Kalamazoo Craft Beverage Week offers 60-plus events – MLive.com
KALAMAZOO, MI — Winter Beer Olympics, unlimited mimosa brunches, brushes and brews painting parties, build-a-beer workshops and more — Kalamazoo Craft Beverage Week is almost here.
From Jan. 13-23, there are more than 60 events on tap for craft beer, wine and cocktail lovers as part of the annual celebration of craft beverages in the greater Kalamazoo area.
“As Kalamazoo, we do have an identity with our craft beverages, whether it be the breweries that are here, the distilleries, there’s even a good amount of wineries when you look at the surrounding area,” said Chris O’Neill, owner at One Well Brewing, one of six breweries hosting events over the course of the drawn-out week. “I think it’s a cool opportunity to get people excited about craft beverages, not only that are being made in Kalamazoo, but that are being made in Michigan and nationally.”
In its 13th year, the festival initiated as one to celebrate the local craft beer scene, expanding in 2021 to include local winemakers and distillers. The week’s unofficial kickoff party will go down on Friday, Jan. 13 at Final Gravity Brewing with live performances from OCD/C and FlyLiteGemini. The week concludes with a special night highlighting women-owned breweries on Jan. 23 at LFG Gaming Bar.
In addition to One Well and Final Gravity, other brewery hosts include Presidential Brewing, Texas Corners Brewing, Brewery Outré and Bells. Temp Vino Winery and Twine Urban Winery will also host events, as will three area distillers, including the Kalamazoo Stillhouse and Green Door and Gull Lake distilling companies.
Other bars and restaurants, such as the Kalamazoo Beer Exchange, Crafted Copper, JungleBird, LFG Gaming Bar, Centre Street Taphouse, Louie’s Trophy House and Old Burdick’s are also hosting events.
“I think it’s nice to be able to focus on the good craft beverages that are being made in the area,” said O’Neill, whose brewery is hosting date night cheesecake and barrel-aged beer pairings and a pints and pinball tournament. “Anything that we can do to continue to draw people back to Kalamazoo is also great.”
The date night cheesecake and beer pairing events, hosted nightly from Jan. 14-22, will …….