Cheers to Nick Humphrey and Scott Colson! New co-owners of The Hideout Brewing Co. in Grand Rapids plan to expand production.GRAND RAPIDS - Take out some toilets and showers, knock down some cinder block walls and, voila, a former hot-tub hangout becomes a ready-made microbrewery.
That's the plan for Nick Humphrey and Scott Colson, two 30-ish Rockford alums buying The Hideout Brewing Co. and expanding it into the former Hubba Tubba in the same building at 3113 Plaza Dr. NE, tucked off Plainfield Avenue along I-96. The duo aims to add tap-room hours and boost beer production six-fold in their first year.
“This was all changing rooms through here," said Humphrey, 29, walking through the old hot-tub center. “What we see is a lot of capacity in this place.
“We’re hoping to keep everything about the tap room and really just expand into distributing. We want to distribute and bottle a lot of beer."
A microbrewery has existed at the site for several years, operating under The Hideout name since 2005 and brewing mostly for on-site consumption. Along with Colson, 31, Humphrey now aspires to produce as many as 6,000 barrels - upwards of 180,000 gallons - annually, and increase tap room seating by about 50 percent.
A city hearing on a required zoning variance is Jan. 19.
"He's ambitious," said his dad, Dan Humphrey, who started Michigan Beer Cellar in 2010 after getting laid off from an engineering job. "We (microbrewers) feel the more the better. We're all kind of fighting for that (market) share from the mega brewers.
“I’ve had I don’t know how many people say ‘A year ago I wouldn’t drink anything but Bud Light,’ and they’re here drinking IPAs or oatmeal stouts and loving it."
Nick Humphrey pours a beer from a tap at The Hideout Brewing Co. in Grand Rapids. The brewery is expanding its beer selection and seating capacity.Nick Humphrey left his job as a computer programmer to help launch his dad's operation at 500 E. Division St. in Sparta, which made about 350 barrels of beer last year and also includes a winery and distillery. He and Colson, who left a job in communications, are buying The Hideout from Ken and Laura McPhail. The couple looked at moving the business to a larger location before deciding to sell.
“We were having growing pains and we weren’t comfortable expanding,” Ken McPhail said.
Humphrey and Colson also are buying the building and brewing equipment on a land contract from Larry DeLiefde, who previously operated Hair of the Frog Brewery at the site and owned Hubba Tubba until closing it several years ago.
“He’s got his dad behind him, which is key for me. I feel much more secure,” DeLiefde said. “They kind of kid that (Dan) is not going to help Nick at all, but he better.”
Humphrey and Colson plan to have a staff of about eight people in brewing, bottling and kegging and said they have inked a deal with JY's Distributing. They plan to keep Wob Wanhatalo, who grows hops near Houghton, on staff as the head brewer.
"People's tastes have been changing," Nick Humphrey said. "All the breweries around see nothing but growth.
"(The Hideout) has done two batches a week to feed the tap room. We want to do two batches a day.”
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