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Celebrating National S’mores Day with Short’s Brewing S’more Stout

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There’s no wrong way to celebrate National S’mores Day, but there might be a best way — and it involves a beer that was built to taste like the treat itself. Short’s Brewing Company out of Bellaire, Michigan, has been perfecting its S’more Stout since 2008, brewing it with graham cracker, chocolate, marshmallow, and smoked malt so that every sip hits the same notes as the real thing: sweet marshmallow cream, milk chocolate, and a lingering whisper of campfire smoke. Legend has it the beer was a joint effort between Short’s founders, and nobody can quite agree who gets the credit — but everyone agrees it’s one of the brewery’s most beloved stouts.

So here’s the move for August 10th: build a proper s’more — toasted marshmallow, a square of milk chocolate, two graham crackers, the works — and pour a S’more Stout right alongside it. If you really want to do it right, do what Short’s does at the pub and top your glass with a marshmallow set on fire with a match. It sounds like a party trick, but that flash of caramelized sugar and smoke is exactly what makes the beer sing. Between the actual dessert and the beer that mimics it, you get a double dose of campfire nostalgia without needing to build an actual fire.

What makes this stout a legend in the s’mores-beer category isn’t just the flavor — it’s the origin story. Short’s first attempted the recipe back in 2008, and it was one of the most challenging beers they’d ever brewed — tracking down five-gallon buckets of marshmallow fluff and 20-pound bars of milk chocolate isn’t exactly standard brewery shopping. A year later they dialed in the smoked malt for that extra campfire kick, and a beer that started as a pub inside joke turned into one of Short’s most popular stouts ever made. Drink it fireside in the fall, or just close your eyes and pretend — either way, don’t skip the flaming marshmallow. Short’s really means it.

Address: 121 N. Bridge St, Bellaire, MI 49615
Website: https://www.shortsbrewing.com/beers/smore-stout/

Imperial Stout Day – May 17th – Raise a Toast to Bert Grant

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Imperial Stout Day

The Birth of Imperial Stout Day – May 17th
May 17th was always a special day for craft beer pioneer Bert Grant. Born on May 17, 1928, he would grow up to become one of the most influential figures in American brewing history. But it wasn’t just his birthdate that would come to mean something to beer lovers—it was what he gave to them decades later.

In the early 1980s, when most Americans thought beer came in one color and one flavor, Bert Grant dared to do something different. From his Yakima, Washington brewpub—the first in the country since Prohibition—he brewed a beer that was bold, black, and unapologetically rich: the first American-made Imperial Stout.

In 1984, at the Great American Beer Festival, Bert tapped his Imperial Stout creation to curious crowds. It was dark as midnight and thick with roasted malt and warming alcohol—more akin to sipping whiskey than the fizzy lagers people knew. Some were stunned. Others converted on the spot. Craft beer had found a new icon.

To honor Bert Grant’s legacy, and to celebrate the style he fearlessly introduced to American palates, we now raise a glass every May 17th—the day of his birth—as Imperial Stout Day.

A day for rich pours, long finishes, and bold dreams.

Cheers, Bert. You changed everything.

Bert Grant (1928–2001): Pioneer of American Craft Brewing

Herbert Lewis “Bert” Grant was a trailblazer in American craft beer, widely recognized for revolutionizing the industry with bold, hop-forward styles and for opening the first modern brewpub in the United States.

Born on May 17, 1928, in Dundee, Scotland, Grant immigrated to Canada at a young age and began working in the brewing industry as a teenager. His career took him through major brewing companies in Canada and the U.S., including Carling and Stroh’s. In 1967, he moved to Yakima, Washington, where he worked for hop supplier S.S. Steiner and helped develop the country’s first hop pelletizing machine—advancing hop utilization across the industry.
Bert Grant (1928–2001): Pioneer of American Craft Brewing
In 1982, at age 54, Grant founded Yakima Brewing & Malting Co., also known as Grant’s Brewery Pub, in an old opera house in Yakima. It was the first brewpub in the U.S. since Prohibition. From that humble but historic location, he brewed the first American-brewed India Pale Ale (IPA)—a bold, hop-forward beer that helped ignite a revolution in American craft brewing.

In addition to pioneering the IPA, Grant also brewed the first Russian Imperial Stout in the United States, a robust and intense style that would become a staple among American craft brewers. His imperial stout made its public debut at the 1984 Great American Beer Festival, where it introduced U.S. beer drinkers to the deep flavors and high alcohol content characteristic of the style.

Known for his larger-than-life personality, Grant was a passionate promoter of hops—famously carrying hop oil to dose bland lagers—and a fierce advocate for flavor in beer. At his pub, he was often seen wearing a Scottish kilt, and he once enforced a no-smoking rule by brandishing a claymore sword.

Grant sold his brewery in 1995 but remained an influential figure in the craft beer world until his death in 2001. His legacy lives on in every hop-forward beer served in America, and he is remembered as one of the true fathers of the American craft brewing movement.

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