West Michigan Beer Tours

01/27/2024

Yes!

The Owner of the Ore Dock Brewing Company has been named the first female President of the Michigan Brewers Guild.

01/26/2024

Congrats, Texas Corners Brewing Company!

Thank you Kalamazoo for voting us people’s choice favorite brewery for 2024! What a huge honor! There’s a ton of great breweries in Kalamazoo county, so it must mean you really liked our beer and events! We will still have some of these specialty brews from beverage week rotating on tap over the next few weeks in case you missed anything. This week takes tons of planning, brewing, marketing, and hard work from all of our staff, so thank you to them and cheers to you Kalamazoo!

01/23/2024

“Bell’s has found recent success in using the variety pack to introduce consumers to new flavors, Yunker said. While taproom business continues to rebound from the pandemic, sales haven’t quite returned to normal, making retail variety pack options a key tool in reaching loyal Bell’s fans.”

Bell’s Brewery Inc. is betting on automation equipment to help it churn out more variety packs of its popular beers.

01/21/2024

🦁 Go Lions (and Handmap Brewing)!🍻

Handmap Brewing welcomes Lions fans each week with food and beer specials and free raffles every quarter, among other offerings.

01/20/2024

🍺 🍷 🥃 Final weekend of Kalamazoo Craft Beverage Week! 🍺 🍷 🥃

There are still two more days of Kalamazoo Craft Beverage Week!

Some of the events this weekend include disc golf and beers on Bates Alley with Saugatuck Brewing Kalamazoo, a beer and jerky pairing at Presidential Brewing Company, a Bloody Mary brunch at Gull Lake Distilling Company and so much more.

Check the link below for the calendar of events.
https://www.discoverkalamazoo.com/craft-beverage-week/events/?bounds=false&view=list&sort=date

01/18/2024

Keep this in mind the next couple weekends.

Venn diagram showing the relationship between two sets of data:

1. Potential times a Michigan winter storm may occur.
2. The times winter storms occur on weekends when they will hurt restaurants and other retail outlets the most.

Friends, the past few weeks have been brutal for the service industry. Your favorite restaurants are hurting. If you dine out this weekend, please consider dining LOCAL. It matters more than you know.

01/17/2024

There are a trio of special events at Saugatuck Brewing Kalamazoo this week! Pop in and say hello soon.

01/17/2024

Help support this important nonprofit by purchasing this new IPA from Wax Wings Brewing Company!

Come out to Wax Wings Brewing Company on Sunday, January 21, and warm up with a delicious Kalamazoo Skyline IPA! We are hosting a special Family Literacy Day with our friends from Kalamazoo Public Library and The Fresh Food Fairy in support of our 50th anniversary. We'll have fun activities, free books, storytime, and more. Plus, Wax Wings will donate $1 from each purchase to the KLC! 3:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. at 3480 Gull Rd in Kalamazoo.

01/16/2024

What an awesome collaborative effort for !

01/15/2024

Look at all the cool events from our friends at LFG Gaming Bar Kalamazoo for !

01/14/2024

If the tasting room reopens, it will be without any of the Valkyries you all have come to know and love.

01/13/2024

Here are more details on Longship Brewing Company and a building rich in beer history.

The 148-year-old building has housed everything from a tailor shop to a hardware store, a butcher's shop and other breweries.

01/13/2024

🌞!

Feeling the winter blues? Bells Brewery is bringing the sunshine during this snow storm.

01/13/2024

Our friends at Gull Lake Distilling Company are hosting this fun event on Sunday!

01/11/2024

This story from TwoGuys Brewing is really cool!

Edit: we are speechless. This young man has been blessed beyond words with a community of loving and generous people. His car repairs will be covered for him. Can you just imagine how blessed he is going to feel? How much love will be in HIS heart? You have improved our city in a huge way!!

We are asking if you can help a kid out with car repairs. They have no idea what is wrong with it yet or how much it will cost. What we want you to know is any money over and above what he needs will be donated hyper-locally. We work closely with Wyoming Harbor Church and they run The Attic, an after school program for teens. Anything NOT needed to repair the vehicle, should we get more, will be donated to them in their continuing efforts to occupy and uplift local kids.

01/11/2024

New brewery opening! Cheers Longship Brewing Company!

🚨 GRAND OPENING - THIS SATURDAY (Jan 13) - 3PM TO 11PM 🚨

Longship Brewing is ecstatic to announce the opening of our Brewery and Tasting Room in Downtown Lawton!

We have been working tirelessly to transform the historic building at 114 N Main St. into our vision for Longship Brewing and we are now ready to welcome the Lawton and SW Michigan community!

What to expect:
🍺 We will have a tap list consisting of 3 Beers and 3 Ciders on opening day

🥪🍔 A diverse food menu featuring our unique take on many classic dishes

🏤 A newly refurbished space that utilizes pieces of and honors the robust history of our building

📆 We will be open every day of the week to serve you!

01/07/2024

🍷 There are so many great events planned for Kalamazoo Craft Beverage Week! Here’s what the new ownership at Lawton Ridge Winery has coming up.🍷

This year we are participating in ! This week long event aims to highlight the amazing and diverse craft beverage - beer, wine, and spirit - industry in Kalamazoo county. We have four events planned for this week at the winery tasting room on Stadium Drive. Check out the list or our Facebook events page for even more details. We hope to see you here for one or more of these great events!

01/06/2024

Take a peek at what Apoptosis Brewing Company has in store. It’s just in time for its first anniversary and Kalamazoo Craft Beverage Week!

01/05/2024

Get there while you can!

We are open for 73 Days.

The dream of Guardian was born way back in 2012. At first, we thought we would be able to open our brewery in Colorado and with a twist of fate, ended up being able to open in Saugatuck in December of 2018.

Fast forward five crazy years and life has handed us the opportunity to spend more time with our family that need us. So much more time that we need to now live together with less winter and more of the needed medical facilities close by. We will be moving to Bloomington, Indiana after our last day at Guardian on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17.

This means we have 73 days until the closing of Guardian in Saugatuck. Kate and I will be opening another brewery in Bloomington, but don’t have a timeline on that project yet. At this time, we want to wholeheartedly focus on the community and our team at Guardian all the way up until March 17.

With only 73 days left and 27 of them still being “Dry January,” we realize our time together is actually very short. Within these 73 days will be the last time you can get Guardian beer wine food, cocktails merchandise. We also ALWAYS have excellent NA options if you’re not drinking alcohol.

We need your help to finish this chapter of Guardian strong. Our team is counting on us and our community to support the great things that they have helped build over the last five years almost half of our team has been with us for 4 to 5 years! They’re amazing.

We will have lots of specials and deals coming your way over the next 73 days. Please don’t sleep on it as it will be the last time that you get your six-pack of Nessie or a fresh growler to-go. If you have always wanted a tap handle, T-shirt, or hat from Guardian, we have a few left! However, every day our supply is whittling down.

If you’ve always wanted to join our Mug Club or love a good deal, we are selling $10 mug club memberships that are good from January to March. It’s the best offer we’ve ever had! If you were a Mug Club member in 2023, you get these three months on us for free. Just keep bringing in your card when you visit.

We will be hosting a few specialized yard sales in the next few months. I will be sure to post a full list of things for sale as soon as we know. For now, we have like grain and hops for sale, as well as other brewing supplies. I will post a more exhaustive list of things for sale on our website soon!

Thank you so very much for all the love you’ve given us over the past 5 years. We’re still open in Saugatuck for 73 days and our goal is to finish as strong as ever. We welcome you to Guardian for the first time or for the 500th time. Become a part of our last chapter.

We will see you soon!

❄️ New Winter Hours ❄️
Monday 4-9 PM, Trivia at 6 PM
TUESDAY - CLOSED
Wednesday 4-9 PM, Mug Club Day
Thursday 4-9 PM
Friday 12-9 PM
Saturday 12-9 PM
Sunday 12-8 PM

01/02/2024

Go Blue!

We hope everyone is having a rosy Tuesday 🌹 In lieu of recent events, and due to popular demand- we’ve decided to re-release a limited amount of BET IPA in cans this week 🙌 Cans are available in the pub starting today until they run out 🍻

01/02/2024

🐶 Here’s an update on the Tempo Vino space. 🍷

A couple who met in the Finger Lakes region of New York is gearing up to open a winery in Kalamazoo.

12/31/2023

“When I was coming up with a design, I was really trying to think of something interesting, something that would stand out from other designs that would still be a good showcase of my skills and typical style,” Heather Picardat said. “I settled on the whimsical little bear, playfully attempting to balance a glass of craft beer on his feet while doing yoga.”

A local artist’s design was chosen as Kalamazoo Craft Beverage Week’s logo this year.

12/28/2023

🍻 Watch party! 👀

Help us cheer on Sister Lakes Brewing Company Chef Justin! Watch party at the brewery on 1/3 starting at 7:30pm or tune in from home at 9pm.

12/27/2023

A nice dose of good news today!

12/21/2023

If you have the ability, do your best to support Guardian Brewing Company this holiday season!