How Michigan’s largest independent brewery rose above the craft beer boom

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HOLLAND, MI — Since the craft beer bubble burst in 2019, it’s become common for craft breweries to branch out into wines, ciders and spirits just to stay afloat, said Scott Graham, president of the Michigan Brewers Guild.

West Michigan’s New Holland Brewing Company, however, seems to have set the template for sustainable growth. The formerly “micro” brewery founded in 1997 broke into the distilling business in 2004 before the craft beer boom hit Michigan.

“For many years they’ve produced distilled spirits with an interest in selling them as an extension of what they do,” Graham said.

The shift from beer to spirits initially began as a passion project. Founder and CEO Brett VanderKamp knew early in the game that he wanted to have something for everyone who came through the door.

“He loved craft beer, but he also thought it was an awesome opportunity to learn how to distill whiskey, vodka, gin, so we’ve been offering that to people for a long time,” said Adam Dickerson, director of marketing at New Holland.

While New Holland today boasts a national distribution network, it maintains strong Michigan roots, including three brewpubs in Holland, Grand Rapids and Battle Creek, plus three tasting rooms in Grand Haven, Saugatuck and South Haven.

The company employs 395 people across its brewpubs, tasting rooms, production campus and corporate offices.

New Holland in July also opened Pinwheel Kitchen, a takeout restaurant dedicated to the brewery’s famous pepperoni pinwheels, strategically located next door to the Grand Haven tasting room.

“We really want to provide that in-person moment for people. That’s been part of our story for quite a long time,” Dickerson said.

Dickerson estimated around 40% of New Holland’s business comes from beer, another 40% come from physical locations and 20% come from distilling.

While New Holland took a small hit overall during COVID-19, the company experienced a surge in sales from at-home purchases thanks mostly to its high-profile Dragon’s Milk bourbon-barrel-aged stout.

For its size, New Holland has distinguished itself as one of the few big independent brewers left in Michigan. It is arguably the largest independent brewer in the state, not counting Short’s Brewing Co. in Bellaire.

While still technically “independent,” Short’s sold a 19.99% equity stake to Lagunitas, a subsidiary of Heineken, in 2017. The Brewer’s Association maintains that a brewery must have less than 25% ownership or control by a non-craft beverage alcohol industry member to be deemed “independent.”

Founders Brewing Company in Grand Rapids and Bell’s Brewery in Kalamazoo once reigned supreme over the Michigan craft beer landscape, although they have since outgrown their craft roots.

Founders sold its majority stake to Spanish conglomerate Mahou San Miguel in 2019, and Bell’s was acquired by Lion, an Australian-based beverage company, in 2021.

New Holland, however, through its growth trajectory has remained 100% independent with no outside ownership. The company does have a distribution partnership with Pabst Brewing Company, to which Dickerson attributed the national success of its Dragon’s Milk brand.

While it doesn’t have ownership in New Holland, Pabst does share in the sales revenue of distributed products.

“We essentially use their sales force to sell our beer throughout the country,” Dickerson said. “They’ve had a couple other brands over the years do some similar stuff, but we’re the only ones who are still with them, and we don’t have any plans to do anything different.”

New Holland has heavily invested in Dragon’s Milk in recent years, spinning out the popular, yet difficult-to-make brew into its own brand with various offshoots, including a barrel-aged red ale, barrel-aged golden ale and the most recent barrel-aged IPA.

“A lot of brands have bourbon-barrel-aged stouts. We made it our flagship and said we’re going to invest in a really difficult beer to make,” Dickerson said. “But it gives us a unique position in the market, for sure.”

For the future, New Holland continues to explore ways to gather new fans. For the past two years, the company has partnered with Hasbro, the parent company of Dungeons & Dragons to release a handful of unique Dragon’s Milk products aimed at the tabletop gaming crowd.

The company also plans to expand its bourbon portfolio to reach a wider geographic footprint in the next few years.

“There are a lot of people still drinking and having quality craft beverages of different types, just maybe drinking a little differently, so we all have to learn to adapt,” Dickerson said.