A new resident swings open in the RenCen on Wednesday. The Minneapolis-based casual chain Granite City Food & Brewery has claimed a massive 16,000-square-foot corner property for a 450-seat restaurant and 120-seat patio facing Jefferson Avenue.
The company tries to cultivate craft beer experience at its restaurants. For instance, RenCen location features two bars offering both local and national beers, as well as house brands created at each individual restaurant using a proprietary process called Fermentus Interruptus. Through the process, beer wort — essentially a sweet grain-steeped water — is produced at a central brew house in Ellsworth, Iowa and shipped to Granite City's 35 locations where it is then added to restaurant fermentation tanks for finishing. "It helps us to be able to condense the space and get a little bit of economy out of the brewing process," company COO, Jeff Dean, tells Eater, but more importantly Fermentus Interruptus allows Granite City to maintain consistency at all its locations by using the same water source.
Six standard beers will remain on tap year-round alongside 12 seasonal offerings. For the Detroit location, Granite City has also developed a limited release recipe double IPA called 48243. Named after the RenCen zip code, the beer is aged with Spanish cedar and will be available exclusively at the downtown location.
Granite City Food & Brewery opens in the RenCen on February 10. Photographers Chris and Michelle Gerard toured the restaurant during today's media preview. Check out the dining room, bars, and private dining area in the gallery above.
Granite City Food & Brewery will open daily from 11 a.m. to midnight. Kitchens will close at 11 p.m.
