OUR STORY
Who are we, anyway?
51st State Brewing Company came about as a hobby gone pleasantly out of control. Four years ago, owner/brewer Jeff Brickey brewed his first 5 gallon batch of home brew in his basement brewery. As he selflessly shared his results with anyone who would partake, he was encouraged to brew more and more.
As his passion became an obsession, he needed a larger audience to consume all that he brewed; hence 51st State Brewing Company.
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As a family owned and operated microbrewery, Jeff's wife and children take an active role in running 51st State Brewing Company.
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Jeff's wife Victoria, makes sure that the restaurant maintains the highest standards of quality while sourcing the freshest local ingredients whenever possible.
Teen daughter Vica, can be found serving wood-fired pizzas to the masses when not in school.
Ben has been known to make a "mean" pizza.
Older son, Mountain Man Jake, heads up the bar and looks forward to helping you choose your next perfect craft beer.
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Where the heck are we from
and why are we here?
We loved living in Marquette, but sometimes even a road less traveled can feel a bit worn... so we decided to forge our own trail to the "wild west"ern U.P.
Being the first brewery in the area seemed a bit risky to us but none the less compelling. Our roots are humble but our vision is clear; to brew the best dang beer in the western U.P for all our patrons and soon to be friends.
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- If Superior would have become a state, it would currently have a smaller population than any other state with only 320,000 residents (half of the population of Alaska).
- It would rank 40th in land area and the capital, Marquette, would have had the smallest population of any capital city with about 23,000 residents.
Why the crazy name?
51st State Brewing Company got its name from a 1970's proposal, involving the secession of the upper peninsula of Michigan and possibly portions of northern lower Michigan and some northern counties of Wisconsin.
The proposal was spurred on by cultural differences, geographic separation and its belief that the capitals in Lansing MI and Madison, WI ignored the problems of the "Superior Region".
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Efforts to secede and form a new state date back to 1858. In 1897, another proposal for succession was introduced and in 1962 an association was founded to advocate for the formation of the State of Superior. Efforts continued into the mid-1970s. Today, support still exists for U.P. statehood, although no organized movement is currently active. This is our small part!
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