After tasting 1,000 beers: Lessons learned, striking gold, places to go

My first encounter with Michigan beer culture was fairly extreme: I wore four layers, sought warmth by fire pits, and mostly tasted Russian imperial stouts because tap lines for lower-alcohol beers kept freezing.

It was the Michigan Brewers Guild's 2015 Winter Beer Festival near Grand Rapids, and the high temperature that February day was 19 degrees. Crowds of people wearing pretzel necklaces and arctic survival gear laughed off the chill.

The Free Press had just appointed me Spirits of Detroit craft-beverage columnist, with orders to drink beer and write about it. One year removed from Colorado, I'd been a home-brewer and avid fan of good beer. But Michigan's fast-rising brew scene was mostly unfamiliar territory.

To keep track of what I tasted, I started posting quick reviews on the Untappd app, a nifty resource for finding and logging beers with social media. They haven't all been full beers, but always at least a taste – more than a quick sip. After hitting the 1,000 mark for unique beers less than three years later, I have some tips for the slimmer me three years ago – or anyone else eager to learn about craft beer.

Surprises abound. The humble brown ale, and even the ubiquitous IPA, will shine in different ways from different sources. Also, antacids such as famotidine make for a fine precursor to beer-tasting. Here's what else I found:

Michigan beer is exceptional

There are more than 5,300 craft breweries in the United States, but the American Homebrewers Association says the two best are here: Bell's Brewery in Comstock and Founders Brewing Co. in Grand Rapids.

I agree. Virtually every craft brewery has an IPA, but Two Hearted Ale (7% alcohol by volume) from Bell's is consistently phenomenal. And unlike many highly acclaimed beers, it's available year-round and easy to find.

Kentucky Breakfast Stout (11.8% ABV) by Founders is legendary. At a craft-beer joint in Key West, Fla., last summer, I heard stories from the bartender, then from local patrons, about when and where they found the bourbon-barrel-aged imperial stout made with Belgian chocolate, oatmeal and Michigan-roasted coffee.

Perhaps it's great water or hard-working culture, but quality abounds in Michigan. Grand Rapids is Beer City, USA, and I could name dozens of highlights spanning Traverse City to metro Detroit.

We have more than 300 breweries that draw praise across categories, from sours (Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales in Dexter) to experimentals (Odd Side Ales in Grand Haven) to meads (Schramm's Mead in Ferndale).

Michigan is also home to Hopcat, a restaurant and craft-beer bar that opened in Grand Rapids in 2008 and has since spread to 15 locations across eight states, offering expertly-selected menus of – in several cases – 100 different drafts or more. It's received numerous national accolades.

Innovation is critical

From a reader's recent email: "Beer that tastes like perfume or fruit and contains more than 5% alcohol by volume is not refreshing."

I often hear from people pooh-poohing craft beer. And I probably wouldn't recommend this person try Bourbon Barrel Traxx Night Fury (13.5% ABV), an imperial stout made with vanilla beans, cocoa nibs, coconut and peanut butter by Witch's Hat Brewing Co. of South Lyon.

Sure, brewers have gone hog-wild (see: Mangalista Pig Porter, made with actual smoked pig heads, from Right Brain Brewery of Traverse City). But creativity is why the number of craft breweries in the United States more than doubled between 2012 and 2016. Beer was really boring when most brands were indistinguishable from Bud Light.

And get this: In 2016, Michigan craft beer had a more-than $2 billion economic impact, according to the Brewers Association. That's a lot of jobs, from our biggest cities to relatively remote areas of the Upper Peninsula.

These beers are super good

Tasting beer gets really fun when you strike gold. You taste something that upends your perspective on the style, or the brewery. It's all, of course, subjective: From palate to batch to glassware to a beer's age, there's a lot in play. Sometime's I'll give a beer high praise on draft only to be disappointed with the bottle.

Here are some Michigan beers that, at whatever point, blew my mind; as rated on Untappd:

Backwoods Bastard (11.2% ABV) bourbon-barrel-aged scotch ale by Founders Brewing Co. of Grand Rapids: "Caramel-toffee-plum sweetness, some cherry with a lingering, tingly warmth. And bourbon. Smooth." 5/5.*

"Caramel-toffee-plum sweetness, some cherry with a lingering, tingly warmth. And bourbon. Smooth." 5/5.* Cranberry Maigre (3.2% ABV) Berliner Weisse sour by Transient Artisan Ales of Bridgman: "Cranberry juice tart and fresh with some horse blanket notes and dry finish. Excellent sour." 5/5.

"Cranberry juice tart and fresh with some horse blanket notes and dry finish. Excellent sour." 5/5. Hazel's Nuts (9% ABV) bourbon-barrel-aged imperial stout by Odd Side Ales of Grand Haven: "Loaded with hazelnut over coffee and chocolate; just enough sweet and bitter, with some bourbon heat on finish." 4.75/5.

"Loaded with hazelnut over coffee and chocolate; just enough sweet and bitter, with some bourbon heat on finish." 4.75/5. M-43 (6.8% ABV) New England IPA by Old Nation Brewing Co. of Williamston: "Very juicy hazy NE-style IPA with tangy orange-pineapple notes; whet malts come through with oats bringing some pleasant creaminess over medium body." 4.25/5.*

"Very juicy hazy NE-style IPA with tangy orange-pineapple notes; whet malts come through with oats bringing some pleasant creaminess over medium body." 4.25/5.* Canadian Breakfast Stout (10.6% ABV) imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels that previously held maple syrup by Founders Brewing Co.: "Fantastic; smells of sweet maple syrup. Tastes of molasses, chocolate, bourbon and oak, in that order. Smooth and magnificent." 4.75/5.**

"Fantastic; smells of sweet maple syrup. Tastes of molasses, chocolate, bourbon and oak, in that order. Smooth and magnificent." 4.75/5.** Angelina (8.5% ABV) Flanders Oud Bruin sour by Brewery Vivant of Grand Rapids: "Starts with big, funky sour oak punch; subtle cranberry tartness, some cherry and malty red ale notes on the finish. Complex, impressive." 4.5/5.

"Starts with big, funky sour oak punch; subtle cranberry tartness, some cherry and malty red ale notes on the finish. Complex, impressive." 4.5/5. Hell Hath No Fury... Ale (7.5% ABV) Belgian Strong Dark Ale by Bell's Brewery of Comstock: "Roasty, chocolate flavor with some char ahead of a dose of dark fruit and clove Belgian yeast notes. Smooth, with moderate body, dry finish." 4.25/5.

*Confirmed now available. **Releases in December.

Visit the small breweries

I'd already occupied bar space at both Bell's Brewery's Eccentric Cafe and Arcadia Brewing Co. – well-appreciated, craft-beer taprooms worth visiting – multiple times on Kalamazoo trips before driving about 10 miles down a two-lane road to Texas Corners Brewing Co.

Delicious beers and ciders, along with farm-to-table food made from scratch, are offered here in a small, historic church. The Summer Stampede (9% ABV) double IPA was one of the finest examples I've tasted of beer with Michigan-made ingredients – including the wheat malt; Centennial, Cascade and Chinook hops, and honey.

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Closer to metro Detroit, there's Ypsi Alehouse in Ypsilanti, where you can taste beer made by Ted Badgerow. He opened Michigan's first brewery, the long-defunct Real Ale Company, in September 1982 in Chelsea. Badgerow now co-owns Ypsi Alehouse, for which he made 500 batches of beer, 4½ gallons at a time, testing recipes to develop the tap list.

Visiting a smaller brewery, you could be one of the first to try a beer that's about to make a splash. Old Nation Brewing Co. in Williamston wasn't high on many people's radars before it erupted in popularity earlier this year, increasing production by six-fold to meet demand for its delicious line of New England-style IPAs.

Virtually any direction you go in Michigan, there's a brewery along the way. And local beer podcast Better on Draft keeps a helpful beer map on its website to show which taprooms are open and coming soon.

Hops desensitization is real

My first hoppy beer experience was more than a decade ago at a smoke-filled bar in Oklahoma, where someone handed me a bottle of Pale Ale (5.6% ABV) by Sierra Nevada Nevada Brewing Co. of Chico, Calif.

Drinking straight from the bottle (you really shouldn't do that with good beer), I remember thinking, "I'm supposed to like this?" The prominent hops seemed to add a harsh, almost prickling bitter flavor, and I can't say whether I finished it. Today that beer is credited with leading the way toward the American IPA style, which became pretty much synonymous with craft beer.

Pale Ale is rated 38 international bittering units, measuring the level of hop acid in the beer. While inexact – alcohol level and maltiness also affect how bitter a beer tastes – this gives a rough idea of a beer's bitterness, as Jeff Alworth wrote in "The Beer Bible" (2015).

The highest-IBU Michigan beer I've tried is Hop-A-Peel by Atwater Brewery in Detroit, at 118 IBU. Two Hearted Ale is 55 IBU, and the easy-drinking Founders All Day IPA is 42 IBU.

My 1,000th Untappd check-in was Batch 5000 (14.6% ABV, 75 IBU), a beast of a triple IPA from Short's Brewing Co. It went down easier than that first Sierra Nevada Pale.

What difference does it make? As enthusiasts enjoy increasingly hoppy beers, it's possible entry-level craft-beer drinkers could get turned off to IPAs before acquiring an appreciation for them. But this is the golden age of beer variety, and I'm mostly just curious to see how hoppy IPAs can get.

The festivals are (usually) worth it

Winter Beer Festival in Comstock Park is ridiculously fun: It's hundreds of different, cold beers, served outdoors in the Michigan winter. And you might develop a head cold afterward.

It's one of the state's most popular festivals and a great opportunity to meet the people who make the beer. The crowd is friendly and increasingly diverse, and brewers come from across Michigan to pour what tend to be the best beers they offer.

The Michigan Homebrew Festival is another of my favorites: A bunch of home-brewers get together, have a camp-out and drink homemade beer all night.

There's also Summer Beer Festival in Ypsilanti. Like the winter one, it's one of four hosted annually by the Michigan Brewers Guild. These festivals are among the best in the state: There's high participation among in-state breweries large and small, and the beer comes fresh from kegs.

Before making plans for any beer festival, always check the website to see what's pouring. I went to OktoBEER Festival in Ferndale last month expecting a decent range of seasonal Bavarian brews, or at least a variety of beer. Rather, the vendors offered Samuel Adams beers, Traveler Beer Co. shandies and other sweet stuff from Angry Orchard Cider Co., Coney Island Brewing Co., Twisted Tea and Truly Spiked and Sparkling.

I soon learned the event was sponsored by Samuel Adams (Boston Beer Co.), hence the limited beer options. Entry was free, but I didn't stay long. Nothing against Sam Adams, or its Oktoberfest beer, but the dearth in options was disappointing.

A little farther down the block was Ferndale Oktoberfest at Port beer garden and Woodward Avenue Brewers. It was fantastic: huge, glass steins with Oktoberfests and other, authentic Bavarian beers. This event – not to be confused with OktoBEER Festival the same night – was sponsored by Ayinger Brewery, Paulaner Brewery and three other German breweries. The lesson: Check the sponsor.

Winter Beer Festival, as a Michigan Brewers Guild event, includes more than 125 in-state brewers. Tickets are usually about $40 and go on sale Nov. 30 for the festival on Feb. 23-24, 2018.

If you go, and you see a guy with a media badge spending way too much time checking into beers on his iPhone, please don't hesitate interrupt and tell me what I should be drinking.

Spirits of Detroit columnist Robert Allen covers craft alcohol for the Free Press. Contact him: rallen@freepress.com or on Untappd, raDetroit; Twitter @rallenMI, and Facebook robertallen.news.