E-Malt.com News article: USA, MI: Cedar Rustic Inn transforms into Big Cat Brewing Company

Cedar Rustic Inn owners Aaron and Nikki Ackley are giving their restaurant in Cedar, Michigan a makeover, complete with craft beer and a new name, Traverse City Record Eagle reported on November 17.

Co-owner and head chef Aaron Ackley hopes to brew all his own beer at the restaurant, which now is called Big Cat Brewing Company.

"We always knew that we wanted to keep serving full food menus and just add on the beer," said co-owner Nikki Ackley. "We are still a full service restaurant, we always have been and we always will be. We just wanted to add something new on that can boost our business and make our spot here a destination."

The Ackleys hope adding craft beer will give customers a different dining experience, Nikki said — that of a fun hangout spot.

The transition from restaurant to brew pub started three years ago. Aaron had been cooking for almost 26 years and was having a mid-career crisis.

"After all those years of doing the same thing in the kitchen, I was looking for something new and interesting," Aaron said. "I did some professional training at the American Brewers Guild in Vermont in spring 2013. From then on we’ve been accumulating equipment and knowledge and working slowly but steadily to become a brew pub."

Aaron's kitchen nickname, "The Big Cat," and cougar sightings in the area both inspired the name change to Big Cat Brewing Company, he said.

The brew pub even has a cat sculpture, nicknamed Brewski, that sits on display in the pub area.
"My mom, who is a sculptor, had that cool-looking sculpture laying around in her foundry, it was perfect," Aaron said.

Trips to breweries and brew pubs in Bellaire, Big Rapids, Mount Pleasant and Alma have been sources of inspiration for the couple's business.

"Nikki and I are kind of a prime example of what the brewing culture is," Aaron said. "We travel to these places for inspiration and to see what everyone else is doing, and we want to be part of that here. Because once you get on the map, people will come by."

Aaron will have six home-brewed beers on tap at a time, and ultimately hopes to have 10.


18 November, 2015