Michigan's Great Beer State Podcast

Episode twenty-two brings us to Grand Marais, Michigan to talk to Karen Brzys, co-founder of Lake Superior Brewing Company at the Dunes Saloon. Karen started LSBC in 1994 when most people thought a brewpub was a crazy notion. She has since moved on from the brewing industry to run the Gitche Gumee Agate and History Museum, but she took time with us to share her story from the early days of Michigan beer.

David Manson and Andy Langlois took their robust home brewing hobby to a new level when they opened Blackrocks Brewery in 2010 in Marquette Michigan. They talk with us about mentorship, the UP and giving back to the community, from the beer garden of Blackrocks in the fall of 2018.

https://www.blackrocksbrewery.com/

Tim and his wife Patti opened Brown Iron Brewhouse in Washington, Michigan in 2015, serving scratch-cooked food and American craft beer. A year later they were serving their own house brewed beers. In 2020, a week before the pandemic shutdown, they opened their second location in Royal Oak. Tim shares with us what the experience has been like, and what Brown Iron is all about. https://browniron.com/

Episode nineteen is a special tribute episode to Shannon O'Brien, an important member of the Michigan Brewers Guild team for eight years. Shannon most recently held the position of Events Manager and Customer Services, however due to the impact of the pandemic her position was recently eliminated as the Guild adapts and restructures. We talked with Shannon in 2018 at the UP Fall Beer Festival, and are glad to share this conversation with you. Good luck and thank you, Shannon!

Episode Eighteen brings us back to the shores of Marquette's Mattson Lower Harbor Park where we talked to Eric Briggeman, Vice President and General Manager at Rochester Mills Production Brewery, Past President of the Guild, and recipient of the Tom Burns Award.

Episode seventeen takes us to the harbor town of Frankfort, Michigan and Stormcloud Brewing, which opened in 2013. We talk with Rick Schmitt, co-founder, who shares the story of getting Stormcloud started what it was like to transition from Fort Collins, Colorado. https://www.stormcloudbrewing.com/

*Our apologies for the less than ideal audio. Internet interviews in the days of the Pandemic have their challenges.

In episode sixteen, we talk with Joe Short, founder and charismatic leader of Short's Brewing Company, which began in 2002 when Joe was just twenty-two years old. We talked with Joe as part of the Rising Tide project in the fall of 2018 at Arcadia Ales in Kalamazoo.

In Episode Fifteen we talk with Edward Stencel, who opened River Rouge Brewing Company in Royal Oak in 2014. You'll hear a classic tale of a beer enthusiast turned brewery owner, that is of course, anything but typical.

In 1982, Ted Badgerow and his friend Gordy were issued the first brewery license issued in Michigan in thirty-seven years. Ted shared stories from the early days and the too-short run of Real Ale Company in Chelsea, when we sat with him at Motor City Beer Works in 2018. Ted has returned to the Michigan Brewing scene, opening Ypsi Alehouse in 2015.

In episode thirteen, we go back to the Rising Tide archives for an interview with Aubrey Martinson, co-owner of Chelsea Alehouse Brewery. We spoke with Aubrey, who has since become a member of the Michigan Brewers Guild Board of Directors, about beer & community while sitting in Bell's Beer Garden in Kalamazoo, in the early fall of 2018.