Home  |  Out & About  |  Dining  |  Events  |  Singles  |  Classifieds  |  Archive  |  Advertising

The Frankenmuth Brewery Rises
Like A Phoenix Into A New Tri-city Landmark

By Robert E. Martin
 

    When the Frankenmuth Brewery, which was built in 1862, was devastated by a tornado in the spring of 1996, the second oldest brewery in the United States was leveled to the ground. 

Tark Heine and Randy Heine purchased the facility from the Geyer family in 1988, and quickly developed it into the 4th largest microbrewery in the country. But after the tornado hit all the blueprints from the past went up in a funnel.

"I remember looking at the wreckage the day after," recalls Heine. "The Bavarian style ceramic roof tiles exploded and Heritage Park was covered with them. The tornado went through the middle of the building and decimated the place, yet the house next door was still standing."

When brewing operations ceased following the tornado, Heine stepped back and decided to change his vision for the facility. Now, 8 years later, he has constructed an immaculate and expansive BrewPub that includes a remarkable menu of authentic German & Classic American dishes, along with a full service bar and a uniquely crafted assortment of beers brewed and sold on premises, that easily makes it one of the most incredible dining experiences in the tri-city area.

While many pieces from the past remain, including the original cornerstone from the Geyer's 1890 brick structure and a chandelier that weights nearly 2000 pounds and is part of the old bottling line, the new facility today features three levels of dining as well as three unique outdoor patios, two of which are heated and feature live entertainment in the summer months.

Total seating capacity is approximately 530 and the woodworking throughout the building is all imported teak from Ireland. "I wanted it to still have industrial roots, age, and character," explains Tark, "and while the cellar from 1862 and some of the lower floors on the north side are still here, everything else is entirely new."

"Rather than go Bavarian style I decided to rebuild with an American/industrial style, which is true to brewing. As a design goal we wanted to make it dramatic, so people that had visited the facility before would be kind of shocked."

All new brewing systems were bought from a company in Vancouver, British Columbia. While the old control panel from Germany was salvaged and retrofitted, the old brew kettle, which is 16 feet in diameter and all copper brass, was retrofitted to be mounted on the lower deck on four columns. Now it can be used as a wedding or a band shell.

"I'm trying to reuse as many of the old artifacts as possible," explains Tark. "Now that we have the architecture completed, I want to spend time on decorating. We have thousands of photos from 1862 through now, including the tornado, plus a huge collection of old marketing items that will be displayed."

With a menu that includes fondues, steaks, and seafood that incorporates cooking with some of the brews manufactured on site, Tark notes that the menu is constantly evolving. "We want to adapt to what people want and constantly improve. Our intent is to make this a great experience by integrating brews and liquors and remaining true to our European & American heritage. With our chef, Bill Reiff, we've had the opportunity to take the menu to the next level and are doing the same thing with the beers"

Currently the Frankenmuth Brewery offers 7 beers on tap and 4 in bottles and will eventually offer 12 different brands.

Moving from a viable beer manufacturing facility to a BrewPub was a huge gamble for the Heine family.  Michigan license law states that if you offer food & liquor on premises, you can only sell the brew you manufacture at the location it is made.

"We had to convert our license from a microbrewery to a BrewPub to get a class C license to see alcohol," he explains. "and now we cannot offer it for distribution. That was a difficult decision to make because at one time we were the 4th largest brewery in the country and were distributing in 26 states. Basically, we gave that up in order to become a restaurant."

The current incarnation consists of five bars, a lower level for banquets & weddings, and the expansive three-tier patio. "I'm excited by growing the dining side of the business," explains Tark. "Sometime down the road if the laws in Michigan change, we'll distribute our beer nationally in a heartbeat. The laws are very limiting to us and difficult to work within. Some states such as Colorado you can brew, sell, distribute, and distill under one roof, but we can't do any of that in Michigan."

Tark feels the new dining & entertainment format is geared for the changing climate of the times. "A lot of people come to eat that don't even drink, but they also enjoy taking our daily brewery tours, so given the tourist Mecca that Frankenmuth has become, I feel we can cater to a larger market base than we could by being limited strictly as an industrial facility."

Back when it functioned strictly as a brewery the facility had 30 to 40 employees and now boosts a total of 100, which vary according to the season.

"Our brewing capacity now is far less because we downsized to a 'small-batch' system," continues Tark. "Basically we have a 20-barrel brewing system and the old one was a 115-barrel system, but now we have the latitude to experiment more with our brews, which is a good thing for beer lovers. Plus, we didn't go too small, so if the law ever does change we can crank out a tremendous amount of beer. This is a very sophisticated system we installed, so all we have to do to add capacity is add more tanks."

Brew master Curt Hecht has been with the Brewery for 25 years and is still imparting his skills to the public. "Just now we're beginning to enter national competitions again," notes Tark. "It's more difficult when you don't distribute, but in the early to mid-90's we won 10 national medals, which is more than any other Michigan brewer."

"It was a strange feeling after the tornado," he reflects," but believe it or not, we already had planned to make this move. The tornado simply facilitated it in a major way. The reason for this is because in 1996 we almost ran out of gas. We couldn't produce much more beer out of this facility because it had an antiquated system. Plus, to improve our numbers we had to keep moving further and further away from Michigan to sell beer, so it was a double edged sword."

" We also knew we were stuck in the middle of the best tourist destination in Michigan and couldn't capitalize on it at all, so I kept visualizing this current set-up but didn't know how to achieve it.  On the one hand it was a shame to see the tornado wreck everything, but on the other hand I was relieved because nobody was injured and it actually worked out perfectly."

"In the past we concentrated on strictly brewing German style beer, but now we can branch into more variety such as ales and American and U.K. styles. People want variety, especially when it comes to beer."

Currently The Frankenmuth Brewery offers as a Pale Ale, which they never brewed before, that is smoother than most. And their best selling brew is Irish brewed stout that is similar to Guinness.

"We intend to explore some of the Belgian styles this summer and expose more people to do that, but will continue to do our staples," adds Tark. "Customers consistently comment that they enjoy the variety, but would like to see heavier beers, which surprises me seeing as the average person often drinks light in the age of 'ultra'."

In addition to dining, great microbrews, and live weekend entertainment, the brewery tours are still a big attraction at the facility. Tours run Thursday through Sunday and seven days a week through the summer.

"Our main goal is to capitalize on the variety that we can offer," concludes Tark. "We hope to appeal to all different age groups and the things we can offer with our outdoor set-up is unique. My main goal this year is to stabilize the business and offer a variety of entertainments.  It's amazing the numbers of people in the immediate tri-city area that still don't realize all that we have to offer now."

Additionally, the Frankenmuth Brewery will soon be introducing a frequent diner program and a mug Club program for beer drinkers.

For an exceptional experience, you don't have to travel far to glean some of the finest cuisine, tastiest custom-crafted beer, and varied entertainment in the tri-city area.

The Frankenmuth Brewery is located at 425 S. Main in Frankenmuth. For more information phone 652-6183 or check out their website at frankenmuthbrewery.com