St. Cloud - Beer and lots of it. That’s what you could find Saturday during The St. Cloud Craft Beer Tour at Rivers Edge Convention Center in St. Cloud.

The event featured over 80 different breweries offering around 230 types of beer choices. Breweries came from all over the country to be a part of the tour. Anything from Kona Brewing in Hawaii to local standouts like Beaver Island Brewing and Cloudy Town Brewers could be found.

“Were very proud of St. Cloud, proud of Central Minnesota, and very proud of  what Christian has created here. This is year number five (of the St. Cloud Craft Beer Tour) and were expecting around 3500 people here today”.says Nick Barth Co founder of Beaver Island Brewing.

Though many came for the traditional IPAs, pilsners, and lagers some came to try the hard ciders. Hard cider gained popularity for people with dietary constraints but has caught on with main stream beer drinkers recently.

Debbie Morrison, owner of Yellow Belly Cider, says that people in Minnesota are really loving ciders.

“We most definitely see an increase over all in the love of Cider, especially in Minnesota. Debbie's family owns Sapsucker Farms in Mora and have a retailers in the St. Cloud area. Debbie and Yellow Belly Cider won the peoples choice award last year at the St. Cloud Craft Beer Tour.

The event also featured a home brew contest, a peoples choice award for best brewery and best beer, and a VIP hour before general admission.

If you missed this years beer tour mark your calendars for next year. The St. Cloud Beer Tour will be back  on January 28th, 2018.

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