The votes are in: Grand Rapids voted Beer City USA in a landslide
Garnering 27,000 of the approximately 50,000 online votes cast, Grand Rapids has been crowned Beer City USA for 2013, according to a post on AnnArbor.com's sister site, MLive. Ann Arbor claimed the 4th spot on the annual poll, behind Kalamazoo and Asheville, N.C.
Beer fans in Grand Rapids organized a strong push to win this designator this year, with a Facebook page, beer coasters, even a YouTube video with a Beer City theme song by the Jukejoint Handmedowns:
The big news in these poll results is the strong showing of Michigan cities this year. Michigan represents three of the top five vote-getters in this annual poll. While Grand Rapids tied with Asheville for first place last year, no other Michigan cities even cracked the top 20. And there were no Michigan cities listed in the annual poll prior to 2012.
The announcement came at the launch of American Craft Beer Week, which runs from today through Sunday. See David Bardallis' post for all of the local goings on, including an Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Progressive Craft Beer Tour and beer specials across town.
You can read the full story on MLive.
Jessica Webster leads the Food & Grocery section for AnnArbor.com, a part of the MLive Media Group. Reach her at JessicaWebster@annarbor.com. You also can follow her on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's email newsletters.
Comments
dsponini
Tue, May 14, 2013 : 6:46 p.m.
Well....Grand Rapids is known for it's right wing nut jobbery, but I like beer so ...yeah...Grand Rapids
Jessica Webster
Tue, May 14, 2013 : 7:07 p.m.
Grand Rapids is also known for interesting restaurants and a whole lot of culture (Artprize, GR Symphony, men's chorus, ballet, opera....). I'm still glad I live in A2, but let's not discount Grand Rapids so quickly.
David Bardallis
Tue, May 14, 2013 : 4:56 p.m.
We came in fourth, which is not too shabby. Cheers to Ann Arbor beer!
UpperDecker
Tue, May 14, 2013 : 2:58 p.m.
This is cool, too bad CNN just did an article about the top 8 beer cities in the country and somehow left Grand Rapids off!
Jessica Webster
Tue, May 14, 2013 : 3:56 p.m.
That's a shame. They seem to have not strayed from the obvious metropolises for the most part. It may seem impressive to say that San Francisco has 9 breweries ... until you look at the population of the metro area.
Ignatz
Mon, May 13, 2013 : 5:53 p.m.
The west side of the mitten, especially Gran Rapids, has an outstanding concentration of breweries.
Jessica Webster
Tue, May 14, 2013 : 3:46 p.m.
I'm a huge fan of the Founders Double Trouble.
PineyWoodsGuy
Mon, May 13, 2013 : 5:42 p.m.
A clear demonstration of the priorities of Grand Rapids.
Robert E.
Mon, May 13, 2013 : 8:22 p.m.
Honestly...lighten up and have a beer...our fair state has some of the very best in the world...