GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A South Haven brewery has made it to one of the final rounds in a competition that aims to crown the best brewery in the U.S.
Three Blondes Brewing from South Haven will face off against a Wisconsin brewery in the final round of the Midwest bracket of March Brewsanity. It already beat out 252 breweries in Michigan.
“We couldn’t believe it, we were shocked. We have awesome supporters, obviously, that’s how we made it to the end,” said Amanda Johnson, another sister and founder.
The competition is hosted by craft beverage marketing company Hop Passport, which aims to get people to visit breweries across the U.S. by giving out coupon book “passports.”
“We started as one of 252 (Michigan breweries) and kept asking our supporters and fans to vote for us, and we advanced all the way to the finals in Michigan against Founders,” said Carrie Troyer, one of three sisters and their husbands who founded Three Blondes.
If Three Blondes beats Wisconsin, it will advance to the Final Four, where it has the chance to face off against breweries from the Northeast, Southeast and West U.S.
Each round lasts two days, so people have until noon Monday to vote for either South Haven’s Three Blondes or Wisconsin’s Sawmill Brewing. The winner of March Brewsanity gets to donate $1,000 to a charity of their choice, along with an award ceremony and a trophy.
“I know there’s a lot of beer drinkers in Michigan and hopefully they will help vote for us to advance us to beat Wisconsin,” Troyer said. “That’s our ultimate goal, is really, to get that $1,000 to donate to charity right here in South Haven.”
“We love giving back to our community and being able to give another $1,000 out would be amazing. Happy to do that. And have the title,” Johnson added with a smile.
For more information and to cast your vote, visit the Hop Passport website.
Correction: A previous version of this article misspelled Troyer’s last name. We regret the error, which has since been corrected.