As we are teetering along the Wisconsin border on our visit to the breweries of the Upper Peninsula, we have come to Alpha Michigan Brewing Company in Alpha, Michigan. This brewery opened in 2018 and has been slinging suds to the thirsty population of Alpha ever since.
According to their website they brew with a purpose, community involvement. The health, safety, and prosperity of their community is their number one priority. They set aside a percentage of their profits to support local charities and host various fundraisers throughout the year.
In addition to fundraisers the brewery also hosts events such as live music, yooptoberfest, and various other events. Check their socials and website to see if they are hosting an event during your next visit. With advanced notice, Alpha does host private events, contact the brewery to set up your next get together. Hours at the brewery vary by season, so check their hours of operation before planning your trip.
Once inside the brewery the first thing you will notice, yet another impressive sticker collection. They had so many stickers, I couldn’t find a place to put a Bearded Lamb sticker, but the bartender assured me she would put it up. She also traded an Alpha Brewing sticker for my Bearded Lamb sticker. I held up my end of the bargain, and their sticker is on our sticker wall, I will have to locate our sticker on my next visit.
As far as the seating goes, there are multiple tables spread across the serving area of the brewery for you and your friends to enjoy a couple of beers at. The bar area is a smaller bar with enough seating for about 6 to 8 beer drinkers. Alpha has an outdoor beer garden with quite a few tables on it, they even have a blackstone griddle for patrons to cook their own food on. This is a unique feature that I am not sure I have ever seen at another brewery.
But speaking of food, other than a couple of small snacks, they do not have a kitchen. They do encourage you to bring in outside food or have it delivered to the taproom. Sometimes they will offer food trucks, check and see if they will have a truck during your visit. On Thursday’s they do Pasties and Pints where the Pasty Corner, a local business, brings in Pasties and sells them to hungry beer consumers.
The beers that we tried at this stop included their Bluesberry Muffin which was a Wheat Beer and their Porter School. My favorite out of these two beers was the Porter School which was a malty dark beer with a slight sweetness provided by the locally sourced maple syrup that they add prior to kegging the beer. It has a dark malt aroma with a slight bitterness from the hop additions. Be careful with this one, it checks in at 6.7% ABV, so proceed with caution if you decide to have more than one.
If you want to check out a small town community focused brewery on your trip through the U.P., I highly recommend that you make a stop at Alpha Michigan Brewing Company. Na Zdrowie!
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