Kalamazoo Ribfest Beer/Wine List: Local, Cold and Eclectic

The annual Kalamazoo Ribfest celebration gets underway Thursday, and again this year, the beer list will be both plentiful, eclectic, and Michigan will be well represented.

A quick reminder to start. Unlike most festivals, you only need tickets for drinks. You can pay for ribs with cash, credit or, if you're lucky, a really sweet smile.

Now, let's get started with the beer. For the traditionalists, there will be plenty of Coors Light and Blue Moon (a Coors brew). With temperatures expected in the mid 80's, that may be the perfect choice for many.

For those hoping to support local business, there will be three choices from Arcadia Ales; Mango Surprise, Morning NIghtcap Salted Caramel, and Arcadia's signature beer, Whitsun.

From up the road in Grand Rapids, the very drinkable Founders All Day IPA, along with Solid Gold and the fruity Rubaeus. Along those same fruity lines, Holland's Big Lake Brewing's Haze Blood Orange might also hit the spot.

Not a beer person, no problem. There's going to be Angry Orchard's Crisp, a group of White Claw hard seltzers, Mike's Harder Lemonade, and of course, wine. Looks for several types of Crane Lake wine varieties.

Staying on the topic of local, from just down the street from the Arcadia Creek Festival Site, Green Door Distillery's finest will be feature in the liquor bar.

And now, the moment all the beer snobs have been waiting for, the choices in the craft beer garden are all over the beer spectrum. Greenbush's Star Chicken Shotgun, Kickstand's Center Stage Amber, Odd Side's Citra Radler, Pigeon Hill's Brut-y Traps, Rockford Brewing's Rouge River Brown, Short's Melt My Brain, Tripelroot's Pure Mackinac and Vander Mill's Vandy.

Coors and Blue Moon will set you back four tickets, everything else is five, except the hard liquor, which is six tickets. Tickets are one dollar each.

Kalamazoo Ribfest is August 1st-3rd at Arcadia Creek Festival Site in downtown Kalamazoo, and is presented by Firekeeper's Casino Hotel. It benefits Arc Community Advocates.