Below is a look at Bell’s events this week in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Florida and Pennsylvania.

Michigan

August 20

Bell’s Beer Tasting
Amber, Third Coast and Oarsman will be available at Big Ten Store location in East Lansing tonight as part of Lansing Beer Week.

August 22

Buckets of Bell's
The Wine Loft in Kalamazoo will host their final Mixer on the Mall after party at 7 p.m.

Charity Beer Tasting
The proceeds for this event at Uptown Grille in Commerce Township will go to Share A Smile, a Michigan based charity. Ticket includes beer samples from 10 Michigan breweries (we will be pouring The Oracle, Oberon, Two Hearted and Amber), a beer glass and great food from Uptown Grille starting at 6 p.m.

August 23

Tap Explosion
Treetops Resort in Gaylord will feature Oberon, Oarsman, Smoked Vienna Lager and Black Note from 6-9 p.m.

August 25

4^th Annual Traverse City Summer Microbrew & Music Festival
Join us at The Village at Grand Traverse Commons for live music, great beer and local food from 4-10 p.m.

Indiana

August 21

Trivia Night
Sahm's Place in Indianapolis will have a great selection of Bell’s beers on tap plus trivia and prizes.

August 24

Multi-tap Event
Beer Geeks in Highland will feature 8 Bell’s beers including Roundhouse IRA, Le Batteur, Wedding Ale, Oracle and Black Note starting at 7 p.m.

Ohio

August 25

AleFest Dayton
We will be pouring Oberon, Amber and Two Hearted from 2-5 p.m.

Kentucky

August 25

Brew at The Zoo
Spend the evening touring The Louisville Zoo while sampling some great beer including Amber, Oberon and Two Hearted.

Florida

August 25

Shroomstock
Ten different breweries, including Bell’s, will be represented from 5 p.m. - midnight at Mellow Mushroom in Orlando.

Pennsylvania

August 25

Bell's Fish Fry
JG Domestic in Philadelphia will host a dinner featuring house-made dried pork sausage, Lake Michigan perch, blueberry pie with lemon meringue ice cream and more – not to mention Oberon, The Oracle DIPA, Two Hearted and others as well. Call 215-985-2106 for more information.

Looking ahead

Join us for a Roundhouse tapping in Ann Arbor, Lexington Fest of Ales and more. Check out our full calendar here.

UPDATE: Check out the Frequently Asked Questions and Answers post about the competition on our Homebrewing Blog.

The date for the 3^rd Annual Bell’s Homebrew Competition Kick-Off is set for Sept. 8 at the Eccentric Cafe.

The winner will get the chance to brew their beer at our original (and still brewing) brewery in downtown Kalamazoo to be served on tap at the Café.

Back in July, we tapped A Bit of Heat, the winning entry that was submitted for last year’s competition by Geoff Groff. That beer was brewed with paradise seeds, rose hips and habaneros. Two years ago, Oscar’s Folly, a collaborative IPA from Jarrett Cupp, Bailey Cupp and Paul Gentz took first prize.

The only restriction or style guideline for this competition is that you use our wort, which we provide for free.

Sign-up times for wort pickup will begin at 11 a.m. Wort will be distributed starting at 1 p.m. Homebrewers should bring a sanitized vessel with them to transport their wort home. Make sure to get there early, as supplies will be limited.

This event also coincides with our 27^th Anniversary Celebration, Homebrew Expo and 6^th Annual Hot Dog Eating Contest - more details to come on those soon.

Deadline to enter is 9 p.m. Oct. 26.

Cheers and good luck!

Download the complete rules and details here.

Still have questions? Send us an email.

COMSTOCK – Bell’s Octoberfest Beer will only be available on draft for 2012.

Kegs are scheduled to start shipping this week (August 13).

The absence of bottles this year relates to two inflexible, yet very important factors – the fermentation process required to produce this lager style seasonal, but also the construction and transition into our new 200-barrel brewhouse in Comstock, Michigan.

Octoberfest spends a full six weeks maturing in our fermentation vessels compared to just a few weeks for many of our other brands.

This combined with a year-long construction process and a longer than anticipated transition into our new brewhouse, meant that we were unable to devote the necessary fermentation space required to meet the demand for this beer in both six-packs and on draft.

Kegs were chosen so that we could share as much of this beer with as many of our fans as possible.

We apologize and regret any inconvenience this decision may cause our fans.