Keweenaw Brewing Company

This cozy downtown Houghton spot is where visitors can quaff tasty freshly-brewed beer and munch roasted peanuts. It's part of a 3400 sq ft taproom that includes two bars, tables and chairs, a seating area around a fireplace and an outside deck. And there's free Internet service.

This growing microbrewery has quickly gained a devoted following, first at its laid-back, hip and comfortable downtown taproom, and now among beer drinkers who find it in groceries as far away as Marquette. A keg from the KBC is a sign of good taste at parties among students and alums at Michigan Tech and Finlandia.
    Downtown, Keweenaw Brewing occupies two connected storefronts, one without smoking and with lodge-like sofas around a rear fireplace — a mellow place to hang out and talk. (Music never blasts, so conversations and thinking are always possible.) There's occasional musical entertainment, usually from singer-songwriters, who work for tips. Find out about entertainment, and read about the nine brews currently on tap, at keweenawbrewing.com Patrons can bring in their own food, or order in pizza, or buy nuts here.
    A rear deck has a view of the Quincy Mine and a bit of the lift bridge, but the parking deck's higher level blocks some of the view.
    The bar is also sort of a tasting room for individual patrons. To-go customers buy kegs or $7.50 half-gallon growlers, which the bartender fills (or refills) upon purchase. Glasses of several draft ales, from pale to amber to brown, sell for $2.50/pint. Behind it are the copper vats. Brewing downtown is currently once a week. The aroma of hops fills the rooms and wafts outside.
    Owners Dick Gray (a Michigan Tech grad in petroleum geology) and Paul Boussevain met working in the oil business in Colorado. Like so many Tech grads, Dick dreamed of returning to the Copper Country when his kids had finished school.
    Why not join up with Paul, a fellow beer aficionado, in a new brewery? On his first visit, Paul loved the area. And they successfully induced Denver brewmaster David Lawrence to join their project. KBC opened in 2004.
    The area's low real estate values made many things possible that wouldn't have been possible in, say, Ann Arbor.
     Having the funds from the owners' first careers meant KBC could afford to sell beer in cans instead of bottles. Its Pick Axe Blonde and Red Jacket Amber Ale are Michigan's first canned microbrews (also sold in kegs). Cans recycle better, Paul points out. Light doesn't reach the beer. And there's no broken glass. The problem is, a minimum order of 200,000 cans is required for can manufacturer Cask Calgary to print them — and that takes up a lot of space (16' by 20').
    In 2007, with the downtown brewery operating at capacity and demand from distributors outpacing capacity, KBC opened a larger brewery in South Range, with room to warehouse cans. (Interested people can call 482-1937 to set up an informal tour.) Look for the two silos and large beige metal building peeking up a block or so behind the empty gas station on M-26 entering town from Houghton. The official address is 10 Fourth Street.
Currently it brews some six times a week. With the South Range brewery, more different beers can be canned and distributed.

408 Shelden. Sun noon-8, Mon-Wed 3-10, Thu-Sat 11-11. (906) 482-5596.
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