E-Malt.com News article: USA, MI: Kid Rock's beer no longer to be made by Webberville-based Michigan Brewing

Kid Rock's beer company, American Badass Beer, will no longer be made by Webberville-based Michigan Brewing, the singer's camp announced on June, 8.

A bank foreclosed on the brewing company's headquarters in the spring, and distributors are already getting antsy.

Michigan Brewing had been awarded more than $720,000 in state tax credits, but Michigan Economic Development Corp. spokesman Mike Shore said the company never collected on it.

Company owner Bobby Mason could not be reached for comment last week.

American Badass hasn't said who will replace the Ingham County brewer.

"Despite trying to help stave off their eviction, and waiting as long as possible to find a solution that could work for all, Badass Beer will be moving its relationship to a new Michigan-based contract brewer," the company said in a statement titled "Regrettably" and posted on its website. "We are hoping to start production of Badass again before the end of the year, and are exceptionally grateful for the support of our distributors, retailers and consumers during this transition."

Dan Bryant, marketing director for Orion Township-based Powers Distributing, said his company, which carries Kid Rock's and other beers by the Michigan Brewing, said he has about a two-week supply of American Badass.

If he runs out?

"Then, I start to get nervous," Bryant said. "If I can't get his Michigan brand, I have to replace his brand with other Michigan brands."

Upon hearing that American Badass is pulling its business from Webberville, Sandy Gower, the Ingham County Economic Development Corp.'s economic development coordinator, said, "It's always sad to see a business break up and hopefully, they'll stay with a Michigan brewer."

In April, the City of Fenton terminated its agreement with Michigan Brewing to redevelop the old fire hall in the city's downtown into a brewpub. The $400,000 deal, made in the beginning of 2011, would have covered construction costs. However, the municipality never paid it out because construction never began, assistant city manager Mike Burns said.

Thanks to its association with a homegrown celebrity, the brewer also had big plans in Webberville.

According to the MEDC's 2009 news release announcing the seven-year tax-credit deal, which helped win the project for Michigan over competing sites in Minnesota and Pennsylvania, the company planned to invest $7 million in the project, which was expected to create 394 Michigan jobs, including 161 directly by the company.

American Badass Beer, which takes its name from the Michigan-born rocker's 2000 song "American Bad Ass," debuted at a 2009 Kid Rock concert at Comerica Park.

"I'm American, that's what I like to drink, and from looking around the parking lot before my shows, I know that's what my fans drink," Kid Rock said when it was unveiled.

13 June, 2012