Broad Leaf Brewery to Release Special Line of Spirits Created out of Brewery Vivant Beer

From Broad Leaf Brewery:

“Undead Spirits” is the name of the special line of spirits being released this Friday Aug., 12 from Broad Leaf Brewery + Spirits in Kentwood, Michigan. This line of spirits is derived from distilling out-of-date beer resulting from the last two years of Covid shutdowns. There are three flavors of this limited time release spirit being offered in special 750ml bottles which have a logo inspired glass skull blown into the interior;  Pink Grapefruit, Orange-Mango, and Citron-Lemon.  zzubreebym 

“The idea of this line of spirit came out of necessity and our desire to minimize waste. Fortunately or unfortunately, we have gotten good at making lemonade when we get stuck with lemons” says Kris Spaulding, President of One Beer At A Time (owner & operators of Broad Leaf Brewery + Spirits and Brewery Vivant.) “We had not planned to get into spirits when we first opened, but now this decision has launched a whole new division within our Company. It will be fun to see where this takes us” she adds.

In February 2020, Brewery Vivant got a call from their eastside distributor that their new mainstay Grand Lager will be put on draft at Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers. With a 6-week brew cycle, the production team began brewing multiple batches of this crisp, thirst-quenching beer to ensure that they’d have enough of those kegs to meet the needs of thousands of thirsty fans on opening day, March 26. And then the pandemic swept through the country and shut Michigan down. When it became obvious that this wasn’t a temporary pause, the team at Vivant knew they’d have to dump hundreds of kegs of Grand Lager as well as various other beers that were already in process when the shutdown began.

“You can imagine our disappointment coming off of what we thought was going to be the largest beer placement in our Company’s history,” says CEO Jason Spaulding. “We bulked up production to then slowly realize we had no home for all this beer we had just produced. In the end we had over 500 kegs of beer that were going to have to be dumped. The ‘Undead’ name came out of our desire to breathe life into an otherwise ‘dead’ product for us” he adds. 

These commemorative spirit bottles will be available until they run out and are priced at $39 for a 750 ml bottle. They are only available at Broad Leaf’s pub located at 2885 Lake Eastbrook Blvd in Kentwood. Broad Leaf Brewery + Spirits will also soon be opening a new Westside location this Fall on the popular Bridge Street corridor in Grand Rapids. The Company is presently renovating the former Sovengard Restaurant space converting it to fit the Broad Leaf themes. While the new location will offer their regular line of Gin, Vodka, and Rum, the beer-derived “Undead Spirits” are a one-time production and may sell out before the opening of the new location. 

Who we are

Brewery Vivant is the world’s first LEED® certified commercial microbrewery and a Certified B Corporation. We brew beer in the European tradition with the addition of American ingenuity. At our pub we strive to elevate the enjoyment of beer & food and the sense of community in everything we do. Brewery Vivant prides itself on being a destination brewery in the “Beer City” of Grand Rapids. Vivant brands are distributed throughout the State of Michigan.

Broad Leaf Brewery + Spirits is a certified B Corp that focuses on flavor exploration. We stay on the cutting edge with ongoing experimentation to explore new flavors, styles & techniques.  There is a constant curiosity to try new things, find new ingredients to push boundaries in beer, spirits, food & beyond.