E-Malt.com News article: USA, MI: Grand Rapids Brewing Co. aims to be Michigan's first organic brewery

Mark Sellers, the new owner of Grand Rapids Brewing Co., has pledged to use only organic grains and other organic ingredients to make beer for the new brewpub this summer, Mlive.com reported on May, 21.

The decision will make the GRBC the state’s only organic brewery, says Mark Sellers, owner of Stella’s Lounge, HopCat and The Viceroy under Barfly Ventures LLC.

"Sourcing organic hops, malt, and grain is very challenging. There aren’t many to go around, and we had to do a lot of legwork to line up suppliers and farms who could sell us organic ingredients in the quantities we require," said Sellers.

"We're taking the obligation that comes with calling GRBC an organic brewery very seriously."

Brewmasters Stu Crittenden and Jake Brenner have been busy lately researching products grown without the use of pesticides and other chemicals. Brenner has been brewing at HopCat for the last two years. Crittenden has past stints at Michigan Brewing Co. in Webberville and the former GRBC, which closed last year before being acquired by Sellers.

The brewery will apply for certification as all-organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture before or shortly after opening. GRBC would follow in the footsteps of Leopold Bros., a sustainable brewery which relocated from Ann Arbor to Colorado in 2008.

The organic philosophy will carry over to the food menu. Items offered will be cooked using many all-natural, organic and locally-sourced ingredients, said Sellers. Like the other BarFly establishments downtown, GRBC will implement an extensive recycling, composting and sustainability program.

The beer menu will feature eight to 10 house-made brews, including a new formulation of Silver Foam, the popular pilsner-style brew that the original GRBC distributed through the Midwest.

Construction is underway on the new brewpub, which will utilize three sides of the old Hawkins wholesale grocery building as an anchor tenant to a redevelopment underway to functionally combine two buildings into one mixed-use complex.

The GRBC will occupy 10,000-square-feet of space formerly housing My Bar & Grill and Perception fine art & framing gallery. Sellers is investing $1.5 mln into the renovation. The restaurant will be able to accommodate 450 customers on the ground floor plus a special event space in the basement.


23 May, 2012