Northern United Brewing Company Plans Expansion of Jolly Pumpkin in Dexter

Wine and beer connoisseurs may soon be adding Dexter to their list of brewery visits if plans for a proposed distillery for is approved by the Dexter Village Council.

Northern United Brewing Company, LLC., the parent company of Jolly Pumpkin, has submitted a development proposal to the Dexter Planning Commission to redevelop the former Martinrea building, located at 2319 Bishop Circle East in the industrial park in Dexter as a beer and wine distillery with a tasting room.

The plant is expected to serve Jolly Pumpkin's three locations in Dexter, Ann Arbor and Traverse City, while the tasting room would be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Trustee Paul Cousins said he welcomes the new business, but expressed hesitation with the restrictive hours placed on alcohol licenses.

"We need to be as business friendly as possible," he said, arguing that the village should allow for the tasting room to be open until midnight or longer if the company hosts special events such as an Oktoberfest celebration.

"This is going to be a wonderful asset to the community. I don't think they should be able to serve food like a restaurant, but I don't want the company to be restricted on the use of the tasting room," Cousins said at the council's meeting on Monday.

Allison Bishop, community development manager, disagreed.

"To me, a tasting room open until 2 a.m. is a bar," she said. "We don't want to go down that path."

According to Bishop, Northern Brewing plans to purchase the 85,000-square-foot building and relocate its headquarters from Ann Arbor to Dexter. In order to do that, however, zoning approval is required because the business would be located in a research and development district, which does not currently have provisions for a tasting room.

Bishop said the Planning Commission could grant a special land use request for the company, or add the manufacturing of beverages and accessory tasting/sampling rooms to the permitted uses within the district.

Trustee Jim Carson said he was concerned that granting the special land use could affect the certification status of the business park, however Bishop said it would not.

Bishop said the Planning Commission will discuss the special land use at its meeting in June. In the mean time, the village council is expected to vote on the company’s application to the state for a new micro brewer license at its meeting on May 28.