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A light-colored beer in a pint glass, a dark stout in a stemmed glass, a taller stemmed glass with a slightly lighter cloudy beer and lots of head, and a brown beer with no head in a goblet-style glass. All four sit on a wooden table.
(Left to right) The Quiddity witbier, the Night Heron coffee stout, the Hardflip dry hopped IPA, and the King Eider dubbel at Brewery Faisan.

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Peek Inside Detroit’s New Belgian-Style Brewery

Brewery Faisan opens Thursday with seven beers on tap

by Brenna Houck
Photography by Michelle Gerard
Brenna Houck is a Cities Manager for the Eater network. She previously edited Eater Detroit and reported for Eater. You can follow her on the internet at @brennahouck.

A huge new taproom opens this week in Detroit’s Islandview neighborhood, bringing a slate of Belgian-style beers to the east side. Brewery Faisan is set to debut on Thursday, October 24 just a few minutes drive from the Detroit Fall Beer Festival at Eastern Market with seven different original beers on tap.

Owners Paul and Rachel Szlaga developed the new brewery — a passion project that’s taken them close to three years to realize. The husband and wife team got their start homebrewing nearly 9 years ago. Some of the recipes they developed over the years have now made their way onto the menu at their Beaufait Street taproom.

“We based them on homebrew recipes to see what could scale,” Paul Szlaga tells Eater, acknowledging that using the huge 15-barrel system required a bit of trial, error, and guessing to get the recipes just right. “The first couple of brews were a lot,” Rachel Szlaga adds. “We were here until like 3 o’clock in the morning, but after that we got comfortable pretty quick and now it feels like we’ve been doing it forever.”

The word faisan translates to “pheasant” in French and is a nod to the many pheasants that roam the urban prairie surrounding the brewery. Many of the beers also have bird-related names. Faisan’s menu features four Belgian-style beers including a raspberry saison called Periphery and the Quiddity witbier. The brewery also pours three American-style beers: a session IPA called the Ossuary, a dry-hopped IPA called the Hardflip, and Night Heron, coffee stout made with beans from Ashe Supply Co.

The goal is to always keep Belgians on the menu board, though the Szlagas intend to experiment and update the beer list regularly. “We’re just going to change it up and we’re going to just keep having fun making beer,” Rachel says. “If people fall in love with one and we get a lot of requests to make it, than I can imagine it staying on the menu, but I’m not walking in with that in mind.”

Rachel Szlaga’s hands are shown pouring a dark coffee stout called Night Heron into a stemmed glass from a silver tap.
The Night Heron coffee stout uses beans from Ashe Supply Co.

The 9,000-square-foot taproom is located in an old warehouse building. The interior features high ceilings and roughly 86-seats including the bar. While the Szlaga’s worked with a general contractor, the pair built the concrete and tile bar themselves. The space is also outfitted wooden tables made by Mutual Adoration using reclaimed maple flooring from the Packard Plant. The chairs surrounding each table are from the 1960s. When the weather cooperates, Brewery Faisan also has a 12-seat patio area. “We’ve put a lot of our heart and soul into this place,” Rachel says.

The brewery doesn’t house a kitchen, but the Szlaga’s plan to keep local delivery menus on hand and occasionally host food trucks. Customers are welcome to bring in their own food while sampling beers.

Scope out Brewery Faisan in the gallery below ahead of the opening weekend.

The red brick and concrete block exterior of Brewery Faisan, including a small patio area, is shown on a sunny fall afternoon. The front of the building features a garage door-style window and there are pumpkins on the patio.
Brewery Faisan is located in an industrial building in Detroit’s Islandview neighborhood. It features patio seating.
A wide-angle view of Brewery Faisan’s taproom shows a light-colored wood furnishings surrounded by light green and blue-gray walls
Brewery Faisan’s owners plan to feature local art on the taproom walls.
Silver brewing tanks line the walls in the production room.
Brewery Faisan uses a 15-barrel brewing system to make primarily Belgian-style beers.
Bar chairs line the concrete bar in front of a silver beer tap system.
Antique bucket style mid-century chairs with yellow cushions and wooden backs surround planked wood tables.
The tables at Brewery Faisan are made from wood reclaimed from the Packard Plant’s flooring.
The bar at Brewery Faisan is made from white marble tiles with a concrete top. light wood bar chairs line the bar and a blue wall behind the bar is a backdrop to the black and white beer menu.
Owners Rachel and Paul Szlaga constructed the concrete bar themselves.
A witbier in a pint glass sits on a patio table emblazoned with a black and white Brewery Faisan decal with a pheasant on a sunny day.
The Quiddity wit bier at Brewery Faisan.

Brewery Faisan is located at 1087 Beaufait St.; open 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, noon to midnight on Friday and Saturday, and noon to 8 p.m. on Sunday; website.

• Belgian-Style Beer Maker Brewery Faisan Swoops Into Islandview in October [ED]
• All Opening Coverage [ED]
• All Beer Coverage [ED]
• All Eater Inside Coverage [ED]

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Brewery Faisan

1087 Beaufait Street, , MI 48207 (313) 290-2987 Visit Website
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