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Big Hart Brewing wins 4 medals at World Expo of Beer By Claire Marshall some of the Midwest’s The Oceana Echo Community Correspondent Big Hart Brewing Company is fresh from winning four medals for four separate beers at the renowned World Expo of Beer competition in Frankenmuth, Michigan - two bronze, one silver and one gold. Excited to share their wins and their craft beer with the community, Master Brewer Nick Grenham and Manager Phil Thomson explained the process of entering the competition and discussed the winning products. Grenham and Thomson have been with Big Hart Brewing for many years, Thomson offering guidance on the creation of the brewery back before its opening in 2016, and Grenham offering his services as a guest brewer in 2017 before transitioning to the master brewer position. Both brewer and manager want to get the word out to Oceana County about the jewel of craft beer in their community, which competes on the national level with
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Big Hart’s Wall of Awards
hardest hitters. The World Expo of Beer holds the title of Michigan’s oldest beer sampling event. The event itself consists of two parts: the competition and the sampling exposition. The judging happens a month before the expo, so when the competing breweries set up their tables in Frankenmuth’s Henry Kern Heritage Park, medals have already been awarded and are displayed alongside the beer. Attendees can peruse the festival and make efforts to sample the award winners of the season. The judges for the World Expo of Beer are seasoned professionals who’ve completed rigorous certification, which allows them to then properly judge craft beer. While many competing breweries are located in the Midwest, the World Expo has significant international acclaim as well, with breweries from Canada, Ireland and Germany competing. Scrolling through past competitors will turn up the names of famous brands; both well-known stateside, such as Bell’s and Samuel Adams, and old-world Europeans, such as Paulaner, Hofbrau and Guinness. For our local brewery to stand up against such powerhouses and receive high notoriety is certainly something to brag about. The competition is broken up into 43 categories based on types of
Master Brewer Nick Grenham beer, as well as awards given for “Best of Show.” Big Hart Brewing won hardware in the following: two bronze were awarded to “5 O’Clock Whistle” and “Test Hill” in the categories of American IPA and Strong American, respectively; “Amber Waves” won silver for American Amber and Brown; and a prestigious gold medal was awarded to “Haulin’ Oats” for the best American Porter and Stout. The two bronze medalists are longstanding Big Hart favorites, and “Test Hill” won gold in the same category at the World Expo in 2022. Not only are “Amber Waves” and “Haulin’ Oats” firsttime competitors, but are brand new additions to the menu this year. Big Hart Brewing has been competing at the World Expo of Beer since 2018 (no competition was held in 2020 due to the pandemic), and from the looks of the 26 medals on the brewery’s wall, they typically don’t return home empty-handed. When asked why the brewery frequents this competition, Thomson explains that it’s really a matter of being cost-effective. The competition
deals were introduced. At the inception of Big Hart Brewing, the intent was to always provide a wide range of beers on tap, resisting the urge to pigeonhole themselves into a specialty. Despite not offering the usual domestics, Big Hart Brewing has confidence that within a couple of samples, they can find something to match their customers’ beer preferences, whether they are a craft brewing enthusiast or not. As Grenham and Thomson approach the busy summer months, preparations are already underway for the summer tap selection. In many ways, craft beer is a living product, and work for the menu of one season typically begins a month in advance. Once the summer rush has mellowed into a steady stream, then prep begins for the darker, autumnal beers and apple cider. For Thomson, going into the summer months is quite a lot like shifting into “survival mode,” trivia nights momentarily abandoned to accommodate the influx of tourists coming in from Silver Lake, and finding enough seasonal staff to keep the machine well-oiled. Make no mistake, though, that come next spring, Big Hart Brewing will be back at the World Expo of Beer, ready to share long-time favorites and new recipes alike and, undoubtedly, add some new medals to the brewery’s wall.
Pentwater Village resolves to meet twice a month By AnnaMae Bush The Oceana Echo Community Correspondent
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takes place closer by far than other brewing competitions, meaning the cost of transporting the beer is significantly lower, especially when considering the price for simply keeping competing samples in the freshest conditions possible. Another considerable factor is that the only entry fee for the expo is just for a table, meaning competitors can submit as many or as few beers as they like rather than the typical practice of paying per submission. Also, as the competition is held in tandem with a sampling exposition, where visitors can check out winning beers, there is a significant marketing aspect already built in. Grenham and Thomson are strategic about what they submit, first examining the categories and determining which beers best represent which category, or even multiple categories. They also consider the amount of beers that are historically submitted into the categories, IPAs being among the more popular. A competition against 11 is easier won than one against 50. That being said, if Grenham and Thomson are confi-
dent in a product, they won’t shy away from submitting it in a more saturated category, as shown by “5 O’Clock Whistle” winning third out of 36 entries, which is nothing to sniff at. Big Hart Brewing has also entered other national beer festivals - the Great American Beer Festival and the National Brewers Association being the largest in the country - and won a silver medal at the 2018 U.S. Open Beer Championships, but considering the relative ease and reasonable expense of a competition with just as much notoriety, we can expect Big Hart to continue their relationship with World Expo for years to come. Oceana County residents truly have a high-quality craft brewery in their corner of the world, one that has been a mainstay since opening in 2016. After almost 10 years, the brewery has been through some evolution. Back when it first opened, it was intended to be a finer dining experience, and while there are still fine dining elements such as soups and sauces made in-house and special dinner items of steaks and salmon - the focus quickly turned to making high-quality burgers and sandwiches, which better fit the appetites of the community. To keep the locals coming back even in the winter months, special events like trivia and DJ bingo nights paired with $6 sandwich
The first item on the agenda for the Pentwater Village Council at its May 12 meeting was a Pentwater Proclamation for National Firefighters Remembrance read by Village President Mary Marshall. The proclamation was written in honor of Pentwater Firefighter Everett Parnell, Captain John Sayles and Captain Paul Smith, who all lost their lives in the line of duty, serving the citizens of Pentwater. The remembrance is to be observed every year on the first Sunday in May, and Village Manager Rachel Witherspoon said the village flag will be flown at half-mast on that day. The proclamation was given unanimous approval by council members Dave Bluhm, Jared Griffis, Dan Nugent, Don Palmer and Kathy O’Connor, who were present in person, and council member Karl Schrumpf was present via Zoom. Pentwater Township Library President
Valerie McHugh made a presentation to the council about the advantages for the library to become a district library. She reported that the Pentwater School District and Pentwater Township have agreed to work with the library to determine library district boundaries and how the board member selection would work. The seven-member board would include three persons from the township and four persons from the school district (which includes part of Weare Township). The board is looking for long-term financial stability, and a district library can put a millage proposal on a ballot without having to ask the township to do it. No action was taken on the library board’s request to remove the “reverter clause” from a document made when the library was originally built on land (valued at $17,000) sold to them by the village for $1. In other business, the council agreed to a resolution to meet twice a month instead of once a month. Meetings will be held on the second and fourth Mondays of the month, with possible exceptions for November 24 and De-
cember 22, 2025. The fee was also set for meters for the new water line. The cost of the meter is $417, and the installation fee is $100, so the total cost is $517 per meter. Meters can be installed outside the home or inside the home. If a meter freezes, it is the responsibility of the homeowner to repair or replace it. Council member Bluhm suggested there be some education for residents about when and how to turn off meters. There was a short discussion on channel dredging. Originally the council voted to provide $40,000 if the dredging could be completed by Memorial Day. A suggestion was made to remove that Memorial Day deadline. The Army Corps of Engineers said their dredging of recreational harbors didn’t happen until September or October. That would have no value for Pentwater in the summer of 2025. The council advised the manager they would like the work to be completed by June 30. If that cannot be done, the money from the village could be banked for future use.