Info about the 5th annual Traverse City Stout Challenge here!

TRAVERSE CITYTC Ale Trail and The Little Fleet are happy to announce the inaugural Traverse City Stout Challenge to be hosted downtown at The Little Fleet on Friday, January 29.

The Stout Challenge is a local competition between 10 Traverse City area breweries. Each brewery will produce their “Best Stout” and submit it for the event. 200 beer lovers will have the opportunity to choose their favorite brew. All tastings will be blind. Ticket holders will know the description of the beer, ABV, and other facts, but the brewery will remain confidential.

At 10 p.m. an awards ceremony will take place and the breweries will be revealed to the public. The winning brewery will take home a trophy and the privilege of saying their brewery has “The Best Stout in the Traverse City area.”

Troy Daily, the organizer of the Northern Michigan event, is excited for the new beer challenge, “Our team has produced the IPA Challenge for the past two years and has attracted a lot of attention. With this success and overwhelming feedback from attendees, the Stout Challenge was born out of demand. It’s a great way to get all of the area breweries together during a relatively slower month of the year.”

The 10 Traverse City area breweries participating in the event include; The Filling Station Microbrewery, The Workshop Brewing Company, Brewery Ferment, Old Mission Beer Co. (at Jolly Pumpkin), Brewery Terra Firma, Right Brain Brewery, Lake Ann Brewing Company, Hop Lot Brewing and Short’s Brewing Company. Rare Bird Brewpub has a limited license and will be collaborating with The Filling Station to brew a stout just for the event.

The event starts at 5:30 p.m. on Friday with the last ballots being handed out around 9 p.m. Attendees should plan on at least an hour for tasting. The unveiling of breweries and awards will be presented at 10 p.m. The winner is based on the total number of votes. Mike Moran, of Drink My Brewcast, will be the Master of Ceremonies.

Ticket prices will be $25 in advance and $30 at the door, and only 200 tickets will be available. Ticket price includes a custom taster glass,10 sample tickets (1 taste per beer), two wild card additional tastes, description and rating sheet, and one voting ballot. Additional tastes can be purchased for $1 and pints will also be for sale. There will be limited VIP tickets available for $50. These tickets will entitle you to a seated area, tableside service, snacks, pallet cleansers, food, and more.

The Traverse City Stout Challenge is sponsored by MI Local Hops and Drink My Brewcast.

Photo(s) by Create TC