A Melting Pot: Beer blends in and still stands out at Wine, Beer & Food Festival

It’s that time of year again, the time when the beer people dress up a little (maybe), and the wine people dress down a little (maybe), and meet in the middle for the Grand Rapids International Wine, Beer & Food Festival.

This one’s always a little different from the yearly and seasonal beer festivals filling the calendar. It’s indoors and a more tightly contained; the crowd is more diverse and perhaps less casual and the beer vendors themselves are more diverse. Bigger names like New Belgium and Sam Adams, and out-of-state brands like Blue Point from Long Island and Summit from St. Paul set up booths next to Michigan breweries.

But still, as the Michigan craft beverage industry has grown and evolved, so has this festival. It always finds new ways to highlight Mitten State products, and this year was no exception. This year, in addition to the Brewer’s Loft, the festival featured a craft cider area as well. (Maybe a cider “back porch?”). It also welcomed Michigan craft distillers like

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