Beer City USA: how Grand Rapids became a craft-beer capital

Grand Rapids likes to call itself “Beer City USA” — and it has the votes to back it up. The title comes from a national online poll once run by famous beer expert Charlie Papazian. In 2012, Grand Rapids tied with Asheville, North Carolina, for the top spot; in 2013, it won outright in a landslide. (Papazian ended the poll after that, which left Grand Rapids as the reigning champ.) How did a mid-sized Michigan city pull that off? A lot of the credit goes to Founders Brewing Co., started in 1997 by two friends who nearly went broke before their bold, big-flavored beers caught on — today it’s one of the most successful craft breweries in the country. Founders helped spark a whole scene: the Grand Rapids area now has dozens of breweries (more than 40 in the city and over 50 across the wider region), and the city built a “Beer City Ale Trail” and a brewery “passport” to help visitors explore them. Beer-lovers from all over now plan trips around it. (For the record, “Beer City USA” was a fun fan vote, not an official ranking — but the beer is real.)