Closed Michigan Brew House May Reopen As Cannabis Club

, Closed Michigan Brew House May Reopen As Cannabis Club

(Courtesy Mitchell Maglio)

It’s a sobering reality, that craft beer’s once uber-hot growth and momentum is slowing. It’s also undeniable that the recreational pot industry is now generating the kind of excitement that craft beer biz did more than a decade ago.

And now Mark Rupert, owner of the just closed Rupert’s Brew House, is hoping to open a cannabis lounge in in Kalamazoo, Michigan and capture pot’s growing commercial buzz.

Michigan is, along with Alaska, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington, one of 11 states in the US where the use of recreational pot is now legal. And it’s not like Rupert is a cannabis entrepreneur newbie…

According to Mlive Rupert “spent the better part of 2019 operating a private cannabis club during special hours at the brewery,” which was conveniently located “not far from Western Michigan University’s campus.”, Closed Michigan Brew House May Reopen As Cannabis Club

Once a Saturday night only operation, that private cannabis club where members “could smoke marijuana and drink a beer at the same time,” started drawing huge crowds and Rupert eventually expanded the private club’s operations to seven days a week.

But in July, after Michigan published new rules for recreational marijuana businesses, Rupert was forced to stop holding cannabis events at his brewery and now Rupert’s Brew House has closed for good.

And as Rupert explained to Mlive it is a time of transition for craft beer, cannabis and his approach to both businesses…

“It’s a sad moment, but also an exciting time, because we know that the future is right around the corner…As a brewery, we see it more beneficial to let the other breweries continue doing what they’re doing, we’re going to get into something else.”

Rupert hopes to open his new cannabis lounge in the space that was once Rupert’s Brew House. But if that’s not possible he’ll look somewhere in downtown Kalamazoo once he’s secured the necessary state licensing.

And ideally he envisions his new cannabis lounge as being “adjacent to another microbrewery business.” So maybe he’s not entirely done with craft beer after all.

And Rupert isn’t the only craft beer veteran getting into the cannabis biz.

There’s also this….

 SHORT’S BREWING PARTNERS WITH CANNABIS INNOVATOR ON POT EDIBLES AND DRINKS

Pot Beer homepage image credit: Mitchell Maglio

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