Do-it-yourself success: The story of Dark Horse Brewing

It started in a college dormitory bathroom.

Aaron Morse and his friends had discovered craft beer and liked it, but it was too expensive. So they made their own.

"And it sucked. It was horrible," he said. "But we made a ton of it. And it all had alcohol in it, so somebody drank it."

He kept at it, eventually expanding brewing operations from the bathroom into the dorm's more-sanitary basement kitchen at Northern Michigan University in Marquette. Now, roughly a couple of decades later, Morse, 40, is still making beer — but it's a lot better, and it's distributed across Michigan, 13 other states and parts of Europe.

Dark Horse Brewing, in his hometown of Marshall outside Battle Creek, will produce about 25,000 barrels (775,000 gallons) of beer this year, making it Michigan's sixth-largest craft brewer. It's all made in a collection of buildings known as the Compound at 511 S. Kalamazoo Ave., where Morse and his crew have hand-fashioned the brewery's mechanical components over a slow-yet-steady process of expansion since 2000.

"We've never been one of those breweries to go out and borrow millions and millions of dollars and put in lush and lavish things," said Morse, Dark Horse owner and co-founder. "We've done it as we can afford it. A lot of it we do ourselves; 99% of everything that happens here we do with our hands: Construction to wiring to refrigeration to you name it, we do it."

And it goes way beyond beer. Morse's e-mail signature includes about 13 titles. The day before this interview, he applied spray-foam insulation to a customer's outdoor wood furnace. He said he bought the insulation business at a time when he needed work done and the owner was offering a reasonable price.

"What he wanted was cheaper than I could hire it out for," he said, adding: "The bad thing is, I got in more trouble" because now people have been calling him up to do spray-foam work.

He makes maple syrup and honey, grows hops and fruit and owns a motorcycle shop and skate shop — which also sells home-brewing supplies — at the Compound, a spread of roughly 12 acres. He's working on starting Shaded Pony Distillery (the "Dark Horse" name was already taken by a Kansas company), a creamery, a bakery, a coffee-roasting company, a furnace-making company and a candy shop.

"You only live once," Morse said. "If you can only do one thing, think of all those things you're not doing. You're missing out. Trying as much as I can is a goal of mine."

Even with beer, he's all for trying new things: Like bringing what's touted as a world-record 130 different taps to the Dark Saturday takeover event Saturday at HopCat in Midtown Detroit.

Morse said to expect a fire-roasted peach pale ale, stouts combined with mint or peppers and a Belgian-style waffle beer among the dozens featured. Operations manager Bryan Wiggs said the brewery has been working on about 40-50 new recipes for the event to reach 130.

Wiggs, who grew up in Flint, previously worked for Arcadia Brewing in Battle Creek and came to Dark Horse in 2008, when, he said, about 2,000 barrels were brewed. Wiggs and Morse both said 100,000 barrels a year seems like a possible goal in as soon as five years, and Wiggs said he's committed to "world domination from a little, tiny town in Marshall."

Stumbling toward success

The Dark Horse story has evolved over years, and things weren't always easy. It begins in 1997 after Morse returned home with his electronic-imaging art degree from NMU. He and others partnered to open a gastropub on nearby Michigan Avenue.

It served liquor and mass-produced domestic beers along with its own craft beer and restaurant fare.

"We weren't really involved in the planning," said Morse's wife, Kristine. "And it became, really, not our vision."

The business closed in 2000. Morse moved his brewing equipment to a 10-foot-by-50-foot area behind father William Morse's now-closed party store, Wacky Willy's. (The sign's still there).William Morse died in August 2014 and remains listed in memoriam among the crew on the Dark Horse website.

The brewery's second attempt was more focused on the craft beer.

"The first five to seven years was tough," Aaron Morse said. "I was still climbing out of a (financial) hole from the first brew-pub, too. ... When you don't have tons of money, you've got to have something else to go with it: Passion and hard work are the two that I chose."

The couple literally built the bar in the taproom: "We got tiles on sale at, like, Lowe's, and smashed them up and pieced them together," Kristine Morse said.

For 13 years, Aaron Morse built the company as Kristine used her environmental education degree to work in conservation.

"I had to work to keep us going ... income going, plus I carried (our) health insurance and all that," she said, until Dark Horse became successful enough for her to join full time. She now runs social media and is the environmental coordinator.

The brewery has developed an enviable reputation. Its Bourbon Barrel Aged Plead the 5th Russian imperial stout is ranked 51 among Beer Advocate's top 250 beers in the world. Its beers frequently get high marks from tasters, and its Crooked Tree IPA has ratings of 89 and 95 out of 100 on Beer Advocate and RateBeer. In 2007, its Scotty Karate Scotch Ale and 3 Guys Off the Scale Barley Wine received silver and bronze medals, respectively, at the Great American Beer Festival.

Several years ago, Aaron Morse made headlines after he said he'd turned down an opportunity to team up with Canadian post-grunge band Nickelback for a music video linking the brewery to the band's 2008 album titled "Dark Horse."

Morse, recalling the exchange, said the band wanted to do a video where a truck with Dark Horse beer drives up to "a frat party, of all things" and people drink their beer.

"We just told them no," Morse said, laughing. "I hate their music."

In 2014, the brewery was featured on a History Channel reality show, "Dark Horse Nation," about the creative endeavors and challenges at the Compound.

Kristine Morse said the show, which ran regularly for six weeks, was hard work and "pretty truth-based." But she was surprised when it took a month off and then concluded its run with the final six episodes in a marathon one day in September 2014. "Dark Horse Nation" ran for the one season, and she said there was no indication there would be more.

The brewery keeps growing. In 2014, it ranked sixth in Michigan by volume, at 19,719 barrels, according to data from the Brewers Association. After adding more equipment, it is expected to make about 35,000 in 2016, Wiggs said.

About 40% of the brewery's production is Crooked Tree India Pale Ale, and about 18% to 20% is the Raspberry Ale, he said. Dark Horse employs about 80 people.

It took years before the business really felt appreciated in Marshall, he said. On a recent afternoon, most of the tables in the taproom were already full for lunchtime, when fresh beer is served with restaurant food.

"I think there are a lot of entrepreneurs in Marshall that look up to him," said Marshall Mayor Jack Reed, 49, a 23-year resident of the town of 7,100. His favorite Dark Horse brew is Scotty Karate Scotch Ale, and he said more people are visiting the town as the brewery has grown. When he travels to other states, he keeps an eye out for the bottles.

"I watch for it and pay attention," Reed said. "And I'm always thrilled to tell somebody, 'This is brewed right in Marshall, Michigan, and that's where I'm from.' "

Dark Saturday: Tap takeover with 130 different beers from Dark Horse Brewing

Beginning at 11 a.m. Sat.

HopCat Detroit

4265 Woodward Ave., Detroit

313-769-8828

http://hopcat.com/detroit

Michigan's top 10 independent craft breweries by volume, 2014:

1. Bell's Brewery, 319,550

2. Founders Brewing, 193,000

3. Atwater Brewing, 40,225

4. Short's Brewing, 34,443

5. New Holland Brewing, 31,343

6. Dark Horse Brewing, 19,719

7. Greenbush Brewing,16,000*

8. Arcadia Brewing, 13,783

9. Perrin Brewing, 12,000*

10. Keweenaw Brewing, 10,905

* Estimated. List includes breweries that consented to have numbers published.

Source: Brewers Association

Rating some Dark Horse Brewing Co. beers

As reviewed by Spirits of Detroit columnist Robert Allen on the Untappd app. Profile: raDetroit

Crooked Tree IPA (6.5% ABV): "Piney, a little spicey with toffee and plenty of zip for an IPA." 3/5

Sapient Trip Ale (9.5% ABV): "Never really found a trippel I liked until this one. Really flavorful; ripe banana with light cloves, some apple, tough to believe 9.5 ABV." 4.25/5

Smells Like A Safety Meeting (8.5% ABV): "Glorious, grapefruity hops aroma, flavor pops with pine and amber malts. Goes down way too easy. One of the best." 5/5

Fore Smoked Stout (7%): 3.5/5

Raspberry Ale (5%): 3/5

Plead the 5th Imperial Stout (11%): "Inviting aroma like sweet figs. Bold delicious flavors; molasses, dark chocolate, cherries" 4.5/5

4 Elf Winter Warmer Ale (8.75%): "Lots of spice; nutmeg, allspice, clove" 3/5

Scary Jesus Rockstar (6.5%): "Nice citrusy, tea flavors with light apricot notes. Getting some lime too." 3.75/5

Reserve Special Black Ale (7.5%): "Mouthwatering porter aroma. Roasted, smoky flavors of coffee with hints of molasses" 4/5

Tres Blueberry Stout (7.5%): "Nice blueberry aroma. Pours dark as motor oil. Robust flavor like semi-sweet chocolate with blueberry coming through on back end" 3.75/5

Spirits of Detroit columnist Robert Allen covers alcohol for the Free Press. He can be reached at rallen@freepress.com or Untappd, raDetroit; Twitter, @rallenMI, Facebook, robertallen.news; and Periscope, @rallenMI.