Michigan’s first gluten-free brewery opens

Have you felt left out of Michigan’s craft beer scene because you had to go gluten-free? Thanks to the efforts of a new West Michigan brewery that’s brewing greatness with alternative grains and creating true gluten-free beers from grain to glass, anyone can enjoy a pint of Michigan-made beer. The best thing about these beers from Brewery Nyx? Even if you’re not gluten-free, you’ll love them.

Nyx Brewery may be focused on making great gluten-free beers, but I’d say they just make amazing beers. The fact that they’re gluten-free won’t even cross your mind when you taste any of these three bad boys. They’re full-bodied and full-bodied, and I’d compare them to any other beer in Michigan in a taste test. Currently, Nyx has a stout, a lager, and a double IPA on shelves around the Grand Rapids area.

Brasserie Nyx offers several “traditional” beers in a gluten-free format.

Nyx Brewery/Courtesy photos

“It’s been a long time coming,” said brewery co-owner and head brewer Sebastian Van Bommel.

I caught up with him and the progress of the brewery the very first day they released their beer on the shelves in Grand Rapids in December. He owns the brewery with his business partner Jessica Stricklen, who comes from a wine background and has been gluten-free for 10 years. Van Bommel has over 18 years of brewing experience and was most recently Head Brewer of Thornapple Brewing Company. The duo originally planned to open in the summer of 2021, but building the brewery and preparing for production took a bit longer. Gluten-free beer? Most of these recipes only took one take to be correct.

Van Bommel said the first-ever batch of lager and stout is exactly what is currently for sale on the shelves.

Nyx Brewery labels feature beautiful art.

Nyx Brewery labels feature beautiful art.

Amy Sherman/For Hearst Midwest

The partners took custody of the building on February 1, 2021 and quickly proceeded to not only empty the space, but also to completely dig up all the floors in order to lay the necessary plumbing for the brewery. I visited in mid-March and walked into what was basically a giant pit, with piles of dirt everywhere, building materials strewn about, and a small table at one end set up as an office/tasting area. It’s a term I use liberally. The thing is, they tore that space to shreds and then rebuilt everything from the basement up.

“The brewery arrived in mid-May,” Van Bommel said. “So from cradle to grave, from entering the building to getting our MLCC approval, it took us about 9 months.”

It’s actually a surprisingly quick build for a brewery, especially during a pandemic. Although there were logistical delays in the delivery of equipment, they were not where many thought they would happen. From China to Los Angeles, via Chicago, it only took three weeks for the brewing equipment to transit. And then, while it was so close to home, the equipment stayed in Chicago for three more weeks.

“It was pretty amazing how long it took,” Van Bommel said.

Although there were logistical delays in the delivery of equipment, they were not where many thought they would happen.

Although there were logistical delays in the delivery of equipment, they were not where many thought they would happen.

Amy Sherman/For Hearst Midwest

Nyx Brewery hired a moving company to help them unload the 10-barrel system, then Strickland and Van Bommel moved the equipment, including four fermenters, until it felt good. They installed a reverse osmosis system and a boiler “the size of a Jeep Grand Cherokee” according to Van Bommel.



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“It took us the majority of summer through fall to get all the major pieces in place,” he explained.

With a limited budget, the pressure grew to get the beers onto the shelves, and with the first release in December, Stricklen and Van Bommel finally felt like they were making progress. They have been steadily adding West Michigan retailers as more beer is brewed and made available. The beers’ initial retail release was at Bridge Street Market in Grand Rapids, and Nyx Brewery sold out the entire run in just five hours.

Sebastian Van Bommel, co-owner and head brewer of Nyx Brewery, serves a stout.

Sebastian Van Bommel, co-owner and head brewer of Nyx Brewery, serves a stout.

Amy Sherman/For Hearst Midwest

For now, Nyx Brewery beers are only available at retail. Eventually, they hope to open a tasting room at their production facility on the southwest side of Grand Rapids.

The yield of a real gluten-free beer is a bit different than that of a regular malt-based beer, and that’s why Nyx Brewery beers are more expensive.

“The price is different,” Van Bommel said. Nyx beers cost between $17 and $24 for a four-pack. We discussed the variance in the amount of ingredients used versus the resulting product.

“I’m hoping for around 100 cases,” Van Bommel said. “If I get close to it, I’ll be happy.”

“We have a lot more raw materials,” he added. “A typical 5.5% ABV beer is around 600 pounds (of ingredients) for a 10-barrel system. I build a beer with 1,000 pounds.

Nyx Brewery has several

Brasserie Nyx offers several “traditional” beers in a gluten-free format.

Nyx Brewery/Courtesy photos

“There are a few breweries in the area that have attempted to make gluten-reduced beers,” Van Bommel said. “Reduced gluten is not the same thing. You can argue all day, I don’t care. Gluten-free is a very specific thing. There are people who are much more likely to trust a gluten-free product than a gluten-reduced product.

To be clear, while there is a huge market for all things gluten-free, Brewery Nyx does so both for personal reasons and for the greater good of beer.

“We’re not in the market to take advantage of this niche,” Van Bommel said. “If we were, we’d sell this beer for a lot more, even remotely to the kind of profit a regular brewery gets. But we are not. We want people to enjoy something they’ve had in their life for a very long time and can’t anymore. Or have always been the curious, because they had celiac disease or were gluten intolerant.

Nyx Brewery has several

Brasserie Nyx offers several “traditional” beers in a gluten-free format.

Nyx Brewery/Courtesy photos

Being a dedicated gluten-free brewery means taking a different approach than places that make gluten-reduced beers. A gluten-reduced beer is made the traditional way, with malted barley, then an enzyme is added that essentially eats the majority of the gluten. With Nyx, barley and wheat will never even see the inside of the brewery.

“The level of effort versus cost incurred to use these grains other than barley is high,” Van Bommel explained.

He uses grains like rice, corn, millet, amaranth, and quinoa to make Nyx’s beers.

“For a lot of people, gluten-free brewing is just PFM,” Van Bommel said.

What could that be, you ask? It’s pure magic.

“The cost verse reward is a serious gamble,” he continued. “You either have to be lucky, which is what I chose, or you have to be really good. I think I got really lucky. I have a basic understanding of what needs to happen and when, but the end product that came out of this brewery with these ingredients is just awesome.

We will agree with that. Whether you are gluten-free or not, Nyx Brewery beers are something special. These beers really open up Michigan’s craft beer scene to everyone.

“I’m just happy that we have beers on the shelves and in people’s stomachs,” Van Bommel said. “I want people to collect and experience these pieces that they couldn’t before.”

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