Brewmaster Jeremy Kosmicki, Co-Founder Dave Engbers, Brewer Laura Houser and Events Coordinator Christina McDonald with the Hammer of Glory (HOG) at the P.O.P.E.

Co-founders Dave Engbers and Mike Stevens before our World Cafe Live FBC All-Stars Road Show event

Extra special thanks to the following spots for hosting us during the week:

• Uno Chicago Grill
• Kite and Key
• Blue Dog Tavern
• South Philadelphia Tap Room
• Jose Pistola’s
• The P.O.P.E.
• Isaac Newton’s
• TIME
• Good Dog Bar
• World Cafe Live

Our brewery band, the FBC All-Stars, had a great time playing their first show on the road at World Cafe Live along with Workout! We hope to do it again.

The taproom’s Rob Burt (drums) and Deli Manager Justin Golinski (vocals) rock the stage during the FBC All-Stars performance

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The seamer on our new canning line

Over the last couple of months we have been tight on production, and we have watched warehouse inventories, including ours and those of our distributors, affected by a perfect storm of activity. The good news is we’ve watched sales in our existing markets continue well beyond the craft industry average, and thus we’ve had to continue expanding our facility to meet future needs. The not-so-good news is our production facility expansion—with our brew house extension, improvements made to our bottling line, the installation of a high-speed canning line and the addition of several 600 bbl fermenters, all taking longer than anticipated—has affected our ability to provide proper inventory quantities for all of our markets.

After several months of effort, we can now say the end is near, and we are wrapping up our production facility updates. However, during this process, we had to undergo downtimes, which led to inventory levels becoming significantly reduced. It’s important for us to maintain a focus on our core brands in our current markets; as such, we must make some difficult decisions.

In the best interest of our wholesaler partners, retail accounts and craft beer consumers, we will hold off opening planned new markets at this time, including Florida, which was scheduled for a July launch. We also will not be introducing the new package launch of All Day IPA in 12-pack cans next month. Please know that these difficult moves affect many parts of our business but should be done for both short- and long-term success. Until we have built up core brand inventories in all markets again and are comfortable in meeting existing demand, these opportunities must wait a bit longer.

We are confident this won’t take long and hope to be able to embark on these new projects as soon as possible. We appreciate your support and your patience with us as we grow.

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Mango Magnifico is a never-before-released, high-gravity fruit beer brewed with mango and Michigan-grown habaneros. Each 750mL bottle of this 10% ABV ale is intended to be shared. Not a traditional fruit beer, the delicate tropical fruit in Mango Magnifico is punctuated by a hint of heat, increasing the overall depth of flavor and adding another level of complexity. It will be a refreshing drink for the warm summer months.

“Mango Magnifico, like the entire Backstage Series, is intended to push the boundaries of what is commonly accepted in beer styles,” said Co-Founder and Vice President of Brand & Education Dave Engbers. “The Backstage Series is the perfect conduit to showcase our brewing team’s creativity.”

We’ve had success with their interpretation of fruit beers, including the likes of Cerise, Rubaeus and Blushing Monk. But Mango Magnifico is one-of-a-kind.

Mango Magnifico will be released in limited quantities across our distribution footprint beginning on Monday, August 5, and will be available at the brewery’s taproom the week prior. We expect to release one more Backstage Series beer in 2013.

The post Mango Magnifico Is Our Summer 2013 Backstage Series Release appeared first on Founders Brewing Co..

Thanks to our very own Kevin Cole for capturing this!

Also, be sure to check out The Beer Truck’s photos from the evening.

The post Cheers to Beer City USA! appeared first on Founders Brewing Co..

Announcing the beer that won the vote for the Pure Michigan contest that we closed out at the beginning of this month: Vanilla Stout! Thanks to the over 1,200 of you that voted for your choice! Vanilla Stout was in a close race with Apple Ale at the end and only won by a handful of votes.

Our brewmaster Jeremy Kosmicki is working on formulating the recipe, and it will be on tap only in our taproom throughout the month of July to celebrate Michigan Craft Beer Month. We hope to see you here in Grand Rapids this summer to try this one-of-a-kind beer—be sure to look for Pure Michigan Vanilla Stout on our chalkboard.

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Grand Rapids Whitewater (GRWW) is a project that is near and dear to our hearts that is looking to restore the Rapids to the Grand (River). We’ve kept you up-to-date on the project’s progress and have donated proceeds from special release tickets sold for our on-site releases to the cause. This is a project that will create neighborhoods, that will bring businesses and people downtown, and that will connect the city of Grand Rapids around the Grand River, which is why this city was founded in the first place. As GRWW co-founder Chris Muller says, “When someone says, ‘Grand Rapids…but where are the rapids?’ I’d love to point at something.” We would, too, and that’s why our co-founders and business partners have been behind this cause from day 1, donating the seed money to get the program off the ground.

The federal announcement in support of this project took place at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, May 10, at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids. In attendance were the chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the acting administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow and officials from the U.S. departments of Interior and Agriculture(see photo above).

The 11 new project locations are:

• Big River and Meramec Watersheds in St. Louis, Mo
• Delaware River Basin (Cooper River) that covers Philadelphia, Camden, N.J., Chester, Pa., and Wilmington, Del.
• Grand River in Grand Rapids, Mich.
• Green-Duwamish River in Seattle
• Mystic River Watershed in Greater Boston
• Martin Pena Canal in San Juan, P.R.
• Middle Blue River in Kansas City, Mo.
• Middle Rio Grande in Albuquerque, N.M.
• Passaic River in Passaic, N.J.
• Proctor Creek Watershed in Atlanta
• Western Lake Erie Basin in Toledo, Ohio

Check out this announcement in the Wall Street Journal for more information.

And here’s an artist’s rendering of what the Grand River will look like with the rapids restored:

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It was announced today that our hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan, won the vote again for Beer City USA, and this time Grand Rapids won it outright. We shared the title with Asheville, North Carolina, last year.

Our fellow Michigan cities Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor also made the top ten list this year.

Thanks to everyone who voted in the Beer City USA poll, and we hope to see you out (and online) celebrating craft beer this week!

The post Grand Rapids is Beer City USA 2013 appeared first on Founders Brewing Co..

Our hometown of Grand Rapids, MI, shared the title with Asheville, NC, last year, a city that had held the title for three years running before we tied with them.

Vote here: https://polldaddy.com/poll/7078031/.

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Head over to the Pure Michigan blog to vote for a Pure Michigan beer that we’ll pour in our taproom during the month of July to celebrate Michigan Craft Beer Month. Now through Friday, May 3, you can vote on the beer style that you want to see available in our taproom: Vanilla Stout, Apple Ale or Wheat IPA. We haven’t brewed these beers before, and we’ll be ordering ingredients and brewing based on what all of you choose. Vote here!

The post Help Us Choose a Pure Michigan Beer Style for the Taproom in July appeared first on Founders Brewing Co..

Videographer: Kevin “The Scientist” Cole

Music by Jason Heystek, Founders Brewing Co.’s Head Cellar Operator

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