Distributor Locations: Lakeshore Beverage (IL)
Founders Brewing Company in Grand Rapids, MI has a story of guts, risk and a fierce commitment to staying true to itself. As the tale goes, a few years after co-founders Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers opened the brewery, they were on the verge of bankruptcy. As Dave Engbers likes to put it, “when we started, we brewed well-balanced, unremarkable beers. We were brewing the same things as everyone else.”
It eventually got so bad that Mike Stevens recalls getting a phone call from their loan officer warning them of the lock that would be placed on the brewery’s door that coming Monday. That’s when they knew something had to change. They told themselves “if we’re going to go out of business it might as well be on our own terms. Let’s make the beer we want to drink.” This new commitment brewing beer for themselves produced Dirty Bastard, Curmudgeon Old Ale, Kentucky Breakfast Stout and other genre-defining, big, bold, strong, flavorful beers. It wasn’t long before the public took notice. Now, a little over a decade later, Founders Brewing Co. is preparing for a year producing over 200,000 barrels of beer… all while continuing to push the envelope.
To get a better feel for what makes Founders, Founders, we sat down with one of Founders’ Co-Founders, Dave Engbers.
Every time I see Local Option Bierwerker’s Tony Russomanno he asks me one thing, “Tanaka! How’s your metal?”
Today is no exception.
I’m sitting across the bar from Tony and Local Option’s Brand Ambassador Alexi Front to taste their newest bottle release, Exorcist, and learn more about what might be the most metal brewery in America.
“SweetWater is about a few great things – great people, great beer, solid music and environmental conservation.”
The Lakeshore Beverage team is sitting in a large taproom in Atlanta GA’s biggest brewery, SweetWater Brewing Co as Director of Marketing Steve Farace gets to the heart of who SweetWater is.
“We view the brewery as an all-encompassing concept. It’s a lifestyle, a way of thinking. We’re family here and we all love the same things – having fun, listening to great music and having awesome adventures whenever we can!”
A few months ago, Lakeshore Beverage announced that we’d be welcoming SweetWater to our family and beginning distribution in Chicago in March. To get a better feel for what the brewery’s all about, we’re spending the weekend in Atlanta celebrating the brewery’s 18th anniversary.
Over the two days we spend here, we’ll hear a lot of catch phrases: “don’t float the mainstream,” “we’re not here for a long time, we’re here for a good time,” “drink ’em if you got ’em” but it will become clear that this “brand position” isn’t really a brand position at all, but an honest-to-God reflection of the people that work here. These guys might take their beer really seriously, but they don’t take themselves that seriously.
Last night was Bourbon County Stout Night. A night where we slow things down and sip on 2013 and 2014 Bourbon County Stout, 2014 Proprietor’s Bourbon County Stout, 2014 Bourbon County Coffee Stout and a very, very special vertical flight of 2010 AND 2014 Vanilla Rye Bourbon County Stout.
It was a good night.
Lakeshore Beverage is proud to announce that we’ve entered into an agreement to acquire the Alcoholic Brand Rights of Central Beverage in Chicago. We’ve also entered into a joint venture agreement with Central Beverage to manage, sell and deliver their Non Alcoholic portfolio under our joint strategic direction.
We’re incredibly excited for this new chapter in our company and look forward to the opportunity to continue to bring Chicagoans world-class beverages! The full press release is below.
There are meals and then there are MEALS. Last night I sat down for a five course beer dinner prepared by Chef Stephanie Izard and her fantastic team. Each course was paired with a Founders beer, including the extremely rare CBS and an exclusive taste of the upcoming Blushing Monk.