GRBC: Changing Directions to Support Local

Established breweries that have survived the blood, sweat and tears faced by opening in a saturated market need to make a decision — stay the course, or make some changes. Grand Rapids Brewing Company chose to change its direction by no longer being a certified organic brewery as of 2015.  

“We did that mostly so we could use more local products – that was the biggest thing…We want to support local business and use local ingredients,” said Jake Brenner, Head Brewer of Barfly Ventures – which owns GRBC, Hopcat, Stella’s Lounge and The Waldron Public House.

Holding the certification of “organic brewery” limited GRBC to acquiring ingredients that held the same certification, which in Michigan is very little. This prevented GRBC from getting ingredients from local farmers who are producing high quality but are not organic certified, such as Pilot Malt House and most of the local hop farms. Organic is important to Brenner, but he’s excited to have less restrictions on where he gets the

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