Brewery Review – Cap N Cork Brewing

Back in 2010, my husband and I bought a house in Oak Park, just a mile from Woodward and downtown Ferndale. We were drawn to the location because of the incredible restaurants and bars in the area, the city’s walk-ability, and the frequent festivals. We had both grown up in Chesterfield – a place that a lot of people couldn’t wait to leave.

It’s so easy to get used to the availability of great beer in a place like Ferndale, and it always saddened me to think that the area I grew up in was a bit of a beer desert. When I heard that Andy Moore, son of my favorite high school teacher, had expanded Cap N Cork Home Brewing Supply by brewing beer and adding a bar to sell it on tap, I was thrilled! I had to check this out!

Cap N Cork Brewing’s bar space calls itself “the Original Above Ground Basement.” The feeling is one of comfort: a place where people are greeted by name, the music is familiar, the staff is knowledgeable, and the beer is cold. Andy opened the space in October 2019, and unfortunately, only got to use it for a few months before the COVID-19 shutdowns started. As of earlier this month, March 6 to be exact, the bar has been back open for one night.

“It’s been very trying, with having to figure out how to make it all work now,” he said. The continually shifting restrictions and lifting of some of those restrictions nearly threw him for a loop, but he’s ready to bring people back into the bar.

Andy started working at the store in 2004 and eventually bought it in 2012. He runs it and the brewery with a mind to the community, and is fully aware of how important a place like this is in Macomb Township. Maintaining the homebrew store has been a huge reason why Cap N Cork sailed through the shutdown, and he found that when the bar section had to close, sale of homebrewing supplies soared.

Once people were suck at home and away from their favorite watering holes, “The homebrew store exploded,” he said. “A whole bunch of people we haven’t seen in years started coming back.”

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The bar and seating areas, as an expansion project, were started in 2018. Initially, Andy hoped to expand the store’s class and demonstration options, as well as brew a few of the beers that sold in the store.

“The whole plan for this was to make it [the bar] sort of an auxiliary place where we can do education, maybe special events,” Andy said. “And we needed something to get people in, a way to say, ‘Hey, we’re doing it just the way you’re doing it.'”

All the beers that are on tap are sold in the store for aspiring homebrewers to try their hands at, and Andy prefers it that way. It’s something he likes to call “semi-pro brewing.”

“We’re not greedy, we’re not keeping anything secretive,” he said. “The whole idea of the brewing company is a way for people to get into the hobby to try things out. We do only 15 gallons at a time, it’s small batches. We’ll share any recipe, anything we have.”

Cap N Cork has some mainstays on tap. The cream ale caught my eye, of course, and I ended up bringing home a four-pack (it didn’t last the night, by the way, which is a testament to its deliciousness). Other anchor beers Andy has kept on tap include a German Altbier, a Stout, and an IPA – though he’s still trying to find the one he is happiest with. A solid base of beers, to be sure, but what about those searching for the newest hazy IPA?

“My feeling on that is … I’m not a fan, but I know people like them, and so I’ll make them,” Andy said. “They’ve lasted a lot longer than I thought they would, honestly. At the end of the day, I can still appreciate the style, even though they’re not for me.”

Cap N Cork has been in its current location for nearly 21 years. With Andy running the show, it’s going to remain a part of the Macomb Township landscape for many years to come. I have no regrets about moving out of town, but I love knowing that my hometown is growing without me.

Photo Credit – Cap N Cork Brewing

Andy Moore 10 Second Bio!

Dani (Better on Draft): What was the first beer you ever brewed?

Andy Moore (Cap N Cork): I think it was a German Hefeweizen. My wife (then girlfriend) bought me a kit and I was in.

Dani: What is your bucket list beer?

Andy: I’d love to go to Bamberg and try all the smoked beers. I’d also like to go to Cologne and have a true Kölsch.

Dani: What do you drink at home?

Andy: The maltier the better. I love traditional German and English Lagers. Also, I can always reach for something like a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Dani: What would you like to see more of in stores or on tap in places?

Andy: I love a traditional ESB, and you just don’t really see them anymore.

Disclaimer: Thank you to Andy Moore at Cap N Cork Brewing for the hospitality and the complimentary taste of the cream ale.