Each year, the ProAm creations are offered on tap at their respective breweries for guests to enjoy, starting about two weeks before the Festival. This year, for the first time, guests will be able to vote for their favorite ProAm beers to win a people’s choice award. Votes can be cast through the Beer City Brewsader® app starting Sept 20 and during the Festival on Sept. 28.

The new people’s choice award will be bestowed alongside the longstanding juried award,  just as the annual ArtPrize competition gives separate awards to artists who win a public vote and those deemed the best by a panel of experts. Both awards will be announced in the final hour of the Beer City Brewers Festival, and each winner will receive a trophy and a years’ worth of bragging rights.

This year’s Beer City Brewers Festival takes place the final day of ArtPrize 2024, and it’s a great opportunity to relax and refresh in between trying to see all the art you can before it’s gone. 

Entry is free and there will be entertainment for all ages, including live music, food trucks, a bazaar and free caricature drawings. Adults over 21 years of age who want to sample beers will be carded and given a wristband enabling them to buy tasting tickets.  

“It’s really a great event,” enthuses Zimmerman. “And a perfect example of how our beer community pulls together. Come down to enjoy some unique beers and have a good time!”

Participating Breweries

ProAm collaborations will be available at these breweries starting Sept. 20. If you haven’t already, download the Beer City Brewsader app so you can vote in the people’s choice competition.