Here we go again!
This town's plenty big enough for all of us.
It’s been busy around here lately and a large part of that is the new Grand River Brewery location opening in downtown Brighton, MI. On top of keeping up with an already packed production schedule and the regular foot work required to keep a brewery running, we’ve also been working on the new taproom on and off site. This includes build out, new employee education, advertising, and a host of other tasks.
Grand River’s aggressive expansion (yes, we admit it) has been in the works for a long time now. We started the process back in 2018 when our Marshall taproom opened its doors with more locations slated to follow. Then the pandemic hit. It took a long time for the service industry to get back on its feet and a lot of our plans were waylaid until restaurant culture and company finances got back on track. The process again late last year (2023) with the opening of our taproom in Clawson, one of the many suburbs of Detroit. The Clawson branch of Grand River Brewery was well recieved and we were invigorated. Onward and upward.
Opening Brighton has been a little slower than Clawson was. Our new building, located in an excellent spot downtown, needed quite of bit of TLC and a significant facelift. The interior had been fine for a barbecue joint but was lacking the requisite personality needed for a brewery. Brewing equipment had to be moved in which was a painful process for our arms and backs as it needed to be carried down a full flight of stairs. After months of hard work, we’re projected to be up and running within two weeks of the release of this newsletter, although, I would say four weeks is a little more on the realistic side.
The people of Brighton have made us feel right at home despite the wait. Wyatt and I have been asked about the new taproom frequently and enthusiatically during recent beerfests. As hard as the work has been the last couple of months, the anticipation for another spot for the people of Brighton to gather for a cold drink has left me feeling invigorated for the industry. Public interest is still there and the old public house tradition left to us by the puritans from new england shoreline is as strong as ever.
So if you’re in Jackson, Marshall, Clawson, or Brighton; stop by. I can’t wait to share a pint with you. And make sure to stop at as many of the other kick ass local breweries as your tolerance will allow. They’re all fantastic!
-Cheers!
Brewery Spotlight: North Channel Brewing.
Located at the edge of downtown Manistee this brewery offers an ideal spot to stop for a pint at the end of a day of fishing. Make it better by grabbing a pint to go in a social district cup to sip on while exploring a beautiful and historic downtown. If you’re lucky, you may even get to see the bridge raise to allow a ship through.
For transparencies sake, North Channel is somewhat of a sister company to Grand River. We have been consulting for them for some time and have developed a fantastic relationship with their head brewer, Kevin. It seemed appropriate to roll out the brewery spotlight section of this newsletter with them.
Congrats on the new location!!!