Restaurant of the Week: Michigan House Cafe & Red Jacket Brewing Company in Calumet

CALUMET, Mich. (WJMN) — Historic buildings in the Upper Peninsula tend to go through a lot of changes during their lifetime. On 6th Street in Calumet, while ownership has changed hands, there’s a common thread between one building’s past and present.

Michigan House Cafe & Red Jacket Brewing Company , owned by Sue and Time Bies have been the stewards to this cornerstone of the Copper Country for 23 years.

“So the experience is something we hopefully you’ll come back for. It’s worked well and it’s a good little business and it’s a great community. People are always trying to work together as much as we can, and there’s a lot of interest in this in this little town,” said Time Bies.

Joseph Bosch of Bosch Brewing had the building constructed in 1905. You can learn more about the history of the building and it’s connection to brewing here .

Currently, you can try one of Red Jacket Brewing’s original recipes on tap.

“I first started with coffee oatmeal stout because I had one down state that I liked. And I said, well, I’m just going to make a coffee oatmeal stout. We were making half barrel at a time and I couldn’t keep up. Somebody asked me, are you going to do something else? And I was like, I really don’t know how to do anything else. But we did branch out eventually. Learn as you go. We do a coffee, oatmeal stout. We do an English brown ale and IPA and seasonal offerings when we can,” said Bies.

Bies said whether it’s the beer or the food at the restaurant, they like to keep things local whenever possible. Their beef comes from Frozen Farms in Calumet. Their potatoes come from Johnson Brothers in Sagola.

“I like to say it’s a kind of a family style brew pub. We have a great house steak, burgers, wraps, salads. We do some fish when we can get local fish, we sometimes use that, but mostly burgers and wraps and sandwiches. And we do a feature once a month. We try to do a feature of something that isn’t on the menu for our regular customers, that they’ll always look for something new. Right now we’re doing a Brat burger and it’s doing real well. It comes with onions and mustard sauce that we make in-house. We make a lot of our own dressings and sauces and that sort of thing,” added Bies.

Those monthly specials often have a special cause behind them. The month of April is supporting Calumet Wolverine’s hockey .

One of the perks of the job Bies said is the wonderful people he’s met over the last 23 years.

“We have the Calumet Theatre right down the road. It’s on the other side of the block. We had lunch with Little River Band one day. It was a Wednesday when we would normally be closed and they were the only ones here. We just cooked for them and we sat around and had a couple of drinks and talked about the world,” said Bies.

After 23 years, Sue and Tim are ready to retire. That means finding a new owner for the building and someone to add the next chapter to the legacy of the building.

“The historical fabric of the building and the community is number one. We really have to be able to keep that. It’s key for I think, our downtown and most of the people here feel that same way. It’s fine to make changes and things have to be upgraded. But to try to keep that historic part of the building and the atmosphere, you know, and that’s important for us to see that happen now,” said Bies.

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