Tibbs Brewing Company

 

Located in a small store front near the theater in downtown Kalamazoo. Small bar and tap room reminds me of an old soda shop. Friendly bartender, we 2 beers that were solid. Will try and visit again.

 

 

 

 

Very intimate place in the heart of Kalamazoo. Very cool vibe.

 

 

 

 

 

Great small microbrewery. Needs to increase selections.

Great little brewery in downtown Kalamazoo. The Citra your ass down iPa is great!

 

 

 

 

Excellent nanobrewery here in Kalamazoo. I haven't had a bad beer yet. Very flavorful, rich, complex, and unique. My personal favorites include the Hel-Jen Belgian Tripel, Citra Your Ass Down IPA, and the Pumped-up Pumpkin among others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This place gives new meaning to the term “small”. It is located in an old diner that is right next door to the State Theater in downtown Kalamazoo. It is literally the smallest microbrewery I have ever been in (and I have been in a few). We stopped in prior to a concert at the State Theater. We had already been to another brewery and planned to drink at the show, so I just ordered two 5 oz samplers, one an IPA and the other a double IPA (they only had 3 beers available). Both were quite good. This place is brand new, and such a small operation may find it tough competing in the exploding Southwest Michigan beer market, but I was impressed enough to try it again. It is the perfect place to drop in for quick brew before or after a show at the State.

Atmosphere: kinda small, only really 5 or 6 tables tops, looks identical to an old dinner that was slightly remodeled to quickly open a brewery.

Quality: tried a few different beer and wasn't overly impressed by any.

Service: two people running around trying to keep their full small place happy. that and kegs needing change had them drawn a little bit thin

Selection: I believe they had 5 taps and one was out. that and the overall quality left me wanting more.

Overall: a very new brewery and needs a lot of work and expansion if its gonna make it and become a must visit

 

Another Micro-brewery in town! This one is small and cramped below the State Theater, which in some ways does add character. Prices are a bit high for the neighborhood it is in. Owner is extremely friendly and is a true beer lover and it shows in his work.

Stopped in with friends the weekend after Christmas while visiting Kzoo.

This is a good addition to the Kzoo beer scene. It's a great location, right on Burdick st downtown. It's the tiny corner space that I'm pretty sure used to be a diner, an Italian restaurant, a Mediterranean restaurant, then another diner.

The atmosphere is interesting. It's still a brightly lit 1970s deli atmosphere, picture windows all around, unadorned, with the counter serving as the bar. It somehow works, and comes together as a neighborhood gathering spot - the type of place you'd stop by just for a beer and a chat. Laid-back crowd on a Friday night.

5 beers on tap. Both I tried were good.

Overall a nice stop on a Kzoo beer tour, walking distance from Bell's, Rupert's, etc.

Update 01/17/15 - My wife and I attended a Kalamazoo Beer Week beer dinner here last night (catered because there is no kitchen here), and there are 10 beers on tap now, so this update revises the beer score from my previous review that had only two beers included in it.

We had 5 oz. sampler glasses of the 5 beers that were paired with the dinner, and each was very well done. We also had a pint of the brewery's first sour (Experimental Sour Batch 001), and it also was tasty. I detected some salt characteristic and thought it might have been a Gose, but the owner/brewer said it was not a recipe for that style. So the first attempt may have been an accidental Gose, and it is well worth trying if you like sours.
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This was stop #3 on a mini-pub crawl for my wife and myself to visit three new brewpubs in downtown Kalamazoo. This pub just opened in December, 2013, and is a very small operation in a storefront setting. (The place has seats for only around 20 people at a small bar plus a few tables.) I did not list the pub as an Eatery here on the BA site; however, they do offer nachos, loaded fries and a flatbread pizza, plus some salty snacks with cheese.

The brewery is small as evidenced by only having 5 beers on tap, and no back-up kegs because they were sold out of three beers with nothing to replace them. (Kalamazoo Beer Week was starting, so demand was exceeding supply. We also noticed the next night that a third beer had been added back to the menu board, and it was standing room only in the place.) We could only have a sampler pour of the two remaining beers on which to base this review, but we liked what we had. The Pale Ale was slightly above average for its style so a rating of C+ was given, but the Belgian Triple was very good and we rated it at a B+. (Presumably the three beers that were sold out could be better than these two if their kegs kicked before the other two.)

The brewer/owner was there and chatted with us for a few minutes, so that's a plus that you can get in a small operation like this one. He seems determined to put out some great beers and to develop a following, and I think he'll do it. We'll go back from time to time so that we can watch the progress.