It\u2019s not often that small food and beverage creators offer heartfelt thanks to lawyers, but Detroit\u2019s Tom Burns always was an exception to the rule. Burns worked tirelessly for years on behalf of several small craft brewers, litigating against the state of Michigan and appealing to change its antiquated liquor laws. Burns, along with Detroit beer champions such as Motor City Brewing Works<\/a>\u2019 John Linardos, brought about Michigan\u2019s craft brewing renaissance in the 1990s.<\/p>\n Burns, Linardos, and Ben Edwards were pivotal in securing microbrewing licenses in Detroit for the first time after Prohibition, a result of tireless lobbying and stubbornness. In recognition of his service, each year the Michigan Brewers Guild presents the Tom Burns Award<\/a> to a person who embodies the pioneering spirit of Michigan\u2019s brewing industry.<\/p>\n Long before Burns paved the way, though, Detroit\u2019s brewing history weathered the storms of temperance, Prohibition<\/a>, big-business brewery buyouts, and the demise of small breweries. From the city\u2019s mid-19th century German brewers to today\u2019s vibrant taprooms, the dedication to traditional methods and flavors remains a linchpin in Detroit\u2019s brewing history.<\/p>\n As in many Midwestern towns, Detroit\u2019s earliest brewers made small batches of mild ales, stouts, and porters. The Detroit Historical Society podcast \u201cUntold Detroit: Beer\u201d<\/a> tells the story of the city\u2019s beer barons as part of its examination of Detroit\u2019s brewing history: from humble German origins, breweries such as Stroh\u2019s, Goebel, and Pfeiffer expanded well into the 20th century. Prohibition laid waste to many of the city\u2019s smaller breweries. Continued expansion and conglomeration were the rule throughout the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, and by the 1980s, massive national chains ran the show. At the same time, a quiet movement that began on the West Coast was making its way inland, as dedicated homebrewers resurrected old recipes and catered to a drinking public in search of hand-crafted, nuanced beers that harkened back to the ales, porters, and stouts of yesteryear.<\/p>\n Again, Burns, Linadros, and Edwards were part of that brewing renaissance. Edwards owned the Traffic Jam and Snug<\/a> in Midtown Detroit (then referred to as the Cass Corridor), where he made artisanal cheese and bread onsite. His next logical step was to add beer to the mix. But the Michigan Liquor Control Commission<\/a> forbade the sale of beer on the premises, and the powerful Wholesalers Association<\/a> lobbied hard against changing the laws. Burns, an avid homebrewer and self-described \u201crecovering lawyer,\u201d used his acumen\u2014and patience\u2014to advocate for a change in laws that would allow brewpubs to exist.<\/p>\n It took years, but they succeeded. In May 1992, Burns and Linardos started the Detroit & Mackinac Brewing as the brewhouse for Traffic Jam across the street. But even though the new laws allowed for on-premise brewing, distribution was still a challenge. Linardos spent much of the early days delivering kegs to local restaurants from the back of his van. Says Linardos, \u201cThe wholesalers were just not built for a startup brewery, and they weren\u2019t built for brand building. The distribution network was just an animal that was not designed for bootstrapping.\u201d<\/p>\n When Burns passed away of cancer just two years later, Linardos assumed the building lease and changed the name to Motor City Brewing Works, producing their landmark English mild ale Ghetto Blaster<\/a> beginning in 1997. He had some work to do convincing Detroiters to try it out, though. \u201cDetroit in the 90s,\u201d asserts Linardos, \u201cwas a pretty tough market. It was golden, mass-produced beer, so a lot of palates weren\u2019t acclimated to what the craft movement was trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Before too long, Midwestern palates caught up with the movement, and the late 1990s and early 2000s saw a wave of big-budget craft breweries. At the same time as the tech and dot-com startups were building steam, investors were pouring money into local breweries such as Novi\u2019s Local Color, Atwater Brewery<\/a>, and Big Buck Brewery.<\/a> \u201cPeople were flush with capital, and they were just building these behemoth breweries, and they didn\u2019t know what they were doing,\u201d says Linardos. \u201cA lot of them went out of business\u201d when the 2008 recession hit.<\/p>\n If Motor City and Traffic Jam (which has since sold to a new owner, then shuttered after a 2022 fire) were the first wave of Detroit\u2019s brewing renaissance, and the big-money breweries established the second wave, then the third wave came in the 2010s with a torrent of smaller, neighborhood brewpubs. For Linardos, that was one of the most exciting times to be in the industry. \u201cThere was a period from around 2012 to 2017 when it was just blowing up,\u201d he said. \u201cEverybody making all these crazy interpretations of ales and lagers where the whole world was watching. It was a movement.\u201d<\/p>\n Tim Costello was an active participant in that movement to bring a wider variety of beer styles to metro Detroit drinkers. He opened his craft beer store, 8 Degrees Plato<\/a>, in Ferndale in 2011. The artsy near-suburb of Detroit was the perfect fit for his mission to help small brewers distribute their product to a wider market. Times were different in 2011, says Costello. \u201cAt that time, opening up just a craft beer store was kind of unusual,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n Since then, Costello has established a combined store and taproom in Detroit proper in 2015 and closed down the Ferndale location. The taproom at 8 Degrees Plato serves a rotating list of drafts that changes weekly. Costello\u2019s customers are eager to try new beers from breweries they haven\u2019t encountered before; many come from out of state to check out Detroit\u2019s vibrant beer scene. State residents and visitors flock to 8 Degrees Plato and other Detroit spots such as taprooms Jolly Pumpkin<\/a> and Grand Trunk Pub<\/a>, both of which host more than 20 Michigan beers on tap.<\/p>\n The Detroit beer scene, according to Costello, is fueled by \u201ca lot of creativity, a lot of sharing, a little bit of friendly competition. Everyone\u2019s trying to do something just a little bit different, and the breweries themselves are very good at helping each other and doing collaborations.\u201d<\/p>\n One brewery Costello likes to highlight collaborates with other breweries all over southeast Michigan. Someday Brewing<\/a> in Grosse Pointe Woods worked with Troy\u2019s Loaded Dice Brewing <\/a>to craft Dank Angeles<\/a>, a West Coast-style IPA with Citra, Mosaic, and HBC 586 hops. Someday has also paired up with Cadillac Straits<\/a> to brew a Midwest IPA called Riwaka Eddie<\/a> with Riwaka hops, and with New Order Coffee<\/a> to create Daily Grind, a light blond ale with a tinge of Finca Medina coffee.<\/p>\n For Costello, \u201cthat\u2019s what the craft industry is all about: people helping out each other and trying to get things going. It\u2019s been a lot of fun to be a part of that network, because you\u2019re seeing people who still have that craft vibe, which I don\u2019t think you see in a whole lot of other industries.\u201d<\/p>\n In Detroit, brewers make community a central part of their work. Batch Brewing Company<\/a> opened its Corktown taproom in 2015 and shortly after established the Feel Good Tap<\/a>, a rotating tap that donates $1 from each purchase to a different nonprofit each month. Batch also opens its doors and its kitchen to emerging chefs, pop-ups, and restaurants in temporary need, like Taqueria El Ray, a beloved neighborhood restaurant that served out of Batch\u2019s kitchen for several years while it rebuilt its original home after a 2022 fire.<\/p>\n They also work with smaller and cross-state brewers to create new brews for good causes: Mi Gente is a collaboration between Batch and Grand Rapids\u2019 City Built Brewing<\/a>. The West Coast IPA celebrates Latino and Hispanic brewers and a portion of the proceeds goes to nonprofits that support Latino causes.<\/p>\n According to Batch owner Stephen Roginson, \u201cWe\u2019ve made community the center of how we exist. It\u2019s not a mission statement, check-the-box kind of commitment, but one that is in our DNA \u2026 Caring deeply about our neighborhood and city remains the most important thing we do as a brand, and we get that kindness and affection back tenfold from our customers.\u201d<\/p>\n Focusing on the immediate neighborhood has worked for breweries in Detroit during this third wave of the industry. Smaller taphouses like Brewery Faisan in the emerging Islandview neighborhood, Urbanrest in Ferndale, and Lagerhaus No 5 in Eastern Market have become the de facto third places. \u201cI liken it to the local bakery,\u201d says Linardos. \u201cThere\u2019s always a need for a really good local bakery. I just think you need to be thinking small, stay small, and be servicing your backyard\u201d in order to succeed as a brewer.<\/p>\nA Brewing Renaissance<\/h2>\n
![\"bottles](\"https:\/\/cdn.craftbeer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/20241105161052\/bottles-of-ghettoblaster-beers.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nA Craft Vibe<\/h2>\n
![\"atwater](\"https:\/\/cdn.craftbeer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/20241105161113\/atwater-brewery-exterior-sign.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n![\"someday](\"https:\/\/cdn.craftbeer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/20241105161317\/someday-brewing-exterior.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nA Focus on Community<\/h2>\n
![\"batch](\"https:\/\/cdn.craftbeer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/20241105161354\/batch-brewing-hop-logo.jpg\"){kind=logo}
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
![\"florian](\"https:\/\/cdn.craftbeer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/20241105161526\/florian-east-exterior-with-bottle-and-beer.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n