Deschutes Brewery adds more Michigan distribution

Deschutes Brewery will be pumping up its Michigan distribution beginning in March. The Oregon-based brewery will partner with H. Cox and Son for distribution in and around the Traverse City area, Griffin Beverage Co. will fill out the eastern portion of Northern Michigan as well as part of the Upper Peninsula, and Eastown Distributors for Metro Detroit.

“Filling out the rest of Northern Michigan and downtown Detroit has been on our radar for a while, but it was a matter of finding the right partners,” said Jeremy Kieffer, expansion manager for the brewery. “H. Cox, Griffin, and Eastown are highly respected in their markets, and will play a pivotal role in our continued success.”

Deschutes Brewery first introduced its beers in Michigan in the fall of 2014 with distribution in the Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo/Lansing area. Distribution to the suburbs of Detroit, Lakeshore region, and the Ann Arbor area followed in 2015. With these latest distribution agreements, Michigan craft beer fans in more than 25 additional counties in the northern Lower and Upper Peninsulas will be able to find Deschutes Brewery’s beers. Beer is set to arrive in stores as early as March 1 in H. Cox and Son’s territory, and April 1 in Griffin’s and Eastown’s areas.

“With the exception of one or two smaller markets that are still on our list, these new territories will largely round out our 2016 expansion plans for the state,” Kieffer continued. “It has been a very fun state to open up due to how many craft beer fans there are. We’ve had a lot of new innovations happening recently, and it has been exciting to be able to time our launches to go hand in hand with them. This year we’ll be adding a fourth brand to our seasonal lineup, and revamping some of the seasonal offerings we currently have.”