MARQUETTE — The drinks will be flowing in Marquette’s Mattson Lower Harbor Park next weekend during the second annual Spring Fermentation Celebration.

“It’s a fermentation celebration, not just a beer fest, so it showcases all fermented beverages,” said David Gill, president of the Marquette Home Brewers Club, organizing sponsor of the event.

Fifteen Michigan producers will offer a variety of beverages including beer, wine, cider, mead and kombucha, a fermented tea.

The event will take place from 2 to 8 p.m. Saturday, June 3. Tickets are on sale now, but are limited to 1,000. Revenue generated from the event will be donated to local organizations, GIll said.

“Everything has to be Michigan made, so we focus on (Upper Peninsula) vendors, but of course we have also invited some lower Michigan vendors up,” Gill said.

The producers include Bell’s Brewery, Beards Brewery, Blackrocks Brewery, Cognition Brewing Company, Ore Dock Brewing Co., Upper Hand Brewery, Short’s Brewing Company, Cheboygan Brewing Company, Petoskey Brewing Company, Right Brain Brewery, Threefold Vine Winery, Mackinaw Trail Winery, Starcut Ciders, Algomah Acres Meadery and Superior Culture Kombucha.

Also on tap for the event will be six unique homemade brews, crafted by members of the Marquette Home Brewers Club in collaboration with Cognition’s brewmaster Brian Richards.

“I can invite you over to my house for a beer, or I can bring beer to your place, but I can’t (legally) serve my beer at a festival, except if I brew it in collaboration with a licensed brewer,” Gill explained.

Gill made a rye IPA fermented with fresh pineapple and dried pineapple soaked in rye whiskey, which he called Rye-napple IPA.

“It gives it kind of a unique spicy flavor that the pineapple goes really well with,” he said.

Crafted with the fictional British spy James Bond in mind, club member Chris Katona created two pale ales called The Man With The Golden Hops and Hoptopussy.

Brent Daley’s Honey Maple Pumpkin Ale is a brown ale featuring the flavors of pumpkin and pumpkin pie spices alongside the smoothness of honey and maple syrup.

The Fire Yontengu was brewed by Sean Rooney, and is described as a cherrywood smoked lager, while Chris Thompson’s brew, Black Sphere Eternal, is an imperial porter with turbinado sugar, cinnamon and coconut.

“This is a totally unique festival as far as we know, in that it showcases not only beer, but also Michigan-made wine, cider, mead and kombucha, as well as the opportunity to sample the … beers made by home brewers,” Gill said.

The inaugural event last year drew about 500 people, including volunteers, Gill said, adding that the lower-than-anticipated attendance was likely due to poor weather conditions.

“It was torrential downpour all day long,” he said. “We were all dressed in rain gear, but we were still drenched to the bone.”

Gill said the event will have double the tent space it did last year, and that the celebration will still take place rain or shine.

Local food options will be offered by Superior Mobile Koney, Senors Food Truck and Copper Crust Co., while live music will provided by the Amnesians and The East Side Ramblers.

Tickets are $35 in advance and are still available for purchase at springferment.com. Tickets may also be available at Down Wind Sports and the Ore Dock Brewing Co. in Marquette, as well as Cognition Brewing Company and Jasper Ridge Brewery in Ishpeming. Any remaining tickets can be purchased at the door for $40.

For more information, visit springferment.com.

Ryan Jarvi can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 270. His email address is rjarvi@miningjournal.net.