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Traverse City Beer Week: A Craft Beer Connoisseur's Dream Event

Traverse City, Michigan embodies the perfect blend of vibrant culture and a year-round outdoor activities center. This blend has made the city a popular vacation destination and a growing hub in the craft beer industry. The atmosphere in the area is perfect for a beer celebration and Traverse City Beer Week is the ideal celebration for those looking to enjoy craft beer and socialize with fellow beer lovers. Even though the Traverse City Beer Week is only entering its third year, it’s quickly gaining popularity and momentum in the Midwestern craft beer community. The event takes place each November and showcases the fruits of labor for many local breweries. That's not all you’ll find on display during your visit. The city rallies around the festival with local shops, restaurants, and bars all hosting different aspects of the event.

 

The festival itself it not just about celebrating beer. This is a celebration promoting the fun and entertaining Traverse City community. During the week, attendees can enjoy beer tastings, sampling local cuisine, and participate in workshops intended to educate participants about different aspects of the craft beer industry. In addition, you’ll learn about pairing beers with food as well as unique products like hard cider and much more. Compared to other beer celebrations in the area, this one is catered to those who are looking to sample and enjoy the various craft beers and not participating just to party. We interviewed Media Relations Manager of Traverse City Tourism, Mike Norton, about this fun event and the community that supports it.

 

RAL: How long has the festival been running?

MN: The first Traverse City Beer Week was held in 2013, so this is our third year hosting the festival.

 

RAL: How many people do you draw and who are they demographically?

MN: That’s a tough one. Because the events are spread out over seven days and scattered across different parts of town, it’s hard to get an accurate number of attendees.  In addition, we don’t have a lot of ticketed events where we can just count stubs. Suffice it to say, though, we’ve noticed a significant uptick in downtown business for many of the more popular events, like the opening night Pub Crawl.

 

The craft brew scene here does tend to be pretty family and kid-friendly. Since the focus of TCBW is balanced out among “fun” events (trivia contests, a 5K “Great Beerd Run” race) and purely educational events (workshops, seminars, comparative tastings), it tends to be weighted a little more toward adults (both male and female) who take a connoisseur’s approach to craft beer and brewing.

 

RAL: What makes Traverse City Beer Week unique?

MN: Traverse City already has a number of brew-centric events – there are two Traverse City Microbrew & Music festivals, one in winter and one in summer. But these tend to be focused on music and socializing. Although TCBW has its fun component, it’s really more of an opportunity for brewers and their fans to get together and discuss craft beer in all varieties and how it can best be enjoyed. You’ll see a lot of tap takeovers where a brewery will trot out its new varieties, along with multiple dinners that pair craft brews with different foods. The crucial thing here is that the brewers and taverns are creating events on their own instead of just providing beer for someone else's event.

 

RAL: Take me through a typical day at the event.

MN: This isn’t so much an event as an entire constellation of events, very different in kind, some overlapping and taking place at widely separated venues – breweries, restaurants, taverns and stores. So instead of following a program for each day, what attendees need to do is look at the schedule and choose four or five events that they would like to enjoy (always making sure to get advance tickets for dinners and other limited-capacity events).

 

RAL: What can an attendee expect for local lodging and are there any specials set up for the event?

MN: There are a wide range of lodging types. A few of the options include Grand Traverse Resort and Spa, Bayshore Resort and The Cherry Tree Inn and Suites. For a complete listing, go to http://www.traversecity.com/fall/hotels/.

 

There isn’t a special TCBW lodging package, but the week happens to fall within Traverse City Tourism’s annual “Fab Fall” getaway special, so participants can enjoy special rates at participating resorts and hotels, plus discounts on shopping, dining, spa services, golf, entertainment and other fun. The specials must be booked directly through participating hotels (Just make sure to ask for the Fab Fall special). For more information, including a detailed description of all the goodies and a list of participating hotels, go tohttp://www.traversecity.com/fab-fall-packages-485/.

 

RAL: How does the festival affect the community?

MN: I’m sure that TCBW does drive business to the community, particularly since it comes at a time of year when there aren’t a lot of other major events taking place. In honesty, though, we don’t view it exclusively in those terms. Our brewers, restaurants, and taverns are very busy during other times of the year, and this is an opportunity for them to display the best of their craft to people who actually love and appreciate craft beers and ales. For those of us in the tourism sector, an event like TCBW enhances our community’s reputation as a place of quality food and drink, widening Traverse City’s appeal to potential visitors both now and in years to come.

 

RAL: Why should people come to Traverse City Beer Week?

MN: Obviously, the major appeal of Traverse City Beer Week is going to be for people who enjoy quality hand-crafted beer. However, TCBW also give visitors a chance to experience this community in a way that most summer tourists never have. Late fall here is a quiet, intimate season when shopping and dining are more relaxed and people can take time to meet and chat. There are no lines or crowds, and you can experience Traverse City the way we locals do. This is a gentler, more romantic time of year, one that we hope everyone who visits will enjoy!


For more information about Traverse City Beer Week please visit their website.