Bell's 25th Anniversary: Toasting a Quarter Century of Michigan Craft Beer

Every craft beer drinker in Michigan is familiar with Bell’s—the Great Beer State’s oldest and largest brewery.  Last week while I was drinking a few Bell’s Two Hearted Ales (one of my all-time favorite beers) I started thinking about the legacy of this brewery.  Bell’s Brewery, founded in 1985, celebrated its 25^th Anniversary over the past year, and the festivities continue this week at Ashley’s in Ann Arbor on Wednesday, February 23^rd with 25 Bell’s beers on tap, including a few special and limited releases (see All the Brews for more info).

Bell’s has come a long way since its humble beginnings with a soup pot and Saran Wrap covered open fermenters in 1985.  In many ways, all Michigan craft beer drinkers have grown with Bell’s over the years.  Personally, Bell’s Oberon was one of the first craft beers I tried, and it opened my mind to exploring new beers beyond the bland and overly commercialized Miller/Bud/Coors macro brews.  Slowly I began to expand my horizons by exploring more Bell’s beers—Pale Ale, Kalamazoo Stout, Java Stout, and others.

The success of Bell’s paved the way for other microbreweries to begin brewing in the Midwest.  Shortly after Bell’s opened in 1985, Great Lakes Brewing Co. opened in Cleveland (1988), followed by even more Michigan microbreweries throughout the 1990s—Founders, Arcadia, New Holland, Dark Horse, Atwater, and more.  The rapid growth of the craft beer movement continued during the first decade of the 21^st century, and today it’s one of the fastest growing industries in Michigan.

It all started with a soup pot and a dream back in 1985.  Frankly, there’s no telling where the craft beer movement would be today if it weren’t for the courage and vision of Larry Bell to start brewing and selling beer in Kalamazoo 25 years ago.  The Michigan craft beer community owes a great thanks to Larry Bell for all that he’s done for Michigan craft beer over the last two and half decades.  Let’s all raise a glass (of Bell’s beer) and toast to the next 25 years of craft beer in Michigan being as great as the last!