Alpha Michigan Brewing Company

The Alpha Michigan Brewing Company opened in May 2018.[1][2][3] It was founded by Mary and Mike Bjork, from Alpha, and Julie and Stu Creel, from nearby Crystal Falls.[4] The establishment describes Alpha as "the smallest village in America with a brewery".[5] In 2019, the brewery ran out of beer after above-normal sales during the US Independence Day holiday.[3]

The brewery's beer names are all related to Alpha, its former Porter school, nearby Mastodon Township, or Iron County, the county of Alpha and Mastodon Township.[1] Its business is also heavily locally focused. Its barley, oats, and some of its hops come from local farms, at least one of which is less than 1 mile (1.6 km) away, and as of 2018, it donates US$1 of each beer sold to local initiatives and organizations.[4] For example, during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the brewery donated US$200 plus 20% of their Saturday beer sales to three nearby St. Vincent de Paul locations.[6]

The brewery is at 303 E. Center St. in a former bus garage that is attached to Alpha's long-closed George F. Porter Public School.[4] The school building is listed on the US National Register of Historic Places as part of the Alpha Public Buildings Historic Complex, all on a single block.[7] The Porter School was last used as a school in 1967 and was sold by the village in 2005.[8]

The interior of the taproom was partially constructed from secondhand materials gathered from around the village. The bar was previously used for a buffet at the Alpha Inn and at the Alpha Veterans of Foreign Wars, changing hands each time after the previous location closed, and a pew from the shuttered St. Edwards Catholic Church in Alpha is part of the brewery's available seats.[4]

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