Ferndale's M-Brew Highlights Michigan Products

M-Brew is a new Ferndale spot which serves only Michigan products, from the food to the taps and everything in between.

The Metro Times reports that owner Dean Bach, who has also run Dino's for the past 13 years, converted a former VFW hall into a bar, restaurant and coffee house. He even renovated the space, which opened Aug. 1, with reclaimed Michigan wood.

"I wanted to keep the 'Buy Michigan' momentum going when the economy got better," he says. "Michigan has a tendency to reward the people that are here for sticking it out through thick and thin, but as soon as the economy gets whole again, it kinda goes away. And that's a shame, because we have so many great products here in the state."

M-Brew offers more than two dozen Michigan beers on draft, and the menu is stacked with local products and recipes. According to Metro Times, diners can choose from favorites like "Frankenmuth-style Bavarian roasted chicken, Detroit-style pizza, Koegel's hot dogs, Dearborn jumbo beef franks, Bruce Crossing pasties, made from Bach's mother-in-law's recipe, and pulled pork and ribs from local barbecue outfit Smokin' Butts Barbecue, which operates out of the smoker on the building's side."

They also make their own root beer and brew their own coffee, including "far-out flavors" like bacon-maple and blueberry-cinnamon crumb cake.

The back room is a classic arcade with vintage pinball machines, shuffleboard, and a jukebox that plays vinyl records.

"I'm trying to go old-school here and keep it authentic old-school," he says. "Like the bowling alley when I was a kid in Detroit — I'd walk to the bowling alley three or four blocks down the street and get myself a Coke, a slice of pizza, and had a pocketful of quarters and play Asteroids all day."

M-Brew's main dining room features a fireplace for cozy winter nights, as well as a beautiful patio and wrap-around porch for summer fun, according to its Facebook page. Their taps currently include brews like Dragonmead Final Absolution, Uncle John's Hard Apple Cider, New Holland Mad Hatter, Millking It Productions SNO, Mountain Town Peach Gruit, and Kuhnhenn Brewing Co. Fluffer.
—Kat Rembacki
· M-Brew [Official Page]
· Michigan's creative ferment is bubbling up at Ferndale's M-Brew
[MetroTimes]