A year ago, John Niedermaier asked the Garfield Township Planning Board to do something they’d never done before: to find room in their township for a business unlike any in Michigan, or possibly the country.

They did. Unanimously. In one meeting.

“I was absolutely shocked when it was unanimously approved at the public hearing,” Niedermaier tells The Ticker. “It’s been amazing to put together something that works for the township and works for us.”

Now, he’s preparing to break ground this month on his combination farm-pub-brewery – Brewery Terra Firma – with plans to open in July. The business, located at Hartman and Dracka roads in Traverse City, is expected to create 10 new jobs. It will serve as a brewery (with a 2,000 square-foot tasting room), an agricultural destination (with seven acres of crops), and a farm pushing for 100 percent efficiency. 

Niedermaier says the BTUs given off in the production process will be harnessed to heat the building, and the “spent” barley husks will not be sold to area farmers for filler feed, as most breweries do, but turned back into the fields for use as fertilizer.

“There is nothing in Michigan that compares to it – maybe not even on a national or global scale,” says Niedermaier, former head brewer at Traverse Brewing Co. and former brew master at Right Brain Brewery. “People will be watching this as a model.”

Barley used in beer can’t be grown in Michigan’s climate, so Brewery Terra Firma will get its barley from all over the world. It will, however, be able to grow other ingredients on site, such as hops, herbs, spices and beets (and, yes, they’ll have a beet beer).

Another Traverse City microbrewery has big plans on tap for this month. The Filling Station Microbrewery at the former railroad depot off Eighth Street is starting to brew and will open Feb. 28 with eight microbrews on tap, and 12 eventually.

The business is a family affair. Brewer David Cannizzaro, a former Vermont baker, is joining his father-in-law Ray Klepper, who’ll serve as general manager. Klepper has lived in the area for 30 years and was semi-retired (he formerly did machine design for Verstand Engineering in TC) when his daughter Lyndsay and Cannizzaro moved back to Michigan to be closer to family. Lyndsay and Ray’s other daughter, Amanda, will take part in the business.

“David has been home brewing for 15 years,” says Klepper. “When we went to visit him, he was brewing better than anything I was buying!”

The brewery space and pub span approximately 4,000 square feet and will carry wood-fired pizzas and salads. There will be 68 seats inside and nearly double that when the patio is open. “We’ll use the covered train platform as a patio with a lake view in the warm months,” says Amanda Klepper.

For more information on the breweries, click on the links:
http://thefillingstationmicrobrewery.com/
http://breweryterrafirma.com