In celebration of the skill and variety of Kalamazoo-area craft beer, we are launching the Kalamazoo Beer Cup.

It is a series of showcase events where between six different breweries from the Kalamazoo area will be selected to share their take on a craft beer style.

Guests purchase tickets to the event and receive a flight of beer and access to an appetizer buffet. Attendees will not know the participating breweries or the beers provided. They will then score their favorite beers in the flight. The top-scoring brewery will receive the Kalamazoo Beer Cup, a trophy handmade by Kalamazoo blacksmith, Jon Reeves, of Combat Ready Art.

The Kalamazoo Beer Cup will kick off the series for Kalamazoo Beer Week featuring local porters. These are some of the more popular and unique approaches to porters in Kalamazoo. The flight may include porters with hints of vanilla, peanut butter, coconut, coffee and more. Or they may just be straight-forward porters.

It will be held from 6-8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18, 2019 at Old Burdick’s Bar & Grill inside the Radisson Plaza Hotel in downtown Kalamazoo.

Tickets are $29 and includes the style flight and appetizer buffet.