PORTAGE, MI

– Plans are moving ahead for Portage to have its first microbrewery sometime early in 2013.

Joe Stoddard, who with his father, Mike, and others is putting together the project, which will include a restaurant and beer garden with the microbrewery.

“There are some good restaurants in Portage, but we will bring an exceptional restaurant with a marriage of beer and food along with a beautiful building,” said Joe Stoddard, who estimates the microbrewery and restaurant will employ at least 50 people initially.

The project is proposed for property at 7842 Portage Road, just north of East Centre Avenue. The 1.2-acre parcel now has on it a vacant business and garage that will be leveled, and is next to Consumers Energy property that will be used for parking.

The Portage Planning Commission and Portage City Council have both approved rezoning the property for the microbrewery and restaurant and the developers are now putting together a site plan that must win the city OK.

Stoddard, who has a restaurant background that includes working at Zazios, said the microbrewery and restaurant will be a first-class operation. Neither a name nor a logo for the beer have been finalized, but a culinary and brewing team is being put together from several states to make the restaurant and microbrewery a draw for Portage.

“We’re looking at having the finest culinary and the finest beers,” Stoddard said. “The culinary team coming to Portage will rival any restaurant in this market share.”

The microbrewery will be guided by brewmaster Scott Freitas, a brewer for 20 years who is coming from Maui Brewing Co, where he has been since 2008. He also has worked at Steelhead Brewing Co. and Wild Duck Brewing Co., both in Eugene, Ore.

The microbrewery will be a “full-manufacturing” brewery that, while producing beer, will also be a feature of the restaurant, according to Stoddard. While dining, people will be able to look through a glass wall to see how the beer is made. There will be bars both inside and outside of the building and there might also be a boardwalk outside to accentuate the natural area in the rear of the property.

“The beer garden is going to be really cool,” Stoddard said. “There will be full seating outside and a huge outside bar.”

The menu is still being put together, but will likely include high-grade Black Angus beef, brick-oven pizzas and other food that when possible will include ingredients locally grown, according to Stoddard, who said he and the other partners are fully engaged in supporting local growers.

“We will use nothing but the best ingredients and, from the food perspective, there will be a huge emphasis on local purchasing,” said Stoddard, who is a Portage native and still lives with his family in the city.

“The biggest thing is the brewmaster and the culinary team coming to Portage will be really unique. The money we’re putting into Portage is a few million dollars. We had opportunities to go anywhere, but this is where we want to be.

“We think the Michigan market is right. We think the Portage market is right. There is a lot going on in downtown Kalamazoo and it’s good, but we thought ‘Let’s give something to Portage that is unique.’”