Jolly Pumpkin's pours and pizzas expected in April

Jolly Pumpkin brewery expects to open its new Detroit location in about a month, bringing its nationally known sour beers and other brews to the Willys building on West Canfield in Midtown.

Although it will feature a brewery, distillery and wine-making equipment, "We're going to concentrate our efforts here on the tasting room experience," Jolly Pumpkin cofounder Jon Carlson said Thursday at a media preview of the space.

With the company's main beer production facilities located in Northern United Brewing Co.'s 68,000-square-foot facility in Dexter, only a small amount of brewing — "fun, small batches unique to this area" — will take place in Detroit, he said.

But there'll be no shortage of liquid refreshment.

Behind the long copper-topped bar, 32 taps will dispense Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ale's boutique sour beers — a style made with wild yeast and aged in wine or bourbon oak barrels — as well as those of its sister brand, North Peak. Fittingly, the taps are attached to what looks like the side of a giant oak wine barrel on the wall.

The dining room and bar are invitingly open and airy with a two-story ceiling, long runs of industrial-style windows, and walls covered floor-to-ceiling with pale wooden planks reclaimed from wooden pallets. Poster-sized reproductions of the company's colorful, whimsical beer labels decorate the space.

The Detroit location's name is officially Jolly Pumpkin Pizzeria and Brewery, but its menu — developed by Jolly Pumpkin Ann Arbor chef-owner Maggie Long — also will include salads, sandwiches, numerous vegetarian options and "a burger … that is amazing," Carlson said. Entrées will be added later.

While some other Jolly Pumpkin restaurants feature stone pizza ovens, "Here we wanted to go old-school, so we have a conveyor system," Carlson said. "It's not pretty like the wood-stones but the quality and consistency of the product is fantastic."

With the upscale Shinola and Willys stores in its building and the stylish Nest and City Bird shops across the street — not to mention a slew of stylish new restaurants and bars within a few blocks — Jolly Pumpkin will be opening in some of the city's trendiest territory.

But that's the opposite of why Carlson and company cofounder Greg Lobdell chose it three years ago as their future Detroit location.

Back then, their location was planned as a new home for nearby Avalon Breads — which has a close, long-standing relationship with Jolly Pumpkin, Carlson said. When Avalon decided not to expand there, Carlson and Lobdell said they wanted the site.

"We've had this tied up for three years, through Avalon," Carlson said. "What enticed us was two things: It was Motor City (Brewing Works) and Traffic Jam" — brewpubs just down the block with a long history in the city. Traffic Jam was the state's first licensed brewpub, Carlson said, and the original Jolly Pumpkin was the third. "For us, (the appeal) was to come into an area where Detroiters had set up — it wasn't to be next to all the amazing newcomers."

But in the end, they have the best of both worlds. "We got lucky," he says.

Jolly Pumpkin's opening date will depend on the completion of city inspections. In the meantime, the company is interviewing potential new employees at its 441 W. Canfield restaurant.

Contact Sylvia Rector: 313-222-5026 and srector@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @SylviaRector.