“It’s not denial. I’m just selective about the reality I accept.”
― Bill Watterson
There is always a moment when our dreams are shocked with the cold shower of reality.
The brewing industry can seem like a dream job to the uninitiated. As we interviewed the beer scene in Berrien County, we learned that this passion driven industry is not only a serious manufacturing operation, but it also requires an intense amount of education across a range of skill sets.
Like many small business owners, throughout the COVID pandemic, Michigan brewers faced challenges, adjusted their expectations, and raised to meet the demand of their loyal customers.
We continue our discussion with five more breweries, that tell us what inspires them to brew what they do.
For Part 2 of this article I interviewed:
- Chris Betts, Owner and Brewer of Transient Artisan Ales: Located in Bridgman, Transient uses traditional methods and oak fermentation to craft modern farmhouse ales.
- Joe Rudnick, President of Tapistry Brewing: Tapistry’s taproom in Bridgman offers 20 hand crafted beers and a delicious menu of artisan sandwiches and bar snacks. In addition to their cozy indoor space, guests can enjoy their outdoor patio and beer garden.
- Christian Cook, Owner and Brewer of Silver Harbor Brewing: Stop into this Saint Joseph brewery for over a dozen beers and ciders on tap, plus local wine and spirits. Plus, they offer a locally inspired food menu of salads, flatbreads, sandwiches, and more!
- Jay Fettig, Owner of North Pier Brewing: Less than mile from Lake Michigan, North Pier Brewing Company in Benton Harbor focuses on European-style ales. Stop into their family friendly taproom and outdoor beer garden for a rotating beer list and their signature canned cocktails!
- Nate Peck, Brewer of Beer Church Brewing: Housed in an iconic, Civil War era church in New Buffalo, Beer Church Brewing makes small batch beers only poured in house or for takeaway. Additionally, they claim to be the world’s first “Brewery Pizzeria Napoletana”, so order the thin crusted pizza while you visit!
Q: What inspired you to start a career in beer?
Betts – Transient: I was always interested in the creative side of things. Cooking, drawing, etc. When I found beer and homebrewing, it was combining a lot of things I loved to do in a product that was wide open to explore.
Fettig – North Pier: I fell in love with craft beer in the early/mid 2010s. I would visit local breweries when I traveled and I would often stand in line for special releases like KBS. As I was getting my MBA and trying to figure out what to do with my life, I had always wanted to start my own business and thought perhaps craft beer might be an avenue to pursue. I started putting together a business plan, one thing led to another, and now we just celebrated our 6 year anniversary in May.
Cook – Silver Harbor: All of Bell’s beer really. I used to go to the Bell’s general store to buy home-brewing ingredients, but would always leave with a six pack or two!
Peck – Beer Church Brewing: Sierra Nevada’s Bigfoot Barleywine was where it all began for me.
Rudnick – Tapistry: Enigma – Double IPA brewed with brown sugar. I homebrewed that recipe 13 years ago. Working at Pfizer in Kalamazoo, Bell’s General Store was close by and supplied my homebrew supplies.
Q: If you could go back to your first day working in the industry, what do you wish you would have known before you started?
Betts – Transient: I wish I would have known how much of the business would be about everything other than the creative process and making beer.
Cook – Silver Harbor: How fast you can go through a batch of beer. I remember walking in our cooler prior to opening thinking we had plenty of stock, only to be in crisis mode a week later to catch up.
Fettig – North Pier: I wish I would have been less stubborn about the types of beer we were going to produce. We started out as a Belgian-focused brewery and we were pretty strict about sticking to Belgian-styles or at least European-styles with a unique twist. Our beer really took off once we opened up to beers we liked or found interesting. Now, we brew a wide range from a traditional American IPA, to a Pink Guava Kolsch and everything in between. We also got into canned craft cocktails which have done really well for us.
Peck – Beer Church: I wish someone had told me how much more cleaning I’d be doing rather than brewing.
Rudnick – Tapistry: I would have stayed smaller. Distribution took a lot more time than expected and focusing on our taproom would have been preferable, but in today’s climate you have to get your beer out there to market.
Q: What has been the biggest challenge running your business?
Betts – Transient: We started with a pretty firm identity in barrel-aged beers. With the changing demands of customers and popular taste, our biggest challenge has been walking the line between what we are passionate about and what we should do as a business to adapt to market trends.
Cook – Silver Harbor: Forecasting demand. This has been especially harder the past two years, but anticipating the changes from season to season has always been a struggle.
Fettig – North Pier: Over the past two years, the biggest challenge for us has been staffing. We have a great core team built out, but this is the second summer in a row that we’ve struggled to find enough people at our three locations. I know it’s been an issue nationwide and across industries though, so we aren’t the only ones.
Rudnick – Tapistry: Covid 100%. The changes in rules, regulations, and workforce has been the biggest upset in our industry.
Peck – Beer Church: Near constant construction, and tenant brewing (contracting shared space at another brewery) at a few places before we got our brewhouse up and running.
Q: What has been the most rewarding about your business?
Betts – Transient: Seeing people show up to enjoy something that I am proud of is about the best thing I can imagine as a business owner. Added to that, being able to use our business as a source for supporting causes we believe in is incredible.
Cook – Silver Harbor: Building relationships with the staff. I love that I can personally connect with our staff and actually want to work with them. I enjoy seeing former staff and learning about what is new in their lives and the different career paths they choose.
Fettig – North Pier: It’s just cool to see people enjoying themselves at the taproom and knowing that’s something our team built from scratch. I also love seeing people wearing our merch out in the wild (especially if I don’t know them).
Peck – Beer Church: Watching someone truly appreciate a lesser known, not-as-trendy style of beer.
Rudnick – Tapistry: Making people happy. Seeing our customers and friends smile. There is nothing better. Fantastic people that travel through that have been here since day one.
Q: What are you drinking right now?
Betts – Transient: Mostly light lagers and saisons. Saisons are my first love, and it is a style I wish would see more love by the general beer drinking public. Seedz in Union Pier is doing a good job with both lagers and saisons, so if I’m drinking something locally, that’s typically where I’ll go.
Cook – Silver Harbor: Water, but a shift beer is soon to be in the works.
Fettig – North Pier: This month, for Sober June, I’m drinking Athletic Brewing’s NA Hazy IPA, but starting next week, I’ll be drinking our summer seasonal, Sandbar Session. It’s a light, crisp 4% session IPA with Vic’s Secret hops and is one of my favorite beers that we do.
Peck – Beer Church: – Negronis.
Rudnick – Tapistry: Right now, I’m drinking our Reaper Rye Whiskey as an old fashioned. Otherwise, I often drink our Noonan Kolsch or Reactor IPA. Occasionally, a seltzer if I need to stay fresh the next day.
Q: Last question: What do you wish beer lovers knew about the industry?
Rudnick – Tapistry: We don’t just always get drunk and smoke weed! It’s a tough industry with a hard working group of individuals. Also, we aren’t all millionaires. The misconception that breweries are easy money, these businesses are expensive startups that require a lot of research and labor to make happen.
Peck – Beer Church: Just how much work goes into each pint.
Betts – Transient: The beer industry knowledge most people have is of the large breweries. They were nearly the only game in town for almost a hundred years, and are the only ones that could afford to market themselves. Smaller breweries do not operate in any functional way like large breweries, and can’t compete with them on price or availability. We CAN compete with product quality and variety, and that is our goal.
Cook – Silver Harbor: It isn’t all drinking beer and coming up with funny beer names. We put in long hard working hours and are very passionate about what we do. But yes, we do have the reward of enjoying a cold one at the end of the day.
Fettig – North Pier: Our people drive the industry, so keep visiting local breweries and tip your friendly bartenders well!
Meet other brewers in Part 1 of our Beers in Berrien Couty series. You can find the article here!
Neil Davey is a resident of Marshall, MI and is the Southwest Michigan Local Food Coordinator for Taste the Local Difference. This Hoosier turned Michigander can often be found writing his next book, fooling around in the garden, experimenting with his weekly CSA produce, or planning his next hiking trip somewhere in the pleasant peninsula.
Further Reading: