Glasshouse Brewing Set to Open

Glasshouse owners Brad and Brent Payeur with head brewer Kuma-Ofori-Mensa.

Whenever I talk to business owners I marvel that there are any businesses at all. The sheer amount of bullshit required to launch a new venture, such as, say, a brewery, would be enough to dissuade most people.

But fortunately for humanity, there are crazy folks like Brad and Brent Payeur, the brothers behind Glasshouse Brewing on Ann Arbor's west side (occupying the back of the same building housing the city's oldest continuously operating business, Diamond Glass & Feiner's).

The Payeurs hired Arbor Brewing veteran Kuma Ofori-Mensa to produce the beers, which he has dutifully done – there are six in the tanks ready to be drunk. They include an English-style bitter; a robust porter; a saison brewed with rye, lemongrass, and grains of paradise; an amber wheat ale; an American IPA; and a cherrywood-smoked stout.

The only reason you aren't enjoying these beers right now is the state of Michigan and its Byzantine, antiquated, dopey license approval process. Despite the fact that Glasshouse has been in planning for over a year, Lansing still hasn't managed to get around to bestowing its blessing on the endeavor. So whenever that happens, which should be soon, Glasshouse will officially open its doors.

In the meantime, I was able to try the IPA and the smoked stout. Both were quite tasty – the smoke is subtle in the stout – which one expects from an experienced brewer like Kuma. He plans to create a wide variety of solid as well as experimental beers in the future.

So there's the update. Keep an eye out for Ann Arbor's newest brewery, opening whenever the politically ordained nonsense runs its course. Hours will be 4 p.m. to midnight, Monday through Friday, and noon to midnight Saturday and Sunday.