About Griffin Claw Brewing Company  

Michigan has such a proud and distinguished brewing culture. You really can’t tour the brewing state without stopping by Griffin Claw Brewing Company. With award winning beers like Norm’s Raggedy Ass IPA and Bonnie’s Raggedy Ass Imperial IPA, this brewery isn’t lacking in passion, quality and creativity. We reached out, virtually of course to Pat Craddock to get the full story on how the brewery and he began.

The brewery opened July 18^th, 2013 and in just seven years Griffin Claw has experienced massive growth. Brewmaster Dan Rogers and his 30-plus years’ of experience helped build the solid Griffin Claw foundation.

Passion for the craft brewing industry

Pat who is the CFO of Griffin Claw Brewing Company has an education and experience in Accounting and Finance but also took interest in home brewing which includes a gold medal at National Homebrew Con in 2013. Pat explains his start, “I fell in love with several aspects of craft beer and brewing and made the decision to figure out a way to utilize my professional career in an industry I’m passionate about.” Pat is most excited about the new challenges that present themselves on a daily or weekly basis. We couldn’t agree more that this industry is filled with a culture that breeds creativity and variety.

Pat takes great interest in the brewing process. He explains, “From a non-financial standpoint, I’m most passionate about hops. Selection is always a highlight of my year, and it always blows my mind how drastically the aroma of one varietal can vary from farm-to-farm.”

His favorite beer style is an IPA, no surprise to us there! Pat’s love and interest comes from, “the variety of ways brewers can manipulate the different aspects of hop varietals.”

Challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic

When describing the challenges the brewery has faced, Pat is straight to the point. Pat states, “Zero draft sales in the market and lack of customers in the Taproom has been our greatest challenge.”

They have definitely had to be creative and nimble in this challenging time. Pat goes on to describe, “We were fortunate enough to get out in front of the hand sanitizer movement here in Michigan, and as a testament to our staff, management, and ownership we pivoted rather quickly. We began offering sanitizer in a one gallon format to first responders, hospitals, municipalities, and other organizations. Once we got the production process dialed-in, we began offering 4oz bottles for sale in the Taproom via curb-side/take-out orders. We also began offering different items for sale via curb-side such as Fruit Boxes and Veggie Boxes recently, which has generated great feedback from our customers.”

Griffin Claw’s active approach in the community is super impressive! They also took part in the All Together Beer Campaign, recently releasing their version of the All Together IPA, a worldwide collaboration to support hospitality professionals. This project is based on a recipe put together by Other Half Brewing Company, and Griffin Claw chose to go the West Coast IPA route.

Moving forward with support

Even though Michigan is still under a Shelter In Place order, the brewery has had time to experiment! Pat describes their motivations, “Our focus has been keeping people both employed and more importantly busy, in order to keep their minds off what’s going on. We recently released a draft-only fruited Gose. Our Head Brewer had this up his sleeve for some time, but had not had the time to brew it.” It sounds absolutely delicious and we wish we were in MI to try it!

Michigan currently has a stay at home order until May 28^th which requires Griffin Claw’s taproom to remain closed. On a more positive note, Pat has much praise for the community support they have received. Pat explains, “The support from our local community has been overwhelming via curb-side/take-out orders. Albeit small, we provide a complimentary 2oz bottle of sanitizer with each order as a thank you for their support. Similarly, our suppliers have been great! It sounds so simple, but the check-in calls we get from the likes of Malteurop Malting Company, Hopsteiner, Yakima Chief Hops and more, just to see how we’re doing, go a long way.”

Thank you!

We want to extend a big thank you to Pat at Griffin Claw Brewing Company for participating in this initiative during American Craft Beer Week! We know many breweries across the country are going through similar situations. Our goal is to celebrate our partners and tell their story’s during this difficult time.

Griffin Claw Brewing Company is open for carry-out orders of beer and food. Their hours include: Tuesday-Thursday 3pm-8pm, Friday-Saturday 12PM-9PM and Sunday 12PM-8PM.