LANSING, Mich. — Tucked away in an industrial park off of Grand River Avenue in East Lansing, you'll find Ellison Brewery and Spirits.
"We make all of our own beer and spirits. Huge food menu," said Director of Sales and Marketing Mark Logusz.
It's 30,000-square-foot warehouse makes it easy for them to run a 20-barrel brew house.
"If you've seen a keg of beer, that's a half a barrel. So each batch of beer that we make, makes 40 of those," said Logusz. "The brewery is right behind the tap room and sort of the backdrop for the whole place. It's the largest piece of artwork in the whole place. But it makes it very efficient to brew and serve in the same joint."
When you take a walk inside, you immediately get good vibes.
"Always fun. It's always vibrant," Logusz said.
Haley Faulkner is the manager. She has been working at the brewery for seven months and says her experience has been amazing.
"It's really chill. Like it's super relaxed. Everybody's just here to have a good time," Faulkner said. "We've been super busy. I love the clientele. It's a super fun job."
And business is doing so good they decided to roll the barrel across town and expand.
They are adding a second location and event space in REO Town.
"This is a very big space, we have access to over 25,000 square feet currently," Logusz said.
But they are planning to have access to more.
The building screams history and used to be a showroom for the REO Speedwagons.
"Aaron, the owner saw this building and immediately fell in love with it," Logusz said. "We really want people to learn about the space as well as have great food and drinks."
The space will have an indoor outdoor beer garden area, a custom bar, fun zone and even a cool pizza oven.
"We have our sour production or sour beer production here, as well as we'll be doing some barrel aging for the people that like the bourbon-barrel-aged beers," Logusz said.
And upstairs will be a wide open space with another bar for events.
"That's where many of the weddings and events will be held," Logusz said.
Logusz is excited and proud that they will be a part of the REO Town community.
"The idea that we can bring jobs and more business in the community. I hope that someone can come in and and have dinner here and then go look at records down the shop or buy a T-shirt. That's what excites me about being right here specifically," Logusz said.
They've been working on opening the spot for over three years. But now, they are en-route to have a soft launch in January, and they will be opening their doors completely in February with a Drag Show Brunch.
The brewery will also be hosting a job fair and says the new business will bring about 40 jobs to the area.
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