Kalamazoo Brewing Co. sold its first keg of beer on September 18, 1985, making it the first microbrewery in the Midwest. Before that date all microbreweries but two were located on the West Coast. Kalamazoo is the oldest microbrewery under continuous ownership east of the West Coast.

Despite the brewery’s longevity, Kalamazoo’s beers are still not widely known nor distributed outside Michigan. Yet the brewery has
developed a fervent, if not fanatical, following among homebrewers. Homebrewers from around the country show up at the brewery on a regular basis to purchase six-packs and cases to take home and share with their beer-drinking buddies. One homebrewer in Georgia drives to Kalamazoo every December just to bring back a trunk load of the brewery’s Christmas beer. Now that’s dedication!

Kalamazoo’s fanatical followers count the beers right up there among the world’s best brews. The ones that aren’t necessarily favorites are at least interesting. And the word “bland” cannot be in anyone’s vocabulary when it comes to describing Kalamazoo’s beer.

Larry Bell, the brewery’s founder, president, and brewmaster, does not make beer for the masses. He brews for a select few who like pizzazz in their beer. The Christmas beer, called Eccentric Ale, is a good example. This beer takes no prisoners; you either love it or hate it. If you have ever had a craving for spices, Eccentric Ale is your ticket.

Bell also brews Expedition Stout, Bell’s Cherry Stout, Bell’s Pale Ale, and Oberon (formerly called Solsun). The Expedition Stout is an imperial stout with an incredibly high original gravity of 1.126. Its alcoholic strength is 11.5 percent by volume. It tastes akin to rich espresso with a couple of shots of vodka in it (stir, don’t shake) and is almost thick enough to eat with a spoon.

The cherry stout is made with fresh Michigan cherries and has an intense, mouth-puckering sour cherry palate mixed with darkly roasted malts. The pale ale is an aggressively hopped American pale ale yet has enough malt to balance it. Oberon, one of the best-selling Kalamazoo beers, is a wheat beer similar in style to a Belgian witbier. It has a spicy taste, but Bell swears it has no spices in it.

All Kalamazoo beers are unfiltered and are apparently fermented with yeast that tends to stay in suspension (non-flocculating). When finishing a bottle, drinkers find a very thick layer of yeast sludge (trub) at the bottom. It could easily give nightmares to any self-respecting Bud drinker.
Bell began brewing in his apartment back in 1980, when homebrewing was done largely by a small bunch of nonconformists who either hated American beer or couldn’t afford it or both. People who opened microbreweries in the early years were regarded by those in the conventional beer business as close to the lunatic fringe. And for the first several years Bell made his beer in one-barrel batches. Even in the days of microbrewery pioneering, anyone with any sense believed that less than a seven-barrel batch wasn’t economically feasible.

Bell also started naming the beers after himself and putting his own portrait on the labels. Some people might say this is a bit eccentric and, of course, they would be right. But when it comes right down to it, what makes good beer is not just the water, the malts, and the hops; it’s also the brewer. Bell’s beers are as eccentric as he is.

Bell began with an initial investment of $39,000. Converted restaurant cookers served as a one-barrel mash tun and brew kettle. There were several one-barrel fermenters and one three-barrel fermenter. The brew was stirred with soup ladles and transferred to the fermenters in buckets. Packaging was done in kegs at first, but bottling soon followed. Distribution was managed by the brewery’s single employee — Bell. Washing, bottling, labeling, and capping were done by Bell’s hand.

No matter how much he slaved over that hot stove, he couldn’t keep up with demand. He began hiring part timers on bottling day. Then he added a one-barrel brewhouse and began adding more and more one- and three-barrel fermenters, and still he couldn’t keep up. At the end of the second year, 135 barrels were all the little brewery could crank out. Customers were even begging Bell to speed up the brewing process, just so they could have more of his beer.

A second-hand bottler and labeler were pressed into service, a 15-barrel brewing-fermenting system was installed, then a 30-barrel system. More fermenters, more bottlers, more employees, more everything, and at a current 15,000-barrel annual clip, meeting demand is still nowhere in sight. With the exception of the original restaurant cookers, all of the old brewhouses, fermenters, and conditioners are still being used. The brewery is a crazy quilt of tanks and machinery, with hoses running everywhere. I pity the poor systems analyst who has to draw a flow chart of this labyrinth.

Bell no longer makes the beer himself. That is done by Head Brewer Steve Buszka and a dedicated team of assistants. Buszka has been with the brewery for five years. More than 15 different beers are made, most of them seasonal.

In addition to expanding production, Kalamazoo has also diversified. In 1993 the aptly named Eccentric Cafe was added. Beer is sold on tap for consumption on the premises and in bottles for take out. There is no food menu. However, customers can snack on free popcorn and pretzels. In 1996 a large beer garden, complete with hop trellises and a bandstand, was added in the back, and a homebrew supply shop was opened across the street.

The Eccentric Cafe is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12:30 a.m., and Sunday from noon to 7 p.m. Brewery tours are offered Saturday afternoons at 1, 2, 3, and 4 p.m. or by appointment.

Kalamazoo Brewing Co. is located at 315 East Kalamazoo Ave., Kalamazoo, Mich. 49007. Contact the brewery at (616) 382-2338; Eccentric Cafe at (616) 382-2332; and Bell’s General Store at (616) 382-5712. The store is at 427 1/2 E. Michigan, south of the cafe. Hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 7 p.m. on Sunday.

Steve Johnson is the author of three brewery guidebooks: On Tap: a Field Guide to North American Brewpubs and Craft Breweries, On Tap New England, and On Tap Northern California.