Alpha Michigan Brewing Company
The Alpha Michigan Brewing Company (AMBC) is a nanobrewery in the village of Alpha in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. History. The Alpha Michigan Brewing Company opened in May 2018. At that time, it was owned by Mary and Mike Bjork, both from Alpha, and Julie and Stu Creel from nearby Crystal Falls. The establishment describes Alpha as "the smallest village in America with a brewery". In 2019, the brewery ran out of beer after above-normal sales during the US Independence Day holiday. The brewery's beer names are all related to Alpha, its former  Porter school, nearby Mastodon Township, or Iron County, the county of Alpha and Mastodon Township. Its business is also heavily locally focused. Its barley, oats, and some of its hops come from local farms, at least one of which is less than away, and , it donates US$1 of each beer sold to local initiatives and organizations. For example, during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the brewery donated US$200 plus 20% of their Saturday beer sales to three nearby St. Vincent de Paul locations. In early 2021, the brewery added outdoor heated tents to expand its  COVID-appropriate seating. The funds to purchase them came from a Michigan weatherization grant program. In the following year, the company hosted an "Ice Bowl" winter disc golf competition to benefit a local food bank. Location. The brewery is at 303 E. Center St. in a former bus garage that is attached to Alpha's long-closed George F. Porter Public School. The school building is listed on the US National Register of Historic Places as part of the Alpha Public Buildings Historic Complex, all on a single block. The Porter School was last used as a school in 1967  and sold by the village in 2005. The interior of the taproom was partially constructed from secondhand materials gathered from around the village. Its bar was previously used for a buffet at the Alpha Inn and at the Alpha Veterans of Foreign Wars, changing hands when the locations closed, and a pew from the shuttered St. Edwards Catholic Church in Alpha is part of the brewery's available seats.