E-Malt.com News article: USA, MI: Elk Street Brewery and Tap Room in Sandusky tells its success story

The story of Elk Street Brewery and Tap Room in Sandusky, MI dates back to 1984, Port Huron Times Herald reported on March 1.

In 1984 Ron and Anne Hasenbusch, of Port Sanilac, were young college students at Western Michigan University – they had just started dating.

Anne bought Ron a home brewing kit for Christmas. Little did she know she was creating a brewing monster – or master.

"It started with the home brew kit in the kitchen. Then it expanded to the basement, then the shed, then he needed a new garage built – but we couldn't park our cars in it, it was just for him to brew in, then he needed to run eight lines into our house for taps," Anne said. "It just kept getting bigger until we finally said 'either we follow our dream now or we never will.'"

Elk Street Brewery opened on Nov.28 – exactly 30 years after the couple's first date.

"That was just a coincidence. I didn't remember the date, she did," Ron Hasenbusch said.

They purchased the building at 3 South Elk St. in downtown Sandsuky in July 2013. Previously the building cycled through a grocery store, archery range, barber supply shop and most recently a phone kiosk store.

They renovated the whole building, leaving only the original wood floors, tin ceiling, railings and brick wall.

The opening of the brewery piggy backs on the emergence of the micro-brewery industry in the Blue Water Area.

ThumbCoast Brewing Company opened in spring 2014 in downtown Port Huron, followed by American Patriot Hops, a hops farm in Smiths Creek, which opened for distribution in fall 2014.

New breweries in Marysville and St. Clair are slated to open within the next year.

In Michigan, more than 160 breweries can be found.

As for commercial hops farms, nearly 400 acres of hops farms were counted in 2014, up from 250 acres in the previous year, said Rob Sirrine, Michigan State University Extension community food systems educator.

The Hasenbusch's are following the hops farm trail as well.

All the beer brewed in their tap room is produced from hops grown on their hop farm in Port Sanilac, Barkshanty Hops, LLC.

They began farming five years ago.

"We have 3,000 hops plants on our farm," Anne Hasenbusch said. "There is a farmer to the south of us farming hops too and I think soon we will see quite a few smaller farms start to expand in this area as well. This isn't about being competitive, but about creating a trail of breweries and farms to attract agritourists. "

She would eventually like to see the area have a hops processing center, hops farm tours and micro-brewery tours.

Elk Street Brewery currently has eight different ales on tap. The brewery has no food menu, but customers are allowed to bring their own food in to eat.

The Hasenbuschs also created a signature drink called the Sparkling Elk – a light beer mixed with sparkling juice for those who aren't potent beer fans.

"In the future we plan on having a small food selection," Anne Hasenbusch said. "We eventually want to expand to our downstairs area to add additional seating."

For now, customers seem satisfied.

"I used to be a home brewer so I was really excited that they opened and have really good beers," said Nick Mozurkewich, 68, of Carsonville. "The next closest brewery like this is in Port Huron and that's 40 miles away."

Mike Lewis, 43, of Applegate, and his wife Linda, came the first week the brewery was open and have been back every weekend since.

"Anne and Ron sit and talk with you, it's like family and they educate you about the beers and show you what they think you will like," Mike Lewis said.

"I also like that we know where the beer comes from and that the hops are grown here," Linda Lewis said. "It's great that you can bring take-out in here with you. We all don't have to eat the same thing – we have subs and Chinese today."


04 March, 2015