Deschutes Brewery expands distribution into the Motor City

Grab a cool Deschutes brewski, Detroit. Might we suggest the Mirror Pond pale ale?

As the most populous city in Michigan and the largest city on the United States-Canada border, Detroit is a great city to sell your beer. Deschutes Brewery thinks so. The Bend, Ore.-based brewery announced its craft beers will soon be available in Wayne County, Mich., beginning June 1, 2015. The Oregon-based brewery will partner with West Side Beer Distributing’s Romulus Office for distribution of its beers in the South Detroit area. This move expands Deschutes’ presence in Michigan beyond its fall 2014 distribution in Grand Rapids, E. Lansing and Kalamazoo.

“We’ve seen a tremendous amount of excitement since our Western Michigan launch last fall, complemented by great execution from West Side Beer,” said Stacy Denbow, business development director for the brewery. “Our fans in Michigan are passionate about their craft beer and we’re looking forward to them being able to get Deschutes in the Detroit area now.”

Beer is slated to arrive June 1 in the SE corner of Wayne County serviced by West Side. Initially, Deschutes Brewery will offer Mirror Pond Pale Ale, Black Butte Porter, the nation’s number one selling craft porter, Fresh Squeezed IPA, and its summer seasonal, Twilight Summer Ale. The beers will be available only on draft until fall of 2015 when they will be release in six-packs.

“We’ve been preparing to expand our distribution area in Michigan over the past couple of years, but we always want to make sure we can provide adequate supply to our fans and partner with wholesalers that share our core values,” Denbow continued. “We’re hoping to soon open more of the Detroit Metro area, and eventually move into the rest of the state. It’s important to us to take our time, assess the situation thoroughly and do what is best for our customers there.”

Deschutes launched in Ohio, Kentucky, Central and Western Pennsylvania and Wisconsin last year. State College, Pa., and parts of Michigan will round out the brewery’s geographic expansion for 2015.