Keweenaw Brewing Company

Last updated

Keweenaw Brewing Company
IndustryBrewery
Founded2004;20 years ago (2004)
FoundersPaul Boissevain and Richard Grey
Headquarters
Houghton, Michigan
Website www.kbc.beer

The Keweenaw Brewing Company (KBC) is a craft brewer with a taproom in Houghton and a production facility in nearby South Range, Michigan. It is named for the Keweenaw Peninsula, which projects out to the north of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Contents

Established in 2004, Keweenaw is the largest brewer in the Upper Peninsula (as of 2021); their products are sold there and in the nearby states/regions of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Their taproom looks out over the Keweenaw Waterway and Copper Island, and their best-known beer is the Widow Maker Black Ale.

History

The Keweenaw Brewing Company opened in 2004. It was founded by Paul Boissevain and Richard Grey, who previously worked at the same oil company in Denver, Colorado, and lost their jobs around the same time. [1] Keweenaw was the second modern microbrewery in the Upper Peninsula, after Hereford & Hops Steakhouse and Brewpub, and opened over three decades after Houghton's last brewery (Bosch) closed in 1973. [2] [A]

Located on Shelden Street in Houghton's downtown, Keweenaw quickly became financially successful. In the first year after opening, the brewery brewed 400 barrels of beer and took over a storefront next door. [5] [6] In the following year, they brewed 1,100 barrels, and within three years of opening, they added a deck with parking options and were producing 2,000 barrels. [5] [6]

In 2007, the brewpub expanded its production capabilities by purchasing a warehouse in South Range, Michigan, located just to the south of Houghton, and installing brewing and canning equipment within it. [3] [7] [B] They began canning their beer that same year, [8] putting Keweenaw in the vanguard of widespread canning of craft beer in the United States. [9] [10] As of 2022, the brewery sold its products in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas. [11]

By 2013, all of the taproom's employees were students at nearby Michigan Technological University, [8] and the brewery's existence was used as a selling point in attracting employees to the college. [12] Keweenaw canned their one thousandth batch of beer in March 2018, [13] and in the same year the brewing company signed a deal with Comerica Park, the stadium that hosts baseball's Detroit Tigers, to distribute their beer. [14] During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Keweenaw Brewing Company was awarded $15,000 from the Pure Michigan Small Business Relief Initiative. [15]

In 2024, Keweenaw celebrated their twentieth year in business. [16] Boissevain retired and sold his share of the business to his partner Grey, who in turn brought on his son and son-in-law as co-owners. [17]

Production

In 2016, Keweenaw sold 9,801 barrels of beer within Michigan. [18] This increased to 10,469 barrels in 2017, [19] and 11,349 barrels in 2018, a total that made it the ninth-largest brewer in the state and the largest craft brewer in the Upper Peninsula. [20] [19] Keweeenaw's sales plateaued after 2018, with the brewery producing about 11,800 barrels in 2021 [21] and 11,353 in 2023. [22] Blackrocks Brewery surpassed Keeweenaw's production by 2023 to become the largest Upper Peninsula craft brewer. [22]

Location

As of 2019, the interior space at Keweenaw's Houghton brewpub measured 3,400 square feet (320 m2) and contained two bars and a fireplace. The exterior deck looks out over the Keweenaw Waterway, which separates Houghton from the city of Hancock and the rest of Copper Island. [20] The deck was remodeled in 2023 after a connected parking garage was demolished. [23]

Recognition and beer

In 2015, U.S. News & World Report named Keweenaw as one of the best breweries in the Midwestern United States. [24] Other craft brewers in the region, such as the founders of Blackrocks Brewery in nearby Marquette, have credited Keweenaw's early work and success with (in their words) "really clear[ing] a lot of brush for the breweries to come afterwards." [25]

As of 2019, the most popular beer sold by the Keweenaw Brewing Company is Widow Maker Black Ale, whose name stems from a dangerous one-person drill once used in service of the region's extensive copper mining. [5] [20] They started canning the beer in 2009. [26] Their other so-called "core" beers include Pick Axe Blonde and Red Jacket Amber. [27] [28]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Although the founders of the Keweenaw Brewing Company claim to have been the first, [3] historian Russell Magnaghi lists Hereford & Hops Steakhouse and Brewpub in Escanaba as the first craft brewery in the Upper Peninsula. [4]
  2. ↑ Sources report different areas for the warehouse. Historian Russell Magnaghi gave 12,000 square feet (1,100 m2) in a 2015 book, [7] while Second Wave Media put it at 16,000 square feet (1,500 m2) in 2014. [3]

Endnotes

  1. ↑ Magnaghi (2015) , p. 87.
  2. ↑ Magnaghi (2015) , pp. 84, 87.
  3. 1 2 3 Baur, Joe (May 7, 2014). "Pioneers: U.P. craft beer is a growing business". Second Wave Media.
  4. ↑ Magnaghi (2015), p. 84.
  5. 1 2 3 Magnaghi (2015) , p. 88.
  6. 1 2 "Thirsty Thursday: Keweenaw Brewing Co". Ishpeming, Michigan: WBUP-TV. April 18, 2014 – via YouTube.
  7. 1 2 Magnaghi (2015) , pp. 88–90.
  8. 1 2 Klug, Fritz (September 8, 2013). "Michigan's Best Brewery: Keweenaw Brewing Company is a community gathering place with $2.50 pints". MLive.
  9. ↑ Liberty, John (March 16, 2008). "Greener craft beer packaging? Yes you can-can". MLive.
  10. ↑ Smith, Josh; Crowe, Larry (March 31, 2008). "More evidence the craft-brew set has an open mind for aluminum cans?". MLive / Kalamazoo Gazette. Associated Press.
  11. ↑ "Distributors". Keweenaw Brewing Co. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  12. ↑ Magnaghi (2015) , p. 112.
  13. ↑ Powell, Mariah (March 19, 2018). "Keweenaw Brewing Company celebrates brewing 1,000 batches". Upper Michigan's Source. WLUC-TV . Retrieved July 14, 2021.
  14. ↑ "Keweenaw Brewing Company brews 1,000th batch". Ishpeming, Michigan: WBUP-TV. March 16, 2018 – via YouTube.
  15. ↑ "34 Upper Michigan business [sic] split $500K in MEDC Pure Michigan Small Business Relief Initiative funds". WLUC-TV (Press release). Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  16. ↑ Neese, Garrett (April 30, 2024). "KBC marks 20 years". The Mining Journal . Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  17. ↑ Jackson, Colin (April 26, 2024). "Keweenaw Brewing Company preparing to celebrate 20 years of business". Upper Michigan's Source. WLUC-TV. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  18. ↑ Mack, Julie (July 12, 2018). "Michigan's top 50 beer brewers, based on 2017 in-state sales". MLive.
  19. 1 2 Mack, Julie (September 19, 2019). "Michigan's top 50 beer brewers, based on 2018 in-state sales". MLive.
  20. 1 2 3 Manzullo, Brian (July 24, 2019). "Michigan's Upper Peninsula: The top 7 breweries you must visit". Detroit Free Press.
  21. ↑ Frank, John; Frank, Annalise (September 19, 2022). "Michigan's top craft breweries see resurgence". Axios. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  22. 1 2 Poirier, Abby (June 4, 2024). "Bell's reclaims crown as Michigan's largest brewery". Crain's Grand Rapids Business. Archived from the original on June 4, 2024.
  23. ↑ Jackson, Colin (July 27, 2023). "Keweenaw Brewing Company continues deck remodel with new concrete floor". Upper Michigan's Source. WLUC-TV. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  24. ↑ Volkman, Claire (December 31, 2015). "The 8 Best Breweries and Brewpubs in the Midwest". U.S. News & World Report.
  25. ↑ Sherman, Amy (May 29, 2020). "Beer of the Week: A summer beer with flowers and honey straight from the U.P." MLive.
  26. ↑ Smith, Josh (May 15, 2009). "Look for Keweenaw Brewing Company's Widowmaker Black Ale to be on store shelves soon – in a can". MLive.
  27. ↑ Eggleston, Sam (June 16, 2010). "Keweenaw Brewing Company kicking glass and taking names with top-quality beers". Second Wave Media. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  28. ↑ Spengler, Jessica (November 3, 2018). "Keweenaw Brewing Company | Widow Maker". PorchDrinking.com. Retrieved January 25, 2023.

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References

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