Area Wine & Beer

BEER+ WINE

= a good time!

Area wine and beer makers are ready to be back in business!

By Drew Saunders

Lenawee County’s beer and wine industry is just as eager to hit the ground running with its fi rst postCOVID summer as its thirsty customers are. The winery and brewery owners and managers interviewed for this article all had just as tough a time of surviving the coronavirus pandemic as other small businesses across the world, but are cautiously optimistic about the future.

Businesses like Pentamere Winery had to shut down — in Pentamere’s case for six weeks — but they are still here and ready to go. Dan Measel, who has been the chief winemaker for Pentamere for nineteen years, told Our Town that he is confi dent of a good summer as long as the coronavirus restrictions are phased out for the majority of the summer.

“Full steam ahead. We’re listening to what’s coming out of Lansing … but folks are coming out, we’re here and hopefully the timing is good right now,” Measel said.

The tasting room at Pentamere is limited to twelve people at a time to conform with Lansing’s social distancing requirements, as of publication.

Michael Wells, the owner of Black Fire Winery, responded to the pandemic by setting up his limited capacity wine room to sell mostly online. Any of his products can be ordered and shipped to up to forty states. Black Fire also had to recover from a fl ooding issue that happened during the lockdown, but is currently open for business, and is ready to accommodate people of any comfort level.

“We’re thinking that this is still going to be another year of things being done outside. So, we’re going to gear up for things to be outside,” Wells said. And so, Black Fire will “have more outdoor seating then we’ve had in the past, because I don’t think people still feel that comfortable with being close to other people.”

Operating a business like the Flying Otter Vineyard has been frustrating during the pandemic, according to Bob Utter. But they have survived, and their outdoor

TECUMSEH BREWING

“It’s always di cult to have to scale businesses back to the point where its really di cult to stay in business,” Utter said. “And then you have to deal with all the regulatory requirements in terms of restricting our business, but the customers fi nd it very frustrating. A lot of them are very good and understanding, but a lot of them aren’t.”

Now that about three-fi fths of Michigan’s population, aged 16 or older, have had at least one shot of the vaccination, the state is starting to reopen. But as restrictions lift, that doesn’t mean the rules will be the same across the board. Utter, for example, said that restrictions for him and his employees might vary from rules for patrons.

The Tecumseh Brewing Company had to hit pause on its long-term expansion plans when Washington and Lansing enforced social distancing and lockdown procedures over a year ago. These plans include going out to beer festivals with their food truck, which was just permitted before the lockdown began and has been mostly collecting dust, but it is still ready to go.

Co-owner Kyle De Witt also told Our Town that they are planning on adding a tasting room to their production facility, because only half of the space is actually used to produce their product. That will be in the future, however. In the meantime, Tecumseh Brewing has gone forward with improvements to both their production facility and eatery — repainting, adding fi re pits, a children’s playground and adding a garage-door style roll up door, to allow easy access between inside and outside.

“Now that things are opening back up, for good it looks like, on July 1, we’re really looking forward to getting these places humming at full speed, as opposed to fi fty percent,” De Witt said. “Now that we can open at full speed, our customers are really excited to get out there. Some customers haven’t been out there at all during COVID, so they’re excited to get out.”

And it isn’t just wineries and breweries. Laura Wanke, the general manager of Chaloner’s Cigar House on Maumee Street, said that her 130 or so members were thrilled to be back. They have been open as long as the state has allowed, surviving a six week ban on indoor smoking. They also serve spirits. TECUMSEH BREWING

FLYING OTTER VINEYARD BLACKFIRE WINERY

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...of her customer base, now that they can be welcomed back in.

“I think that most people are just happy — even when there were a lot of restrictions …. — I think people were happy just to come back out.”

Outdoor music has always been a key component of businesses like these, but they will be more important than ever during the recovery. Flying Otter will be providing music and so will Tecumseh Brewing, along with their trivia nights. Chadoners will be opening back up to cigar events, bridal showers, corporate events and just celebrated their fi rst post-pandemic bourbon tasting show. But Wells said Black Fire Winery will be “waiting to see” if enough of his customers want free music at his establishment. If enough people ask for it, Wells said he will arrange to provide it.

PENTAMERE WINERY