Arts & Entertainment

A Beer a Day in June: Thrillist's Top 30 Michigan Brews

The list of great Michigan beers is incomplete at 30, Thrillist admits. It could be 100 or 1,000 in the Great Lakes (and Great Beer) State.

Thrillist has compiled its list of 30 Michigan Beers to Drink Before You Die. Is you favorite on the list? (Photo by Paul Thompson via Flickr / Creative Commons)

Thrillist, which finds the biggest thrills in the travel and food and beverage industries and then lists them, says there are 30 Michigan Beers to Drink Before You Die.

Find out what's happening in New Baltimore-Chesterfieldfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Here’s what the arbiter of all things thrilling has to say about Michigan’s beers:

“This is could easily have 100 (or even 1,000) beers on it, and that’s because the Great Beer State produces so damn many outstanding beers that deserve a place of honor in your personal beer tank (i.e. your stomach).”

Find out what's happening in New Baltimore-Chesterfieldfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

The Thrillist staff consulted various Michigan beer lovers, then “narrowed down the best of the best, and the most mandatory of the mandatory, to the top beers every Michigander must drink – the most ubiquitous, the most popular, the most inherently Michigan of Michigan beers, from the white whales of national renown to the widely-available classics.”

There are 30 days in June, so that works out nicely to a different beer for every day of the month.

  1. Bell’s Brewery – Galesburg: Oberon, pale wheat ale, 5.8 percent alcohol by volume
  2. Bell’s Brewery: Two-Hearted, American IPA, 7 percent alcohol by volume
  3. Bell’s Brewery: Hopslam, American double/imperial IPA, 10 percent alcohol by volume
  4. Dragonmead Microbrewery – Warren: Final Absolution Trippel, Trippel, 10 percent alcohol by volume
  5. Founders Brewing Company – Grand Rapids: BSes, American double/imperial stout, various percent alcohol by volume
  6. Founders Brewing Company: All Day IPA, American IPA, 4.7 percent alcohol by volume
  7. New Holland Brewing Company – Holland: Dragon’s Milk, American Double/Imperial Stout, 10 percent alcohol by volume
  8. New Holland Brewing Company: The Poet, Oatmeal stout, 5.2 percent alcohol by volume
  9. Odd Side Ales – Grand Haven: Mayan Mocha Stout, American stout, 6 percent alcohol by volume
  10. Odd Side Ales: Citra Pale Ale, American pale ale, 5.75 percent alcohol by volume
  11. Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales – Dexter, Ann Arbor and Traverse City: La Roja, American wild ale, 7.2 percent alcohol by volume
  12. Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales: Noel de Calabaza, Belgian strong dark ale, percent alcohol by volume
  13. Kuhnhenn Brewing Company – Warren: Raspberry Eisbock, Eisbock; 15.5 percent alcohol by volume
  14. Kuhnhenn Brewing Company: DRIPA, American double/imperial IPA, 9 percent alcohol by volume
  15. Short’s Brewing Company – Elk Rapids and Bellaire: Soft Parade, Rye ale, 7.5 percent alcohol by volume
  16. Short’s Brewing Company: Ek The Wizard, Barleywine, 11 percent alcohol by volume
  17. Griffin Claw Brewing Company – Birmingham: Screamin’ Pumpkin Ale, pumpkin ale, 6 percent alcohol by volume
  18. Griffin Claw Brewing Company: Norm’s Raggedy Ass IPA, American IPA, 7.25 alcohol by volume
  19. Dark Horse Brewing Company – Marshall: Crooked Tree, American IPA,; 6.5 percent alcohol by volume
  20. Dark Horse Brewing Company – Bourbon Barrel Plead the 5th, Russian imperial stout, 11 percent alcohol by volume
  21. Brewery Vivant – Grand Rapids: Farm Hand, Saison/farmhouse ale, 5.5 percent alcohol by volume
  22. Brewery Vivant – Triomphe, Belgian IPA, 6.5 percent alcohol by volume
  23. Arbor Brewing Company – Ann Arbor: Sacred Cow IPA, American IPA, 6.8 percent alcohol by volume
  24. Atwater Brewery – Detroit: Vanilla Java Porter, American porter, 4.5 percent alcohol by volume
  25. Motor City Brewing Works – Detroit: Ghettoblaster, English dark mild ale, 4.2 percent alcohol by volume
  26. Atwater Brewery: Purple Gang Pilsner, Czech pilsner, 5.5 percent alalcohol by volume
  27. Right Brain Brewery – Traverse City: Mangalitsa Pig Porter, American porter, 6 percent alcohol by volume
  28. Leelanau Brewing Company – Lake Leelanau, Good Harbor Golden Ale, Bière de Garde, 7.5 percent alcohol by volume
  29. Saugatuck Brewing Company – Fennville: Neapolitan Milk Stout, milk stout; 6 percent alcohol by volume
  30. Stroh’s – Detroit: American adjunct lager; 4.6 alcohol by volume

Tell Us:

  • What beers should have made the list? Tell us why in the comments.

Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

More from New Baltimore-Chesterfield