When Dan Riley closed Axle Brewing Co. in Ferndale in June, he said he was looking for a buyer who shared his values and interest in the community.

He's confident he found just that.

Eastern Market Brewing Co., which opened at 2515 Riopelle in 2017 and has since become Detroit's fastest-growing craft brewery, will acquire Axle Brewing Co. and plans to open a rebranded taproom and production facility at 567 Livernois, the former site of Axle's Livernois Tap, by the end of this year or in early 2020.

While Riley and his partner, Brilliant Detroit co-founder Carolyn Bellinson, will continue to own the building, Eastern Market Brewing Co. will use it to triple its production and bring "creative, progressive and unconventional" beers to Ferndale during a time when craft beer faces an inflection point, as evidenced by mergers between other Michigan breweries and closures such as Axle and Cellarmen's.

"I feel very good about having Eastern Market as our tenant for a very long time because they have not grown too fast," Riley, president of Axle Brewing Co., told the Free Press. "They’ve done all the things right."

Neither side would disclose terms of the deal.

Eastern Market Brewing Co. has been brewing at capacity since last spring, according to managing partner Dayne Bartscht. It currently produces 10-20 barrels of beer a week out of its 2,500-square-foot taproom and brewery, and specializes in juicy IPAs such as flagships Elephant Juice and Market Day IPA, as well as fruity kettle sours.

Livernois Tap, a 10,000-square-foot property nestled between 8 Mile and 9 Mile, seated more than 100 when Axle was open and features an outdoor patio/biergarten with a fireplace. The space allows Eastern Market Brewing Co. to expand production of its flagship beers while also producing other styles such as a pilsner, a kölsch and barrel-aged stouts.

For now, Eastern Market has no plans to brew Axle beers. But it will serve food; chef Garrett McDonald, who came from Chartreuse to Eastern Market Brewing Co. to run its food truck, will take over the Ferndale taproom's kitchen.

Unlike Axle, which faced challenges from the beginning by starting in distribution before opening Livernois Tap in 2017, Eastern Market started with its cozy taproom just steps from the popular farmer's market near downtown Detroit. It has since cultivated an atmosphere and beer-drinking experience that it believes can extend to the Ferndale taproom despite its location, nearly a mile from the southeastern Oakland County city's bustling downtown on 9 Mile.

That said, the types of beer Eastern Market will brew at the two locations outside the flagships may differ, and it plans to brand the new location independently.

"We want to have the flexibility to think about that community and that consumer base differently than we think about it here (in Eastern Market)," Bartscht said. "We want it to be uniquely Ferndale."

An instant connection

Riley first met Bartscht about a year and a half ago during a charity beer event hosted by Focus: HOPE, a Detroit nonprofit. They connected right off the bat.

"We kind of had our eye on each other because we launched (our breweries) around the same time," Riley said. "We had some similar experiences. We both came from outside the beer industry, we shared a lot of the same values in terms of how we were going about our business, how we were branding things.

"When that announcement came out (to close Axle), Dayne was the first person to reach out to me and earnestly, first was super sympathetic, but also wanted to see if there was a possibility here."

Bartscht opened Eastern Market Brewing Co. in 2017 with four of his college friends, all from outside the craft beer industry. He admitted they didn't exactly know what they were getting into.

"We had this naive vision that we could open a brewery, go back to our day jobs and have a fun place to drink beer," he said.

Since then, Eastern Market Brewing Co. has endured a lot of maturation in a short time. Bartscht quit his corporate strategy job at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan to focus on the brewery full-time. The brewery found flagship beers it could lean on — the Elephant Juice New England IPA (7.2% ABV) and Market Day IPA (4.9% ABV) — and has since begun canning and self-distributing them. It hired a new brewmaster a little more than a year ago in Will Mundel, who Bartscht said has been integral to the brewery's swift growth.

And Eastern Market Brewing Co. isn't done building upon its Riopelle property. It plans to eventually expand its first-floor space and open an event space on its second floor, along with a rooftop patio with an "amazing" view of Eastern Market. But, as Bartscht admits, all that's "going to take time," and he's hoping the Ferndale taproom's production will play a role in helping that vision become reality.

"One of the things I’m most proud of is how our beer has improved and evolved since we opened," he said. "We opened a place where our beer was OK, and now our beer is constantly getting better, and I still think there is so much room to grow."

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Riley will have no day-to-day role with the Ferndale taproom. But he plans to be a resource and give Bartscht whatever support he needs. A "happy landlord," Riley calls himself.

He also remains committed to the effort to change Michigan's self-distribution laws, which Bartscht and Eastern Market Brewing Co. started earlier this year. Under current law, no Michigan microbrewery can sell and deliver more than 1,000 barrels of its own beer, which leaves many craft breweries with a dilemma: Don't distribute beer outside the taproom or sign with a distributor, which would eat into the profit margin.

[ Follow Brian Manzullo's craft beer journey on Instagram: @beerzullo! ]

Ultimately, Riley wants to continue helping craft beer grow. Though Michigan's craft beer scene has exploded in recent years — from 205 craft breweries just four years ago to 357 last year — many are facing strategic challenges because of the crowded field and limited options for distribution.

Riley is confident Eastern Market Brewing Co. can succeed where he didn't and believes craft beer in Michigan will prosper, including in smaller communities.

"There’s a little thinning of the herd going on," he said. "But smart people who make really good beer and engage their communities in an authentic manner will continue to thrive."

Eastern Market's new taproom will be the latest opening in a burgeoning beer scene in Ferndale. Brooks Brewing, based in Shelby Township, opened a taproom along Woodward Avenue in June, while Urbanrest Brewing Co., Woodward Avenue Brewers and B. Nektar Meadery all have headquarters in Ferndale, a 3.88-square-mile city. M-Brew and Detroit Fleat are also popular craft beer destinations in the city.

Spirits of Detroit writer Brian Manzullo covers craft alcohol for the Free Press. Contact him: bmanzullo@freepress.com and on Untappd, bmanzullo and Twitter, @BrianManzullo and @SpiritsofDET.

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