Company brews up Kid Rock beer
by JOHN GALLAGHER
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
This one’s for you, Kid Rock.
The Michigan Economic Growth Authority approved Tuesday a state tax credit valued at $722,957 so that the Michigan Brewing Company, a Webberville-based brewer of craft beers, can produce a new product line: a craft beer for musician Kid Rock. The company plans to invest $7 million in the project, which is expected to create 394 new Michigan jobs, including 161 directly by the company.
The village of Webberville is considering an abatement to support the project.
Bobby Mason, the owner-brewer at the Michigan Brewing Co. in Webberville, said he hoped to have the new Kid Rock branded beer on the shelves by mid-springtime. The beer’s name, style, and pricing are yet to be decided. Kid Rock himself is working closely with Mason on the design, naming, and style of the beer, Mason said.
“He’s working on designing the beer, he’s giving me direction, he’s tasting the beers,” Mason said. “It’s his idea, it’s his concept. I’m just working with him to make it happen.”
Among the issues yet to be decided: Will the new lager be a premium-priced brew or a drink priced for Kid Rock’s working-class fans? Mason said it’s also yet to be decided how many different beers will be part of the new product line.
“It’ll be one beer starting out and we’ll just see where it goes from there,” he said.
Currently the brewery employs about eight people who produce 100,000 barrels of beer a year. Mason said he hoped to sell 100,000 cases a year of the Kid Rock branded beer and add more than 150 new employees over the next two to five years, including positions in sales, packaging, and production.
Contact JOHN GALLAGHER at 313-222-5173 or gallagher@freepress.com.
http://www.freep.com/article/20090217/BUSINESS06/90217035/1001/rss01
Call it.... "White Trash" by Bob Ritchie.
He used to come into some of the bars I worked at, seemed ok but he does draw a jean shorts/wife beater crowd and hard to believe 1 beer flavor at an already established brewery would create that many jobs.
A beer for kids, made out of rocks? What'll they think of next?
Ba Witdaba
Too bad Joe C isn't around.
I hope the hepatitis C that Pam has isn't contagious!
So the Brewing Company has 8 employees that produce 100,000 barrels a year....and they plan on producing another 100,000 of Kid Rock beer....and they need another 161 employees to do that? Am I missing something?
Call it 394 new Michigan jobs
"The extraordinary part of [my method] lies in its simplicity..The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity." - Bruce Lee
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