[EID Preview] Griffin Claw Brewing Company

In the case of great minds thinking alike, my boy Nate Dawg...er, I mean, reporter Nathan Skid from Crain's...ran this preview of the new Griffin Claw Brewing Company opening next Thursday in Birmingham. Normally I'd just scrap my own plans to run something because why be part of the echo chamber, but since I already shot and edited the photos and just haven't had time to post I'll still give you my own sneak peek with some different details. If you look at mine first then his, it's kind of like a time-lapse! (My photos were taken last Friday; looks like Nate probably took his on Monday.)

So, to recap: Griffin Claw Brewing Co. is the lastest effort of the same family that owns Big Rock Chophouse and Clubhouse BFD (to be clear, each of these businesses have different owners, but they are all connected to each other by previous partnerships, marriage and blood: Bonnie LePage and Mary Nicholson own Griffin Claw; they co-own Big Rock Chophouse and the Reserve with their husbands Norman LePage and Ray Nicholson; and the LePages' son Scott LePage owns Clubhouse and Eastside Mario's).

Brewmaster Dan Rogers, who has racked up the awards since taking over as Brewmaster of Big Rock Chophouse in 2004 (see a complete list of his awards below - bear in mind, Big Rock was really just a small brewpub with no distribution and some of these awards are in the biggest categories in the biggest and most respected beer competitions in the world), is moving over to Griffin Claw along with all of Big Rock's brewing operations. All of their beer will now be under the Griffin Claw label.

Griffin Claw is a 12,000 square foot facility and most of that is the brewery (and soon, distillery - though the equipment isn't yet operational). They're looking at a 10,000 barrel production in their first year, and judging from early demand so far they've already outgrown that. Griffin Claw beers will be distributed in kegs to local restaurants, and they will also can four of their signature beers - Norm's Raggedy-Ass IPA, El Rojo Amber Ale, Grand Trunk Pilsner and Grind Line Pale Ale - for distribution to liquor stores through mega craft beer house Powers Distributing.

The taproom will have 12 draft handles with ever-rotating seasonals and speciality beers. Some of these speciality beers will also be canned but only available for purchase through the taproom. Some of what Dan has planned includes lots of Belgie beers - trippels, a Belgian stout, lots of sours (which, if you were at last year's Michigan Brewers Guild Summer Beer Festival in Ypsilanti, you may be in the elite group of those of us who decided Big Rock's sours were the best beers of the bunch). Dan plans on having lots of events here, including an Oktoberfest and Winter Fest and an annual bourbon-barrel-aged Russian Imperial Stout release party.

The mash filter.

The brewery is also a state-of-the-art facility, featuring a mash filter that was custom made for them. (Mash filters are rare to see in craft breweries, long the providence of the macros in American brewing. To Dan's knowledge, this is the only mash filter of its size in the country.) In layman's terms, this is an advantage in several different ways, including in the brewing of high-gravity (read: high-ABV) beers. Which, yes, he will be making. Griffin Claw will also be one of the top 10 largest breweries in the state when it opens, based on projected production.

The space was designed by Ron Rea, who has designed pretty much every restaurant in metro Detroit in recent memory, and includes communal tables inside and in the pretty pretty beer garden, which also has a fireplace and heaters to keep its season going even longer (these might just be the best seats in Birmingham).

Big Rock's Executive Chef Brian Henson, the Michigan Chefs de Cuisine Association's 2012 Chef of the Year, oversaw the menu at Griffin Claw. Both the atmosphere and the menu are a stark contrast to nearby Big Rock - much more casual. The menu will still be of the same high quality as its sister chophouse, just more burgers (and we're talking brisket and short ribs burgers here) than steaks. (They will have golf carts taking people back and forth between the two restaurants though, so you can have a few beers while you wait for a table at Big Rock, have a steak, then come back for more beers on the patio.)

As soon as he has all the equipment he needs, Dan will also start distilling. He'll be making a vodka from spelt and Michigan wheat, gin, rye whiskey, brandies, and absinthe - oh yes, ABSINTHE. To my own knowledge, I don't know of any other Michigan distillers making absinthe. Domestic absinthe has been known to be less than stellar (and that's assuming you like absinthe in the first place and have a palate for it), so I'm interested to see what Dan does with his. Griffin Claw will be opening a martini bar in the corner of building opposite the beer garden later this fall.

This will be the martini bar when it opens this fall.

Griffin Claw opens to the public on Thursday, July 18. The opening draft list is as follows: hefe weizen, wit bier, grind line pale ale, el rojo (red), norm’s raggedy ass ipa, go figure black ipa, platinum blonde, third rail belgian style trippel tripple, lemon shandy, saison st clair, berlinerweiss, red rock flanders red, bourbon imperial. (Emphasis added to indicate level of excitement.)

Brewmaster Dan's list of achievements while at Big Rock:

2011 Brain of Brewers
 Gold Medal - Witbier German Wheat Beer
2011 World Expo of Beer
 Gold Medal - Red Rock Flanders Red Ale
2011 Internatonal Beer Fest
 Gold Medal - White Cap Whit Belgian Farmhouse Ale
2010 & 2011 World Beer Cup
 Gold Medal - Norm’s Raggedy Ass India Pale Ale
 Silver Medal - Bonnie’s Raggedy Ass Imperial Pale Ale

2010 Great American Beer Festival
 Silver Medal - Go Figure American-Style India Pale Ale  Bronze Medal - American Brown Ale
2010 World Expo of Beer
 Gold Medal - Bonnie’s Raggedy Ass Imperial Pale Ale  Silver Medal - Norm’s Raggedy Ass India Pale Ale
 Silver Medal - Michigan Sour Cherry Tripel
 Bronze Medal - Red Rock Flanders Red Ale
2009 Great American Beer Festival
 Silver Medal - Red Rock Flanders Red Ale
2009 World Expo of Beer
 Gold Medal & Best In Show - Red Rock Flanders Red Ale  Gold Medal - Sour Cherry Tripel
 Silver Medal - Jessica’s Raggedy Ass Imperial IPA
2005 World Beer Championships
 Bronze Medal – Got Rocks Russian Imperial Stout
1998 World Beer Championships
 Gold Medal – Big Rock Scotch Ale
 Bronze Medal – Flying Buffalo Oatmeal Stout 

For more photos, view the Flickr set here.

[EID Feature] Have Beer, Will Travel: Falling Down Beer Company Opens March 29

All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.

One of the things that has particularly impressed me about Falling Down Beer Company is not their beer. I haven't even had any of it yet. In fact, hardly anyone has, save for a few mug club members and friends and family of the owners. What has impressed me is the strong following they've been able to build – over 3,700 followers on Facebook alone – before they even opened their doors.

There is a lot of talk in the media about the power of social media for small businesses. Some of it is pat; puerile even. As one media friend of mine has noted, careers in social media are the new pyramid scheme: one social media expert teaches others who want to teach others how to be social media experts and then you just Tweet social media tips to people who then re-tweet them to their followers, and so on. It's a silly reality of our nü economy and one that has yet to be fully vetted for its long-term reliability as both marketing tool and career plan, as there has yet to be a social media platform that has proven itself to be long-term sustainable. Will people flee Facebook the way they mass-exited MySpace when things just got too Blingee? Only time will tell.

But in the here and now of 2013, Facebook is arguably the best way to build and reach an audience. And Falling Down Beer Co. has been able to do that exceedingly well, considering they're not even open yet.

When I sat down to talk with co-owner Mark Larson about how exactly he was able to amass such a strong following in advance of opening their doors, I found out that Larson actually has a marketing degree, though he currently works in IT (in addition to now owning a brewery). "I'm the sole marketer [of Falling Down]. I'm actually using the degree I've never used!" he jokes.

His strategy was pretty intuitive: get friends and family to like the page first. Then he spent $100 on Facebook ads targeted to over-21 craft beer drinkers in Warren and surrounding areas. He started liking and interacting with other brewery pages, reached out to the journalists and beer bloggers, posted to fan pages like the Detroit Red Wings and 97.1 to increase visibility to other potential fans (and Warren is definitely a Red Wings/97.1 kind of town). The rest has all been keeping their Facebook community constantly updated with photos of the bar in progress, the brewing process, the building permit, photos and regular updates to engage their audience. All in all they spent $100 (from which they got about 500 new fans) and are already a known name in the southeastern Michigan craft beer community without even tapping their first public keg.

Another innovative strategy they implemented prior to opening was selling mug club "founding members" memberships in advance of opening. Founding memberships weren't cheap ($125) but the 82 people who bought one received a lot of incentives other mug club programs don't offer, including six growler fills, T-shirts, and invitations to private events. (The mug clubbers, most of which live in or near Warren, have already tried the Ninja Chicken and Beaver beers.) And there was also an Indiegogo campaign early last summer, too.

Mark Larson (left) and George Lang, owners of Falling Down Beer Co.

Mark and his founding partner George Lang (who also works a day job in IT) started out as homebrewers. Their home-brewed beers gained a following amongst their friends and family and they started getting requests for kegs, so it made sense to start a brewery. "IT started as a hobby, so now I'm working two hobbies!" says Mark. As the saying goes, do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life. (It also helps that Mark and George are both telecommuters, which is an ideal situation for anyone trying to juggle multiple careers at once – take it from someone who does exactly that.)

During their due diligence phase, they reached out to several cities. Warren happened to offer the best location, an old ice cream shop and diner (that looks like it was probably a Big Boy's before that) located right by the Hazel Park racetrack. It's not glamorous, because nothing in Warren is, but there is an established base of beer geek culture here that cannot be denied – Kuhnhenn Brewing Company and Dragonmead Microbrewery, both also located in Warren, have a devout following, and despite the fact that neither of them produce enough beer for any level of significant distribution, both are known names in craft beer throughout the Midwest region and are multi-time national award winning breweries.

In fact, when Mark started doing his research, he actually found the location to be quite ideal. "I used Short's in Bellaire and Witch's Hat in South Lyon as case studies," he says. "Look at Witch's Hat: they're in South Lyon and hard to get to, but they had a line out the door for the first three months. It was crazy. I knew so many people who ran out there and made the trip [just to check it out]. And there's Dark Horse in Marshall, in the middle of nowhere, and it's always packed."

Agreed. Beeries have most certainly established "Have beer, will travel" as a code of ethics.

"We also liked this spot because it's right off the freeway, it's a straight shot to Ferndale, and Chrysler and GM are nearby." Warren is also metro Detroit's largest suburb and the third largest city (by population) in Michigan. Bottom line: there's plenty of thirsty people out there.

Falling Down Beer Company opens to the public on Friday, March 29. In next week's issue of Real Detroit Weekly I'll have more information for you about the beer they'll be serving (like the Ninja Chicken and Beaver beers noted above), the origin of their name, their long-term plans for distribution and their commitment to all things Michigan-made, but I do so very much hate to repeat myself so you'll just have to keep your peepers peeled for that.

Want to see more? View the Flickr set here.