Eastern Market Brewing Co. plans Royal Oak expansion, including new taproom by end of 2021

Another Detroit-area brewery is taking over the former Roak Brewing Co. taproom and production facility in Royal Oak.

Eastern Market Brewing Co. — which also owns and runs Ferndale Project in nearby Ferndale — has signed a 5-year lease for the 17,000-square-foot space at 330 East Lincoln Avenue, with plans to expand beer production and open a taproom at the location by the end of the year, under a unique brand name.

Eastern Market Brewing Co. also purchased the equipment inside the facility, which includes a 30-barrel brewhouse system, a full-size kitchen and a pizza oven, and plans to use the space to host the other ancillary businesses it created during the COVID-19 pandemic. That includes Peddler, a food and beer delivery service that launched in March 2020 just as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued a stay-home order and closed indoor dining across Michigan, and Dooped Donuts, a vegan doughnut company.

In fact, that was a major selling point for expanding to Royal Oak, said Shalyn Getz, president of Eastern Market Brewing Co. Three weeks after Ferndale Project opened in late February 2020, the staff had to do a "360" into a different world, since its taproom-focused business could no longer operate a taproom.

"We did what we do best and got to work, got creative and launched the idea of 'one business a day' to keep our staff busy and keep their spirits up, but also to inspire other businesses to make something of the challenges we're facing," Getz said.

That inspired Peddler and Dooped Donuts, which have been operating out of the 10,000-square-foot Ferndale Project location since last year. But with space limited there and a desire to bring Ferndale Project back to its roots (slinging beer), the staff needed more space to operate these other businesses.

"It became too difficult to have all these things in one place," Getz said.

Enter 330 E. Lincoln Ave., where Roak Brewing Co. once lived.

Roak took over the space in 2014, transforming a pair of buildings used for warehousing, office, research and design over the years into a 30-barrel brewhouse and a tasting room. It quickly became known for its flagship Live Wire IPA and Devil Dog oatmeal stout.

In 2019, Roak acquired Marshall-based Dark Horse Brewing Co., inheriting the latter's reported $1.5 million in debt, and merged the two breweries' sales force and financial resources. Then in late 2020, just as Michigan was enduring a new surge in COVID-19 cases, Roak Brewing Co. made plans to permanently close its taproom, sell the equipment and place its space up for lease, consolidating its beer production with Dark Horse and using the latter's 40,000-square-foot facility in Marshall. Roak previously said it plans to open a taproom elsewhere in Royal Oak.

Meanwhile, Eastern Market Brewing Co., which opened in 2017 out of a 2,500-square-foot brewery and taproom space at 2515 Riopelle, has greatly expanded its footprint across metro Detroit in the four years since.

In 2019, it acquired Axle Brewing Co. and opened Ferndale Project months later out of the former Livernois Tap space at 567 Livernois, using its 10-barrel brewhouse to brew a variety of "creative, progressive and unconventional" IPAs, fruited sours and stouts. 

This latest expansion will allow Eastern Market Brewing Co. to triple its brewing system capacity — from 15 combined barrels in Eastern Market and Ferndale to 45 with the addition of Royal Oak — and use that to brew more of its Eastern Market beer while ramping up self-distribution.

There's also the added benefit of a vast warehouse to barrel-age beers. Ferndale Project dabbles in barrel-aging, but doesn't have enough space for a full-fledged barrel-aging program. That changes with Royal Oak.

"We're still figuring it out, but that definitely has come to the forefront," Getz said. "We do try to make each location have a different identity, though the beers will overlap a little bit."

For subscribers: Love Oberon? Here are 5 Michigan beer alternatives to try

Plans for the taproom are still being worked out with the Royal Oak City Commission, Getz said, but expect the Royal Oak location to have its own identity, both in name and with its beer, much like how Ferndale Project was formed. "We want it to reflect the neighborhood and focus on a different part of the beer market," she said.

There also is a plan to form a new company based on the Detroit-style pizzas Ferndale Project has been selling over the past year. But Dayne Bartscht, founder and managing partner of Eastern Market Brewing Co., said in a news release that there is no rush to get everything up and running right away.

"Having opened two breweries, we know that it takes time to develop and execute a concept," Bartscht said. "On top of that, our entire team worked long hours throughout 2020. We all need to find time this year to get away and recharge."

Spirits of Detroit writer Brian Manzullo covers craft alcohol for the Free Press. Contact him: bmanzullo@freepress.com and on Untappd, bmanzullo and Twitter, @BrianManzullo and @SpiritsofDET.