Community Corner
Rochester Mills to Mark 15th Anniversary With Bigger 'Beach Bash'
Two-day event includes pig roast, tour of Auburn Hills production facility.
The brewers at Rochester Mills Beer Company are raising a glass for the company's 15th anniversary, inviting the public to a free indoor "Beach Bash" this weekend at the downtown brewpub.
David Youngman, marketing director at Rochester Mills' Auburn Hills production brewery, said the company has had its annual Beach Bash to mark each anniversary, but he hopes to make this year's event special.
"A 15th anniversary is a pretty big milestone for a small, independently owned business," he said. "We're doing things a little bit bigger this year."
The festivities previously took place on a Thursday as a one-day event at the Rochester pub, but this year will span two days—Friday and Saturday—at the pub, 400 Water St. in Rochester.
The event will offer a pig roast, live music and family-friendly activities on both days, special tappings of two anniversary concoctions—a bourbon barrel-aged barleywine and bourbon barrel-aged Scotch ale—and a shuttle to the production brewery, where tours and additional events will take place, Youngman said.
There is no cover for the Beach Bash, and the pub will offer happy hour pricing during the course of the event, Youngman said.
"It's kind of a giveback to the patrons who come in year in and year out," he said.
In 15 years, Youngman said, the brewery has grown to be one of the top craft brewers in Michigan, with the Rochester pub ranking as one of the top two brewpubs in the state in beer production, not including the production brewery's beers that get distributed to all 83 counties in Michigan.
"We draw a lot of our foot traffic from the immediate area," he said. "To have that sort of volume we put through there says a lot about the product we put out."
The Beach Bash gets under way at 5 p.m. on Friday with the special tappings of the anniversary beers at 6:30 p.m. at the Rochester pub. On Saturday, the production brewery, 3275 Lapeerwest Road in Auburn Hills, will open at 1 p.m., while kids' activities run from 1-3 p.m. at the pub, followed by live music at the production brewery from 4-7 p.m. and at the pub from 5-close.
Homebrewers' beers on tap for later this year
Youngman said the two winners of Rochester Mills' homebrew competition, held between April and June this year with 120 batches and more than 1,000 gallons of beer brewed by homegrown hobbyists, should see their prize beers on tap by the end of this year.One of the winning brews, a saison from Grand Rapids, will be brewed at the pub.
"We're trying to figure out exactly when the next time that will allow us to do that with our production schedule," he said.
The other winner, an Imperial IPA from Warren, is a season release that should arrive after Rochester Mills' popular Oktoberfest runs its course.
Youngman said Rochester Mills' brewers will consult with the winning homebrewers to adapt their recipe to the company's larger-scale systems before the beers will be delivered in kegs to bars around the state.
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