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Short's Brewery in Bellaire is known for having many beers on tap at its pub in Antrim County. The brewery celebrated its 10th anniversary in April, 2014.

(John Gonzalez/MLive.com)

Short's Brewing Company, one of the state's largest craft breweries, announced to its staff recently the immediate adoption of Michigan's 2018 minimum wage rate.

According to brewery reps, Short's is skipping the intermediate rates, which are spelled out in a new law signed recently to require Michigan employers to gradually raise their minimum wages.

The bill gradually would raise the minimum wage from $7.40 to $9.25 per hour by 2018.

In an interview with MLive, Scott Newman-Bale, president of business development and partner at Bellaire-based brewery, said not very many of the 100 employees are affected by this minimum wage increase, but added that new employees will benefit the most.

"There are really just a few people in between the old minimum wage and the new minimum wage, " he said. "We generally don't pay people minimum wage. We promote people so quickly and train people so much that they deserve more money."

The rate for tipped employees, which is currently $2.65, would be 38 percent of the regular minimum wage. That would amount to about $3.51 by 2018. The rates would change each year based on inflation or 3.5 percent, whichever is lower.

"As we have grown over the past few years, we've made it our goal to reward the hard-working staff who have contributed significantly towards our mission," said Matt Drake, Short’s COO and HR Director on the brewery website.

"By starting new employees with a competitive minimum wage, we feel that we can continue to attract and retain excellent employees."

Although Short’s has adopted $9.25 as the minimum for it’s food and beverage hospitality jobs such as dishwasher, it’s average deli wage rate is above $11/hour.

The last couple of years, tipped employees at Short's begin at $3.50, and many have received merit increases above that rate, he added.

"Short’s goal is to make pubtending a viable career choice, because it also benefits us in the long run,” he said.

Similarly, the average pack-line wage is above $11/hour at Short's Elk Rapids production brewery.

Newman-Bale said Short's plans to hire about 20 additional employees over the next few months because of an expansion at the pub and a new bottling line.

He said the decision to increase the minimum wage was to show restaurant owners can pay a higher wage and be "economically viable."

"We are hiring a lot of new people right now....and they are the ones benefiting the most," he said.

Short's Brewery Co., which was founded by owner Joe Short, recently celebrated its 10th anniversary with an epic party attracting 7,000 attendees.

RELATED: Short's won MLive's Michigan's Best Brewery in September and was named the third best brewpub in the country by The Street in 2012.

John Gonzalez is a statewide entertainment writer for MLive.com. Email him at gonzo@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.