Frankenmuth is coming! Let the cries ring out from Andover to Strongsville, throughout the Great Black Swamp and over Lake Erie as Frankenmuth Brewery is moving farther into the depths of the Ohio beer market. Our Michigan beer now has a home in over 150 new bars, restaurants and stores in Northeast and Central Ohio.

You may remember earlier this year when Frankenmuth Brewery first started distributing our Michigan beer throughout the Toledo area. The results have been so positive that we have now teamed with Superior Beverage Group to take our efforts and our beer even further into the Buckeye state.

Frankenmuth Brewery will be rolling out distribution of three of our Michigan beers; Frankenmuth Pilsener, Batch 69 American-Style India Pale and Hefeweizen Ale. In addition to these fine beers from our Michigan microbrewery, we will also be shipping some of our limited sampler packs, dubbed the Frankensampler, to Ohio so in-state beer enthusiasts can try all of these beers in one fell swoop.

Among the places that Frankenmuth Brewery will be distributed by Superior Beverage Group are Lizardville in Bedford Heights, Whole Foods Market in University Heights, World Liquors & Wines in North Olmsted and Mentor, T & W Mart in Cleveland, Ross Dairy in Cleveland, Strongsville Deli Stop in Strongsville, Andover Sparkle Market in Andover, Discount Tobacco & Beverage in Chesterland, Willo Plaza Shopp in Willoughby, Rozi Beverage in Lakewood, Coventry Food Mart in Cleveland, EZ Mart Food Store in Cleveland, W. Lincoln Way Drive Thru in Wooster, Ice House in Wooster, Marshallville Packing D/T in Marshalville, Rodhes IGA Supercenter in Millersburg, Buehlers Food Markets in Orrville, 101 Bottles of Beer in Kent, Sammy’s Drive Thu in Streetsboro, Acme in Kent, Giant Eagle in Northfield, Bayshore Beverage in Sandusky, Falls Bootlegger in Cuyahoga Falls, and Lake Beverage in Elyria.

Frankenmuth Brewery is excited to have our beer in the great state that gave us the Wright Brothers, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Thomas Jefferson. We may not always agree on our favorite college football teams, but we think we can all agree on anything revolving around beer from Superior Beverage Group and our Michigan microbrewery.

We’re a month deep into summer now and with the red in the thermometer preparing to burst out like a Looney Tunes cartoon. The sweet relief that many take solace in this time of year is an ice cold beer. We’ve professed our own love for the cold stuff, and with the advancement in cooler technology in recent years, we’ve found a few devices that will keep your Michigan beer freezing all summer long.

Perpetual Kid is currently featuring two of the coolest things we’ve ever seen to give you ice cold beer. To compare the Chill-It Six Pack Bag to a normal six pack of Michigan beer is like comparing a Bugatti Royale to a broken down VW bus. With a safe, non-toxic liquid on the inner walls of the bag, the Chill-It Six Pack will freeze quickly and will maintain the ice cold beer temperature for several hours. Don’t want to drink from the bottle? Use the killer Port-a-Pint collapsible beer cup to always be prepared for any party, whether there is a keg, cans or bottles kept cold in a Chill-It bag.

Chill-It Bag

With the extremely eye catching tagline of “I want to hold your cans,” a company simply called Beershorts is producing exactly that: beer shorts. While they look like cargo shorts, these Beershorts can’t be denied when it comes to keeping an ice cold beer at that perfect crisp temperature. With insulated pockets that will keep both your beer cooled and your legs as well, the built-in beer koozie technology alleviates the stress that comes from trying to hit golf balls while still holding onto your beer. Whether bottles or cans, Beershorts will be there to hold your beer in times of need.

Beershorts

It may be impossible to purchase this next item, but it’s an easy DIY project that is perfect for creating ice cold beer. Created by internet inventor Rob Cockerham, the solid ice beer tray is simple in design and really only needs a few key ingredients including six empty beer bottles, sand, a deep cooler top and some water. Start by pouring water into the cooler top, fill the beer bottles with sand and place the tray into your freezer. From there, simply dump out the sand and put some warm water into the bottles. Gently glide the bottles out of the ice tray and replace it with Michigan beer from Frankenmuth Brewery. Then, cool and drink in the perfection.

Whether you purchase a Chill-It Six Pack Bag or you create your own solid ice beer tray, stay cool this summer with the best beers in Michigan from Frankenmuth Brewery. There is nothing like the feeling of relaxing with a craft beer throughout the dogs day of summer and knowing that there is another five Michigan beers chilling right next to your chair.

There have been multiple apps crafted for the iPhone and Android that have been centered on beer. We appreciate the developers of these apps as we can’t stand to not have beer around us. If we’re not making beer, putting it into our food or talking about it, we sure do love looking up Michigan beer on our smart phones. However, when we recently stumbled upon the Kickstarter campaign for Craftie, the mother of all beer tracking apps, we had no idea the in-depth coverage that was to come.

Developed by Kevin Brindley and Brian Hamlett, two beer lovers from Charlotte, North Carolina, Craftie goes beyond any other beer app ever created. Offering profiles of breweries, brewmasters and beers, the beer tracking app will have considerably more content than any before it. Michigan beer enthusiasts will love the magazine-like features and amazing photos that will be attached to each brewery profiles. In addition, these stories won’t just focus on the taste of the beer and the basic flavor notes. The Craftee founders are more interested the backstory of each brewery, the brewery’s current state and what’s coming ahead in the future.

For those unfamiliar with how Kickstarter works, the site is a fundraising resource for burgeoning businesses and charities. These entities can present their case as to why people should donate money to the cause and often the company receiving the donation will offer some incentives for your monetary gift. Yet, if you don’t reach your fundraising goal in the allotted amount of time, then no money will be given to the cause. The Craftie beer tracking app is about $40,000 away from their goal, but there is still 29 days left to donate to the Kickstarter. Brindley and Hamlett are offering up some cool gifts like bottle openers, pint glasses, t-shirts and the app itself that will go perfect with your Michigan beer.

Frankenmuth Brewery supports anyone trying to help propel craft beer forward, especially when they want to see Michigan beer succeed. The beer tracking app created by Brindley and Hamlett will not only help beer lovers find new beers, but it will also tell stories and expound on all the amazing people that are working in the craft beer industry. Help them with their Kickstarter campaign here, be on the lookout for the app soon and be ready to read a story about Michigan’s oldest brewery in Frankenmuth.

The time is now. Frankenmuth Brewery and Charity Celebration’s Michigan Bier Celebration is preparing to descend onto downtown Frankenmuth with a plethora of tasty Oktoberfest beers THIS Saturday, July 21!

Obviously, the first place to start at the Michigan Bier Celebration is by picking up your beer tasting boot. How else are you going to test all these new fantastic Oktoberfest beers? Hand your ticket in, grab your boot and head on over to the Frankenmuth Brewery table and say “Hello.” We’ll give you the first taste of our brand new batch of Oktoberfest Michigan beer and tell you a little about all that we have going on at the brewery this summer. Then, tour the rest of the event and enjoy the other beverages from the 26 world-class breweries and cider mills also in attendance.

With your brain focused on Michigan beer, you may have not remembered that there will be also be food at the Michigan Bier Celebration. What also might have slipped through the cracks of your suds soaked brain is that with the purchase of a VIP ticket to the event ($25 in advance/ $30 at the door), you will receive a $5 voucher food in addition to your 8 beer tickets. Be sure to nosh on the finest that Frankenmuth has to offer with your voucher.

For some, being glutinous and enjoying fine Michigan beer is the perfect way to spend a summer day. We agree! For others, they don’t mind the eating and drinking, but they want to work it off on the same day. Fear not friends as Funktion and DJ Litio will be providing the evening dance music to help you sweat out the beer you drank while listening to Fred Ziwich and Steve Drzewicki’s polka sounds that afternoon. One way or another, you’ll be on your feet all day dancing, drinking Oktoberfest beers and having a blast in the summer sun.

Whether you’re more interested in enjoying Michigan beer, eating food, hitting the dance floor or just relaxing with friends, the Michigan Bier Celebration has the best of all worlds. Most importantly, Frankenmuth Brewery and Charity Celebration will be donating the proceeds from the event to a number of Frankenmuth and Michigan based charities that keep the community moving forward.

If you haven’t already purchased your ticket visit the this page to buy a ticket and we will see you at Heritage Park this Saturday, July 21!

Summing up a beer in less than 140 characters might be troubling to some Michigan beer enthusiasts as it’s hard to condense so much love down to so few words. Apparently, this limit hasn’t kept brew lovers from tweeting their praise for breweries in Michigan as Twitter beer trends show that more people are tweeting about beer than church. So, just how does the good word compare to a good brew in the Twittersphere?

In a study done by Floating Sheep, a website that uses geotagging to pull information from websites like Twitter, the organization looked at the number of tweets about beer and church on the national scale. Further breaking it down by county in each of the 50 states, Floating Sheep followed the Twitter beer and church trends for the entire week of June 22 through June 28. Unsurprisingly, the national results paralleled very closely to a presidential race-type result as the South mostly tweeted about church and the North had more Twitter beer comments.

When it comes to Michigan beer tweets, the number of Twitter beer remarks vastly outnumbered any comments about church. While some areas traditionally known for their conservatism showed a higher number of beer tweets, the population in large counties that have breweries in Michigan tended to be skewed towards tweets from the church pew. Even in brewery strongholds like Kalamazoo, Oakland, Saginaw and Wayne counties, the numbers of both talking points were nearly the same. Yet, when looking deeper into the tweets, one will find that many people from outside these counties travel to visit Michigan breweries like Frankenmuth Brewery and tweet outside of county lines.

While many will point out the unscientific nature of the study, Twitter is a part of everyday life that should be considered as a measuring stick of what’s going on in the world. Everyday Frankenmuth Brewery (@FB1862 on Twitter), engages with hundreds of Twitter beer enthusiasts by keeping them updated on upcoming events and new products at our brewery. For even more behind the scenes magic, Frankenmuth brewmaster Jeff Coon (@BrewingPastor) keeps an account that will inform you, as much it will make you laugh.

If you’ve never used Twitter to praise Michigan beer before than perhaps it’s time for you to sign up for an account. As soon as you do, tweet Frankenmuth and we can assure you that we will be the first to start following you back. Spread the good word of breweries in Michigan and Frankenmuth Brewery and get those fingers moving across the keys. Cheers to your first tweet and be sure to throw a #DasGoodBeer in for good measure!

With July now in full swing, Frankenmuth Brewery is pleased to say that it is officially Michigan Craft Beer Month. Celebrating the best in Michigan beer from all over the state, Michigan Craft Beer Month was proposed by the Michigan Brewer’s Guild and legislated into law by the state congress in June 2011. Just what is so special about Michigan beer and why does it need its own month? With several acclaimed breweries in-state, in addition to the nearly 100 on the upward move, Michigan breweries have become one of the state’s dominant industries.

To celebrate Michigan Craft Beer Month, the MBG has teamed with Buffalo Wild Wings to create limited edition commemorative glasses. Available in 25 Buffalo Wild Wings locations across the state, the glass can only be purchased when ordering a Michigan beer and is emblazoned with the uber-cool Michigan Craft Beer Month logo. For the price of one Michigan beer and $4 you will be able to own your piece of what is sure to become an annual tradition in the hearts of our state’s brewers and beer lovers.

While it might seem like some sort of catch that you have to buy a Michigan beer in order to get this limited edition glass, your brain has misinformed you. In addition to many of the other brilliant Michigan breweries on tap at Buffalo Wild Wings, you will be able to find several kinds of Frankenmuth Brewery beer at several locations across the state, notably in Fenton, Flint, Grand Blanc, Port Huron, Sterling Heights and Warren. Call ahead to your local Buffalo Wild Wings, find out if Frankenmuth Brewery is on tap and then buy our Michigan beers to receive your Michigan Craft Beer Month glass.

Our state has always been known as the “Great Lake State,” but it’s high time that we consider adopting the second moniker of “Great Beer State.” With the industry on an upward trend, new breweries popping up, and many new innovations in the brewing field, Michigan is set to become the beer capital of America. Frankenmuth Brewery is proud to be a part of this tradition since 1862 and hopes that, in addition to picking up your glass at Buffalo Wild Wings, you’ll make it into our brewery in July and celebrate with one of our Michigan craft beers.

With the charcoal blazing, beer from one of the oldest breweries in Michigan on ice and the grill freshly cleaned, the time for a hump day barbecue is now. After all, we’ve reached the halfway point of the week and it’s time to celebrate that there is less than 48 hours ‘til the sweet sanctity of the weekend. So look no further than our take on an old school beer sausage recipe.

Being that it’s Wednesday, the Frankenmuth Brewery blog test kitchen knows that you’ll be coming home from work and won’t want to deal with too much hassle. Our beer sausage recipe involves barely any prep (most of it involves soaking sausage in Michigan beer), leaving tons of time to enjoy a beautiful summer night. For the recipe we suggest using Frankenmuth Brewery’s Munich Style Dunkel Lager as this beer pairs delightfully well with Italian sausage and is perfect for drinking during the meal.

Michigan Beer Grilled Sausages With Peppers

-1 Frankenmuth Brewery Munich Style Dunkel Lager
-3 pounds uncooked Italian sausages
-1 onion, sliced
-2 green pepper, sliced
-2 red peppers, sliced
-4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1. Poke each sausage with a fork multiple times and allow beer to marinate in a mixture of chopped garlic and beer inside of a plastic bag in the fridge for over an hour.
2. Add sausage and onions to a sauté pan and cover with the beer marinade from the bag. Turn stovetop on to medium heat and allow the liquid to simmer and poach sausages for about 5 minutes.
3. Remove the sausages from the pan and prepare to take out to the grill. After deglazing the pan (or the less technical term of “scrapping up any blackened stuff off the bottom”), add the sliced peppers to the marinade mixture remaining in the pan and cook until tender.
4. Meanwhile, back at the grill, brush the sausages with a bit of oil and place in a direct position near the heat source. Allow to brown on each side, or for about five minutes, and let rest for a minute or two before serving.
5. Serve the peppers, onions and sausages with some rice, salad or coleslaw and you have a new, easy and tasty take on a classic beer sausage recipe.

No matter what beer you end up using, remember that nothing will pair as well with the Italian sausage in this recipe as a Michigan beer. Frankenmuth Brewery is proud of the “Great Lakes State” quickly becoming even more known as the “Great Beer State” and we hope that when you use our Michigan beer in this beer sausage recipe you’ll be proud of our state too. Happy grilling!

As the oldest of all breweries in Michigan, we’re proud of our legacy of great Michigan beer. We’re also proud that many of our fans enjoy our brews so much that they’ve started posting Frankenmuth Brewery pictures on Instagram! Take a look at some of our favorite Frankenmuth Brewery pictures:

As @sascolli shows us, even knights in shining armor love a Frankenmuth brew (or three)! Take a cue from ol’ Rusty here, and relax on a nice summer day with Michigan beer from Frankenmuth Brewery.

What’s better than birthdays? Birthdays with Frankenmuth beer, of course. Celebrate your birth like @benahlersmeyer and @melissammhmmh with some great Michigan beer (and root beer) from our brewery!

How good does @cgryzz’s cold glass of Frankenmuth beer look? There’s no better way to cool off on a scorching summer day than to visit one of your favorite breweries in Michigan for an ice cold craft beer.

What’s better than pictures of beer at our brewery? Pictures of our famous, delicious pretzel-bread rolls! @merritt_h’s order looks quite appetizing, if we do say so ourselves.

Spend your summer days by the water with a beer from Frankenmuth Brewery. @sisdidicko opted for a Frankenmuth Dunkel. A fine choice!

We’re always looking for more Frankenmuth Brewery pictures on Instagram. Post yours and remember to hashtag #frankenmuthbrewery. You just may see it featured here in a future blog!

Though for some, the Fourth of July is all about the potential danger of your hand meeting the white-hot fire of a Roman Candle (this at least seems to be the case in our neighborhood), Frankenmuth Brewery likes to the think of America’s birthday as the perfect day for celebrating beer. What are our plans? Well, we will take this Wednesday to observe the nation’s birthday by kicking back with family and enjoying a few Michigan beers. Could it possibly be time to fire up the old laptop outside and watch a few hilarious beer videos? We couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate.

Taking advantage of the mid-week break thanks to the Fourth, we’ve once again gone searching for the best beer videos on the web. While we thought the terms “beer” and “fireworks” would be a good match for the holiday, all we found were near accidents in some extremely frightening videos. So instead, we found magical beer videos that toe the line between the most amazing things we’ve ever seen and comedy that will induce fits of laughter. So, settle in with a Michigan beer from Frankenmuth Brewery, tell America “Happy Birthday” and watch these awesome beer videos.

Mini Fridge Beer Cannon

Technology has advanced so far in the last 100 years. Prior to refrigeration, you had to store your beer in a cave or some other spider-infested hole. Now, in the year 2012, we have a fridge you can control with your iPhone that will launch the can of beer of your choice to you with a cannon that can be aimed. Let us be the first to say we’ve seen the future of beer and the future tastes good.

Beer Pouch Hoodie

While it’s not exactly the amateur shot beer videos we’re used to, this Beer Pouch Hoodie advertisement answers a few questions we’ve always wondered about. Where can I put my beer when I: dance, use the toilet, have a power tool in each hand, jog, walk, play pool, shoot hoops, paint a room, barbecue, try to catch a baseball, and so on and so forth? This 5.5 x 6 inch pocket is perfect for housing your beer from a Michigan brewery in any situation.

Crazy Bottle Opener Guy

Ever needed help getting a beer bottle opened? Ever needed help getting 200 beer bottles opened? Some people are born with basketball skills like Michael Jordan, others can command the stage like Bruce Springsteen and some people… well, some people were born with the ability to open beer bottles really fast. While you might not put those three in the same category, the footage from beer videos like this offers us factual proof. Dude’s got skills.

Cafeen? Domino

After a quick Google search, the word “cafeen” means coffee shop in Danish, but there sure seems to be a lot of beer bottles in this video. Set up like a beer enthusiast-designed Rube Goldberg machine, these beer bottle dominos end with the best possible result: a beer poured into your mouth.

No matter what way you choose to celebrate the Fourth of July, whether with fireworks, family, beer videos, or all of the above, we hope that you do so safely with a Frankenmuth Brewery beer in hand. After all, nothing says “Happy Birthday, America” like cracking open a few beers from your favorite Michigan breweries and spending time with loved ones. Happy Fourth of July!

Earlier this week, we taught you how to survive summer beer festivals in Michigan. While the word “survive” may have been a bit extreme, we do want you to have a fun time while attending our Michigan Bier Celebration. How do we plan to make this event different than any other summer beer festivals you will attend this summer? Well, Frankenmuth Brewery has contacted the heavy hitters of the Michigan beer industry and lining them all up for participation in the Michigan Bier Celebration.

Honoring the best in Oktoberfest style of beer, the Michigan Bier Celebration welcomes the most influential breweries in both Michigan and the rest of the country to Frankenmuth. The festival will include big boys like Leinenkugel, Blue Moon and Sam Adams, but also maintain the craft brewery aesthetic that resonates with what Frankenmuth Brewery does with our Michigan beer. Local microbreweries, including Atwater Brewery, Dragonmead Microbrewery and Rochester Mills Beer Co., will be in attendance as well as other well known breweries from outside the state like Stone Brewery Co., Shiner and Great Lakes Brewing Company.

With more than 30 breweries total, there will be a lot of beer to consume at the summer beer festival to end all summer beer festivals. In addition to the aforementioned breweries, the brew teams of Tri-City Brewing Company, Arcadia Ales, Woodchuck Cider, Vander Mill Brewery, Lagunitas Brewing Company, Mt. Pleasant Brewing Company, MillKingIt Productions, Uncle John’s Winery, Summit Brewing Company, Tommyknocker Brewery, Blue Point Brewing Company, Saugatuck Brewing Co., Boulder Beer Company, Henry Weinhard’s Brewing Company, Thirsty Dog Brewing Company, North Peak Brewing Company, Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, Hideout Brewing Company, Michigan Beer Cellar, White Flame Brewing Company, Sherwood Brewing Company and Liberty Street Brewing Company will all be in attendance.

With the Michigan Bier Celebration only weeks away, Frankenmuth Brewery has a limited amount of tickets left and it’s time for you to commit to buying one already. Let’s be honest. You like beer. You wouldn’t be here reading the Frankenmuth Brewery blog if you didn’t. So do yourself a favor and purchase a ticket so that you can enjoy this celebration of Michigan beer. Better yet, if you are one of our Michigan beer faithful, Frankenmuth Brewery is offering the chance to volunteer for the event. If you’re interested, head to the Charity Celebration homepage and sign up to help out. We hope to see you all at the Michigan Bier Celebration in Heritage Park!