USA, MI: Apoptosis Brewing Company set to open in Kalamazoo on January 14

A new brewery and tasting room is set to open on South Westnedge Avenue in Kalamazoo this weekend, MLive.com reported on January 11.

Owned and operated by longtime friends Andrew Birr and Dustin Johnson, Apoptosis Brewing Company will open at 3811 S. Westnedge Ave., on Saturday, Jan. 14, Johnson told the Kalamazoo Gazette/MLive.

Birr will serve as head brewer with Johnson running the front of house and lending a hand with brewing. Both have been homebrewing for over 10 years, Johnson said.

The brewery, located at the former site of a revamped Big Apple Bagels location, plans to serve small batch, hand-crafted beers, seltzers and ciders. They will have nine selections on tap, including the Golgi Apparatus New England Style IPA, named after a song by Phish, a band Johnson is a fan of.

Other beers on tap to start will include the Spiral Nebulae Milk Stout, Blood Orange Revolution Blonde Ale, Absolute Zero Pre-Prohibition Lager and Foxy Cream Ale made with concord grapes from Corey Lake Orchards in Three Rivers.

There will also be a yet-to-be-named hazy pale ale, lemon seltzer, pineapple seltzer and a raspberry wheat ale.

Johnson and Birr will not serve food to start, but plan to eventually offer paninis and chips. People are welcome to bring outside food in, including on opening weekend. The brewery also has plans to have food truck nights when the weather warms up, Birr said.

Current coworkers at Charles Rivers Laboratories in Mattawan, Birr and Johnson have known each other since their high school days in Muskegon and then were college roommates at Western Michigan University. The two hope to fill a gap by offering a neighborhood go-to spot for the Westnedge Hill and South Westnedge Hill neighborhoods.

“There’s nowhere to go right near here,” Johnson said. “That was a big thing about putting it in this neighborhood. You go down Westnedge, and it’s all commercial restaurants. I’m hoping by being specific and making our own product and offering something nobody else does in this area of Kalamazoo and (near) Portage, that will be what drives people in here.”

In addition to a variety of board and card games to keep patrons occupied, guests at Apoptosis will also be able to take in a football or hockey game on one of the brewery’s half dozen TVs, something not all breweries offer in their taprooms.

“We both love football, both love hockey and obviously craft beer,” Johnson said. “We wanted to offer something that is not just so much your normal sports bar and bring that to this side of Kalamazoo. Most of the craft breweries are all board games, which is fine and dandy, but it’s one more thing to make it stick out.”

The name, Apoptosis (AY-pop-toe-sis), is another thing likely to stick out.

It’s an example of Johnson’s love of science, music and beer. Besides being the scientific definition of “programmed cell death,” apoptosis is also a process used during the fermentation of alcohol.

Johnson and Birr landed on the name for the brewery as Johnson had been in bands for years and always wanted to name a band Apoptosis, but he never had any takers in his bandmates.

The brewery features a hand-constructed bar with seating for up to 13 made by Johnson, Birr and Birr’s father-in-law. There are an additional 13 tables in the taproom including three high-top tables near the bar and another 10 tables in the regular seating area.

The two friends, both 36, also expect to open the preexisting patio space in the spring and add a couple outdoor tables, a gas firepit and cornhole boards.

Beers will be sold in flights of four, 10-ounce glasses or pints. The brewery will also offer growlers to go.

While Birr and Johnson have their beers selected for opening, Birr said he expects the community to eventually pick the beers for them.

“We want to offer that neighborhood bar kind of feel,” Johnson said. “The first year, we’ll really be keeping track of our sales and reports, what’s selling, what people are asking about that we don’t have on tap. Going from there, (we’re) having that mindset of, we brew five or six beers for them and one for us.”

Hours at the time of opening will be 3 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 3 to 11 p.m. Friday, noon to 11 p.m. Saturday and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday.

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