Meet Jamie Strand, Josh Marenger, and Marc Rea. They are the brains behind A Pint Above, a non-profit organization with the mission to promote Michigan craft beer in the Upper Peninsula, the northern of the two land masses that comprise the state. A Pint Above puts on U.P. Craft Beer Week, which started yesterday (September 1) and runs through Saturday, September 6.
Strand owns White’s Party Store in Marquette. “It’s one of the best craft-beer stores in the U.P., and definitely the best if you’re looking for imports and sours,” says Marenger. Of his other partner Rea’s business, Fitzgerald’s and the Eagle River Inn, “It's an awesome inn right on the shore of Lake Superior that sports incredible smoked food as well as very large and diverse craft-beer and whiskey lists.”
Marenger, known for helping to start the local homebrew club Bay de Noc Brewers, says that U.P. Craft Beer Week was born out of an effort to enhance the local craft-beer scene.
"We started talking about how some of the annual festivals put on by the Michigan Brewers’ Guild had ‘beer weeks’ leading up to them and thought the U.P. could definitely sustain something like that,” he says. “We thought it was important to include the entire U.P. in our event, rather than just one city. We wanted to showcase everything that the U.P. has to offer.”
Some of those offerings are session beers from Keweenaw Brewing Company, Belgian-style brews from Ore Dock, and resurrected pre-Prohibition recipes from Soo Brewing.
"I could give you something unique and awesome about every single one [of the U.P.’s breweries],” says Marenger, who continues his list with, “Bell’s Brewery is launching an entirely new brewery in Escanaba called Upper Hand Brewery that you can only get in the U.P. Hereford & Hops Steakhouse & Brewpub in Escanaba is the oldest and has been around for twenty years. The Vierling in Marquette has been around almost as long and serves excellent beer and food. Blackrocks Brewery in Marquette is pushing the boundaries with beers like a honey lavender wheat. Brickside Brewery is in Copper Harbor, a tiny little town of 132 people.”
Marenger is making a case that there’s something for everyone in the U.P.’s diverse craft-beer scene. “You can find everything from a light beer to take camping to incredible India Pale Ales; from Belgian-style beers to off-the wall beers with ingredients such as coconut or apricots.”
In celebration of the U.P. beer scene, the area breweries are putting on specialty tastings, beer dinners, and facility tours; and the local craft-beer bars are rolling out the tap takeovers. The week ends with the Michigan Brewers Guild U.P. Fall Beer Fest in Marquette, one of the guild’s four seasonal events. Check the web site for a full list of events.