Jack Archiable: The Man, The Beer, The Legend

Meet the kegfather of northern Michigan brewing

By Greg Tasker | Jan. 20, 2024

It’s been a long time since Jack Archiable could be found behind the scenes at the Short’s Brewing Co., helping with bottling, packaging, cleaning kegs, and giving public tours at the brewer’s facilities in Bellaire and Elk Rapids.

“I told Joe Short [owner of Short’s Brewing Co.] I would retire when I could no longer easily roll a half barrel across the floor,” Archiable says about his last days in the industry. He retired in 2019. “At 67, I couldn’t do that anymore.”

It’s been an even longer time since Archiable was behind the scenes and front and center at his own brewery, Traverse Brewing Co., where he crafted some of the most memorable beers in northern Michigan, including Manitou Amber Ale, and where he mentored many of the region’s future brewers. His craft brewery, the very first north of Gaylord since Prohibition, closed, unexpectedly, in 2008.

A Brewing Pioneer

Archiable, 71, still calls northern Michigan home, and his legacy as the father of the region’s craft brewing industry is well assured. He remains a living legend in the local and state craft brew scene, and in Up North brewing circles, his name is synonymous with the industry.

So instrumental was he in planting the roots of craft brewing in northern Michigan and beyond that Archiable was recognized early last year by the Michigan Brewers Guild, an organization that didn’t even exist when Archiable got started. He was honored with its Tom Burns Award for embodying “the pioneering spirit of the Michigan brewing industry.” He was recognized for his “hard work, passion, and perseverance” and as a guiding force in helping create the Great Beer State.

“They consider me one of the pioneers,” Archiable says, laughing. “I think of pioneers as people like Daniel Boone but not me. But they tell me, ‘No, Arch, you’re one of the first.’ It’s not something I think about. I was always concerned about making the next beer and making sure it was good, hoping I’d get a thumbs up.”

These days, Archiable keeps a low profile, although he still pops into local breweries to have a pint and catch up on things. He’s more apt, however, to spend his days on his 35-acre home outside Kewadin, where he reads—he devours The Atlantic religiously—and walks his seven-year-old Husky, Balto.

His trajectory from college student into the early, heady days of the craft beer movement in Michigan wasn’t something the Ohio native had planned. He was a literature major at Ohio University, a small school in the rugged hills of southeastern Ohio. A random encounter with a home brewer at a popular bar set him on his way.

“He invited me to come over and watch him brew. I would wash bottles and stuff like that to help. It hooked me, and I became a home brew guy,” Archiable recalls.

Beer, however, runs through his blood like beer through a line from keg to tap.

On his mother’s side of the family, his great-grandfather was a brewmeister in Hamburg, Germany. He continued that vocation after immigrating to Brooklyn, New York. His father brewed beer during Prohibition.

“I’ve heard these family [beer] stories since I was 10 years old,” he says. “My mom or dad would give me a Little Kings—a seven-ounce bottle of beer—when I was young to make me shut up and fall asleep. I liked it.”

Double-O Seven

After pursuing graduate studies and working various jobs in Cincinnati, Archiable made his way north to Elk Rapids. He was familiar with the region because of family vacations and was tired of the pollution and frantic nature of city life.

Archiable did odd jobs—painting houses, tilling gardens, working as a store clerk, and helping found a food co-op—until plans for a brewery took hold.

In early 1996, he opened his micro brewery, after securing bank loans and proving to his lenders that he could brew and sell beer. His was Michigan brewery license #007—yes, the seventh in the state—behind the likes of Big Buck Brewery and Bell’s Brewery. Today, Michigan is home to more than 400 breweries of all sizes.

“My first batch was created the same day O.J. Simpson took his famous Bronco ride,” Archiable recalls. That brew was the famous Manitou Amber Ale.

His English-inspired beers were named after regional landmarks—Old Mission Lighthouse Pale Ale, Sleeping Bear Brown Ale, and, of course, Manitou Amber Ale. Those local names resonated with consumers, cementing an emotional connection between them, the beers, and popular landmarks.

“It took awhile for the regular beer drinkers in town and local pubs to come in,” Archiable says, recalling those “pioneer” days. “Some people were in our face about what we were doing—‘You can’t make beer and sell it here.’ Yes, we can and we did. At that time, we were the only ones around since Big Buck Brewery.”

A Plan and a Passion

Being the only craft brewer in the region made Traverse Brewing a mecca for craft beer aficionados and a magnet for young aspiring brewers.

“Jack is one of the kindest, gentlest, happy-go-lucky souls around, and I’m honored and proud to have had the opportunity to work alongside him—at the beginning of my career and the end of his,” says Joe Short, who worked for Archiable about six months. He made a pitch for the Traverse Brewing job with his own home brew and then opened his brewery about four years later.

John Niedermaier, who worked at Traverse Brewing for about a dozen years, went on to open Brewery Terra Firma in Traverse City in 2013. “[Jack] is such a charismatic guy—he talked to so many people over the years,” Niedermaier tells us. “I couldn’t even begin to count the number of times I was working at TC Brewing and people would come in to seek him out. They were dreaming of opening their own brewery and distillery and wanted to talk to pick his brain. Whatever you needed, he would do his best to help. He knows everybody in the industry.”

Archiable traveled around Michigan to stir up business. Craft beer was the new kid on the beer block, and it was difficult to get bar owners to “saddle up with your beer.” Many bars in the Traverse City region, however, were more welcoming, as today’s flourishing tourism industry was gaining traction.

“The brutality he had to deal with,” recalls Russell Springsteen, who worked for Archiable for about a year before founding Right Brain Brewery in Traverse City in 2007. “It was really difficult at that time. Nobody believed in a small, little craft brewery. Bell’s wasn’t what it is today—it was just rolling out. Nobody thought it would work … Jack was a risk taker, but he had a plan and the passion.”

Like others, Springsteen learned from Archiable, not just about brewing but other aspects of the business.

“I learned vicariously through him about struggle and how to get through it,” he says. “There were some big dragon slayers out there, they were trying to knock him out of business. He gave a lot of us an opportunity—there’s a lot to be said for that. I didn’t have the experience before then. Home brewing is not commercial brewing.”

All a Good Ride

Like with any business, there were highs and lows. Archiable’s highs included the camaraderie among brewers in the region—they would often visit each other and share their beers—and creating his beer recipes, some of which endure today, such as Manitou Amber Ale, now found at Brewery Terra Firma.

One of his biggest beer flops was a shandy, a style largely unheard of at the time and one he created at the request of some customers. “People liked it, but no one in Michigan knew what a shandy was,” he says.

His biggest low, however, came in early 2008. Traverse Brewing Co. closed shop abruptly, ordered by the Michigan Liquor Control Commission because of alleged unpaid taxes. Archiable eventually convinced the board he had paid the taxes, but by that time, he had been shut down for months and reopening would have meant reapplying for state and federal licenses, costing him time and more money.

“At that point I needed a break,” Archiable says. “I needed to walk away from the scene and sit down and think about the future.” Archiable went to work for a good decade at Short’s and thoroughly enjoyed his job.

“It was a fun ride,” he says of those years at Traverse Brewing and Short’s, noting he has no regrets. “I definitely enjoyed it. I would do it again if I had more money. It was a lot of fun traveling to different beer shows … it was all a good ride.”

That good ride continues as he watches the beer scene grow. Northern Michigan is now home to a couple dozen craft brewers.

“None of us could have predicted what would happen,” Terra Firma’s Niedermaier says. “There wasn’t even a brewers guild at the time. If another brewery opened, we would know about it. The wine industry was doing well and way ahead of us. People didn’t think the beer industry was going to do anything. Now look at us.”

Photo by Thomas Vranich