Tasting and Happenings
Atwater makes friends with beer
by Ese Esan
The changes keep coming at Detroit’s Atwater Brewery.
The Rivertown venue, which opened in 1997, ditched its restaurant-bar persona two years ago when owner Mark Rieth decided to close the restaurant and focus on brewing beer.
Now, tanks doubling the beer capacity have been installed at the establishment on Jos. Campeau, and plans for a new tap room are under way. (Details are still sketchy.)
“We allow people to come inside our production facility,” says Atwater rep Matt Cebula. “It’s a social experience. It’s kind of what beer is all about. People can come in, grab a beer and see what’s going on.”
Cebula says that with the new focus, Atwater is dropping the word “block” from its name. Going forward, it will be branded just Atwater Brewery.
Longtime patrons of the establishment are used to dealing with change. In 2001, Atwater was sold and renamed Stoney Creek Brewery and Restaurant. Rieth took over in 2005 and reopened it as Atwater.
Gear: This place is about as casual as casual gets. Just keep in mind that the warehouse-like space can get a bit cold in the winter, despite the presence of heaters.
Mood: Customers can savor Atwater beer as they sit in a small bar area or walk the concrete floors of the 15,000-square-foot brewery, which is filled with bottles, barrels and massive stainless steel equipment. A single flat-screen TV and the beer taps are among the only clues that Atwater also functions as a bar.
“It feels like it’s illegal — being in a warehouse,” Corey Smith, 38, said Friday as he sipped an Atwater Conniption Fit Double Indian Pale Ale with Eduardo Coronado, 25, of Hazel Park. “It’s very good beer.” The Livonia resident said he had sampled Atwater brews on several occasions but had never visited the brewery.
Pick me up: Atwater brews more than 16,000 barrels of beer a year and makes more than 20 varieties, ranging from seasonal to single-batch. Most are German pilsners.
“We’d love to make German beer all day long, but you have to make beer to sell to all people,” Cebula says. Atwater beers are sold in grocery stores around metro Detroit and in nine other states.
There is no kitchen at the brewery, but guests are permitted to bring in food from elsewhere.
“The whole experience back here is meant to be casual,” Cebula says. “It’s beer. It’s meant to be a fun experience.”
Entertainment: Special events will be held occasionally at Atwater, and brewery tours are available.
More Details: Atwater Brewery
4-11 p.m. Wed.-Sat.
237 Jos. Campau, Detroit
313-877-9205
All the News that Brews – Published: October 19, 2011
Metro Times Article – By Michael Jackman
Yes, they can
Given the ever-growing popularity of craft beer in Michigan, it’s only natural that residents of the Great Lakes State would want some suds packaged in lighter, grab-and-go cans. Great for camping, canoe trips and other getaways, they mean you can enjoy the great outdoors without lugging a 12-pack of heavy bottles. It’s not a new idea — Keweenaw Brewing Company has been offering canned craft brews for years now — but we have a new entry in the aluminum-clad category, from Detroit’s own Atwater Brewery, with Atwater Lager and Grand Circus IPA.
Atwater owner Mark Rieth points out that it isn’t just campers who favor cans. “Cans are great for boaters, golfers, or at music venues — about 30 percent of the market is not going for bottles. I’ve wanted to do this for four or five years, so it’s been a long time coming, but we’re finally there with the cans — and people are really digging them.”
Not only is it cool to have a can of beer that isn’t mass-produced industrial beer, the can has some advantages over bottles. The precious beverage is protected from harmful ultraviolet rays, and the canning process allows for less air hitting the beer and changing its taste. Rieth also points out that cans are “lined” these days, so there isn’t that tinny taste to canned beer you would have had a generation ago.
And the offerings are great. They have canned their Atwater lager, the very first beer Atwater served in 1997. The traditional Munich-style helles lager is available in affordable 12-packs. Plus, they’re offering cans of Grand Circus IPA. It’s a session IPA, which means it’s nice and hoppy without the typically higher ABV of an IPA. Which makes sense: If it’s in a can, it should probably be more poundable.
Rieth also says that cans of Atwater’s Dirty Blonde Ale will be available this coming spring.
Potato Knockwurst for Octoberfest
Featuring Chef Mark Dixon & Atwater’s Own Mark Rieth
Potato Knockwurst: MyFoxDETROIT.com
This recipe courtesy of Chef Mark Dixon.Dressing:
White vinegar – 3/4 cup
Cider vinegar – 3/4 cup
Salt – 1 tsp
Dijon mustard – 2 tbsp
Course black pepper – 1/2 tsp
Vegetable oil – 3 cups
Salad Mixture:
Bacon, cooked crisp & crumbled – 1/2 cup
Roasted knockwurst – 2 lbs.
Potatoes, cooked & sliced round – 10 lbs.
Green onion, finely chopped – 1/2 cup
Method:
Combine all seasonings, mustard and onion to vinegars
Let marinate 10-15 minutes.
Whip in salad oil
Pour dressing over prepared potato mixture
Toss gently and serve at room temperature
Atwater is now available in the can!
Atwater Lager is the first beer we ever produced in our Detroit Rivertown brewery. Though the process was tedious, the results were tasty. Now, this refreshing Munich-style Helles Lager–made in the Detroit tradition of German-Style lagers– is available in the can.
Grand Circus IPA. Detroit’s Grand Circus Park is at the center of the city. It has always been a meeting place where businessmen and visitors alike can relax and enjoy the sights and sounds of the bustling streets. Every city has a place just like Grand Circus Park. Nice and easy. After two years of research and sampling, we’ve found the IPA that craft fans have been waiting for. The one that epitomizes Grand Circus Park. A nice and easy, deliciously hoppy IPA that is only 5% ABV and works perfect with a day in the park. Plus, it too is available in cans.
The melding of two vastly different worlds takes place in a ridiculously clean and superbly efficient brewery, packed with loyal employees, on an industrial drive in the Rivertown district of Detroit. German brewing processes, as old as 200 years, and Motor City grit and determination meet at the Atwater Block Brewery. The facility dates back to 1919, but to take a look at the smoothness with which the bottling business runs in this locale is of much more modern circumstances.
Mark Reith, a native Michigander, helms the company, and is determined to grow Atwater even larger than where it’s come since its birth in 1997. One of his recent implementations, and something that he had in mind when he took over the company, was to get to a point where 90 percent of the beer they sell is canned. The modern trend in the commercial beer business has looped back around to cans, after a tenure of longnecks and swanky tanned glass bottles. The irony is that cans have been viewed by some as the preferred vessel to contain the golden (or similarly hued) liquid. The fact that cans limit the access of air and light, both detrimental to the health of beer, has been vital to the belief that beer should obviously be canned.
The fact that Reith is taking his product in this specific direction seems so much more … Detroit. It’s a workingman’s drink. Beer. In a can. And Detroit is a blue collar city. Not only that, but how many German-style lagers do you find in cans these days? Reith wants to be able to provide “affordable, workingman’s lager.” It’s another blending of traditions and styles. Detroit plus Germany equals success. And lately, the Atwater facility is running like a well-oiled machine. “These days, it almost seems like we can’t make enough beer to keep up with the demand,” says Hazen Schumacher, Brewmaster at Atwater. A booming business is not the most awful problem to have.
Packaging his product differently isn’t the only change Reith is undertaking. Atwater is now perfecting a new Tap Room for the Foxtown Area. When, you ask? “Six months ago,” Reith replies, dryly asserting that this new endeavor needs to be up and running ASAP. As you can tell, he has big plans, and he’s not going to wait around for the stars to align for Atwater. For the new Tap Room, they’re planning to offer 40 different tap beers, focusing on Detroit brews first, then Michigan, and out from there. Obviously, Reith is a major supporter of Michigan business. In fact, they will exclusively be offering Michigan foods at the new location. And for you German food lovers, they will have a ludicrous 15 different types of brats available.
This expansion of commerce is a great sign. And it’s not just that their business is up 49 percent this year, it’s that craft beers and microbreweries have been on a steady rise for the past thirty years (legislative changes in the early ’80s have allowed more hobbyists to actually become entrepreneurs, and similar stories on a larger scale). “But 89 percent of craft beers these days are ales,” explains Reith. Atwater offers a dazzling line of ales, but they also brew stouts, light lagers and beyond. And they successfully brew each because they’ve procured the best elements to do so. Staffing the finest people in their facility, as well as importing ingredients (hops, malt, etc.) and top-notch equipment; these are the best steps towards a successful business.
Atwater has taken great pains to ensure that their business utilizes not only the best of the best staff-wise, Reith has also brought in some legendary equipment. They utilize machinery by Kaspar Schultz, a German company who has been manufacturing the world’s best brew equipment since 1677. It was actually bought on-site in Germany at a brewery expo. There are only four KS machines in North America, and if it needs to be serviced, they literally have to bring someone in from Germany to do so. Now that’s dedication to having the right equipment, no matter what it takes.
Reith’s “know your heritage” philosophy is obvious when talking to him. From his time spent living in Boston, where he began his beer passion by homebrewing, to when he moved back home to Michigan in 1997, following his “passion for better beer,” as he so proudly puts it. And in terms of growing the brand, he also has plans to build a new, full-scale brewery in Detroit by 2014. In addition, Atwater has a new IPA launching shortly, called the Grand Circus IPA. Besides the obvious Detroit tie, why the name? “Every city has their own Grand Circus Park to sit back, relax and have a beer,” he explains. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you take a brewery and a city, and make them your own. | RDW