USA, MI: Rockford Brewing Co. to open in Rockford by Thanksgiving Day

The new Rockford Brewing Co. opening in Rockford represents a unique partnership between three entrepreneurs, who, at different points, each were separately eyeing the city on the Rogue River for a brewery, mlive.com reported on November, 5.

Jeff Sheehan, Seth Rivard and Brien Dews will open the doors this month to West Michigan’s latest brewery project.

The brewpub aims to be the “flavor of Rockford,” and the company will show off its beers for the first time with a pre-Thanksgiving pub crawl on November, 21.

The three partners started brewing beer in October and have been busy in recent weeks putting the finishing touches on the brewery.

“We had to do some major modifications to get the equipment on the main floor,” said Rivard.

The brewpub will pour beers from a 7-barrel system bolstered by two 7-barrel fermenters and two 14-barrel fermenters. The brewhouse includes stubs for several more bright tanks in the basement based on future expansion needs. Current annual capacity is about 1,000 barrels per year.

Distribution is not out of the question, but the three partners are quick to say that the immediate Rockford area is their primary concern. They are working the area watering holes to get RBC beer on tap in as many outlets as they can, and are hoping to set up beer dinners and other brewery events.

Initial beer styles will be ales, but Sheehan said they are hoping to integrate lagers into the beer line-up.

“It’s hard to pinpoint one style or genre of beer,” he said. “We’re all kind of excited about the different categories and experimentation opportunities.”

They want to see what the community embraces before they settle on a flagship line-up, said Rivard. “We always want to have something different and new for people to try.”

07 November, 2012