Speciation Artisan Ales

 

This place is located behind other businesses on this busy commercial street. You can take the driveway back to the building but there is very limited parking back there. You're better off on street parking (pay to park except Sundays). My wife and I stopped here to see what all the fuss was about regarding their beers, and I'll say it's no fluff whatever you hear that's good. We visited on a Sunday just after they opened, and they weren't busy at all. The interior has some picnic tables and some high tables/stools, plus the bar at the rear can seat 8 people. To one side is a large foeder and some oak barrels on a rack. There is no brewing done here, just fermentation and packaging. The bartender was very friendly and knowledgeable about the beers. Of interest, all of their beers are one-offs, except that some popular ones might come back with the same ingredients with slightly-tweaked proportions. We liked the vibe.

We ordered a sampler flight plus one extra that we were curious to try. The bartender also gave us a small sample of another beer that we asked about. Each of the beers was brewed/fermented well in excess of style (they essentially use the same base beer that is brewed by another GR brewery), and we scored all of them at 4.25 or higher. I could taste the wild yeast in the sours, but I didn't get any barrel flavor in the ones that we drank, so I had some mild disappointment in that.

There are 20 taps, and the menu at the time of our visit had 9 beers, one seltzer, one cider, and the rest were wines and a smoothie seltzer. Sours and saisons are the brewery's specialties, but there were an equal number of standard beer styles at the time of our visit. No food is served, although they have some snacks and they are food-friendly. There is a patio off to the side of the building, and that space is dog-friendly. Some bottles/cans of the beers and wines are available to go.

Over the course of two visits (so far) I’ve tried to try everything on the board here. They do a mix of experimental and more conventional wild ales, saisons, and other creative brews.

I visited Speciation a couple of weeks ago while I was visiting Grand Rapids and quite enjoyed it. They're more of a fermentery than a brewery, with their wort made across town at City Built. When I was there, they had 10 beers on tap plus four seltzers, and a focus on sour ales.

I had the cherry vanilla sour and blackcurrant sour, both of which I really liked (especially the blackcurrant). The hazy IPA was also very good indeed; I left with a very high opinion of their beers.

Taproom is clean, light, perhaps a little industrial. The room is shared with the fermenters and a bunch of barrels and a foeder. There's a very authentic feel here. The service was friendly and knowledgeable, and I'd definitely go back if I found myself again in Grand Rapids.

Stopped for a couple of beers while in Grand Rapids with friends - Speciation certainly is not what I'd expected. Firstly, it's quite a lot smaller than I'd anticipated - a few benches, a few barrels and chairs, and bar stools, along with a ton of racked barrels - it's fairly cozy and warm, and the bar staff are quite friendly. I love being able to see all of the barrels and what beers we might look forward to in the future.

I didn't notice any food, per most breweries, but the beer selection is quite good - I believe there were eight beers on during my visit, plus plenty of bottles and cans for on-site consumption. Specializing in sours, the majority were quite inspired sours or wilds - rum and gin barrel aged sours aren't the norm, and Speciation plays with lots of adjuncts that are similarly uncommon. I'm a fan - by and large, the beers are quite incredible.

I do wish that the space was slightly larger and more well-lit, but Speciation is an excellent stop - I wish this place was local to me!

Awesome brewery, I can't say enough good things about this incredible brewery. As I posted in the forum under "most interesting breweries" :

Speciation Artisan Ales in Grand Rapids Mi, and Black Project from Denver Co. for the same reason. Delicious spontaneous fermentation and creative brews. Both use a coolship. Actually the founder of Speciation was a bartender and apprentice brewer at Black Project (formerly Former Future) and then moved to Michigan and set up a brewery there following the formula of BP. When I lived in the Platte Park neighborhood of Denver I was right across the street from Former Future and watched them become Black Project. A few years later I moved to Michigan and had no idea what Mitch had done, when I found out about Speciation I was so excited, then once I tried it I was simply amazed at how good their beer was. Truly fantastic.

Keep up the good work MItch! Sorry to hear about your landlord forcing you to take down the new (and amazing) artwork. :( I hope that you guys find an awesome new place to keep brewing some of the most incredible and creative brews in the world.

BTW my slightly lower score for selection stands, sorry. I know it's a growing thing ;) it will change I am certain of that.

 

Really layed back brewery with lots of unique sours from a variety of different sour styles. One of the best sour breweries around. Can taste all ingredients in the description of their beers

 

Great selection of taps running from flagship to small batch, a really exciting cooler of in-house cans and bottles including rare stuff, and a great selection of take home bottles, cans, and merch. Hidden away in an industrial park, very cool to sit amongst all the aging barrels in the small tap room. Good music, good people, they encourage bringing your own food and games. One of the best breweries in Michigan, and by extension, the country.

 

 

 

 

 

If you love wild ales and are in Michigan, this is the place to check out. High quality beers and super cool place to visit. Currently only open once a month for bottle releases but a taproom is in the works. Once that opens, do yourself a favour and pay these guys a visit; you shant be disappointed.