Arcadia Brewing Co.
Client Brewer
in Elk Rapids,
Michigan,
United States 🇺🇸
Owned by
Short's Brewing Company
Associated with 2 Venues
Established in 1996
In 1996, our first 25 barrel batch was brewed on a Brick Kettle Brewing System from England at our Battle Creek, MI location. Fast-forward – today every batch is produced in our 50 barrel American-made brewhouse at our Kalamazoo Riverfront Brewery, Pub and Garden. Our 20th Anniversary in 2016 ushered in a new era of brewing possibilities with the installation of two new 100bbl closed fermentation tanks giving us the ability to use new yeast strains while we continue to brew classic Arcadia Ales using our distinctive, proprietary yeast strain in our traditional, open fermenters. The ability to brew with new yeast strains opens up the Arcadia Brewing Company portfolio of offerings, allowing our brewers to be creative in ways that were not previously accessible and broadening the scope of beers produced. With these changes, we still keep our promise to use only the finest domestic and English malted barley, along with the highest quality hops available from the Pacific Northwest and Michigan.
Admin Note: Formerly named Arcadia Brewing Co. In the spring of 2014, Arcadia completed a new production facility in Kalamazoo, MI. The Battle Creek facility closed in 2016. The company ceased all operations in September 2019.
In June 2020, the Superfluid Supply Co. division of Short's Brewing announced its purchase of Arcadia's beer brands and intellectual property. Whitsun Ale was the first release with plans to resurrect other recipes in the future as well.
Silphium (4309) reviewed Cocoa Loco from Arcadia Brewing Co. 19 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Bottle. Deep opaque brown body, medium tight buff head. Heavy cocoa aroma, sweet and somewhat syrupy, lactic. Round, creamy body, rich with chocolate, dry roast and coffee. Has that peculiar grape Dimetapp characteristic common to Arcadia beers, and the tart, syrupy lactic notes become overwhelming after awhile. Alcohol detectable but light. A tad cloying but all in all I liked it.
cheap (9607) reviewed Cocoa Loco from Arcadia Brewing Co. 19 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 2 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4
Dark tan head. On tap at the Trivia Pub in Moon. Pitch black color. Has the aroma of an imperial stout. Small hints of roasty bitter alcohol. This initially seems more palate able than Lion stout. Pretty ruff stuff. Typical imp stout impressive personality. I’m not sure what the difference is between imp stout and foreign stout, but they sure are closely related. Lots of bitterness, as expected after sampling the aroma. After awhile, I think I find myself rather accepting its intrusiveness. The head finally fades to a thin froth. Very little carbonation and the obnoxious excrescence is still with me. The creamy buttery qualities are overtaken by the medicinal tastes of this brew. The finish is a little creamy oily and it behaves like any other imp stout. I have yet to get used to the imp stout style. Roasty bitter malt finish hangs & lingers for a while. I don’t detect much if any cocoa in there.
Oakes (33770) reviewed Hopmouth from Arcadia Brewing Co. 19 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 2 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Dark golden-amber colour. Aroma...dude is that dirty diaper? All right, there’s bright fruits in there too but even after letting it breathe ten minutes that shit is still prevalent. By this I cannot abide. But I guess that’s why they call it Hopmouth, as a hint to skip over the whole sniffing the beer thing. Flavour is bitter, with a sweet, refreshing orange character as well, over a backdrop of earthy, chewy malts that are thankfully low on the crystal. Clean, refreshing, balanced but that aroma just ain’t my thing.
cheap (9607) reviewed Whitsun from Arcadia Brewing Co. 19 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 3 | Texture - 2 | Overall - 3
Arcadia Whitsun. Sweet perfumy aroma out of this 12 oz brown bottle. I’ve had arcadia hopmouth and it was as the style expected. I am very excited because this is rated as a wheat, one of my favorite styles. When I bought it I saw whitsun and thought it may be wheat related. Nice layer of something on the bottle, things are looking up. Cider colored with a cloudiness typical of wheats. Yes hints of sweet smell in there. A little bitter initially for a wheat IMO. Also a little syrupy it seems the thistle honey makes this apparent. This really has something different about it, it must be sampled to fully discover its personality. Not as good as shiner hefe, SA hefe or lienie honey weiss. This almost has the characteristic of some strong ale I’ve tasted. Finish is too gooey for me. Will pass on this if it comes round again, not what I think of as a wheatie. However, I like this better than hopmouth. I’ve tasted pale lagers that are more wheatlike than this.
theisti (5579) reviewed Imperial Stout from Arcadia Brewing Co. 19 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
12 oz. bottle purchased at Lukas in Kansas City, MO. 2006 Vintage. Opaque black pour, with a swirling tan head that disappeared at normal pace. Aroma is roasted malt, dark chocolate and licorice. Roasted malt and coffee taste. Not a huge body like many imperial stouts, but nice balance nonetheless. Not the perfect example of the style, but a nice beer when you want something more serious than a stout and less boozy than an imperial.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Virtually no head formed over this blackish brew. What was lacking in the head came in the aroma which was full of dark chocolate, coffee and a hint of licorice. Smooth, with some alcohol. This was quite decent, but there are plenty of Imperial Stouts out there that can give this one some competition.
Ungstrup (52239) reviewed IPA from Arcadia Brewing Co. 19 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 6.5
A hazy orange beer with a huge orange head. The aroma is sweet hoppy with some spicy notes that stings in the nose amongst the spices are spruce. The flavor is sweet malty with quite strong notes of spruce as well as light notes of grass and oranges - reminds me mostly of a good christmas beer. The body is a bit thin.
theisti (5579) reviewed Starboard Stout from Arcadia Brewing Co. 19 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Bottle. Nice solid stout. Poured black, with nice tan head and no layering. Malt flavor, a little sweet and and a little roasty at the end. Overall, good solid sweet stout.
notalush (7362) reviewed Cocoa Loco from Arcadia Brewing Co. 19 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
Tap at HDG - very dark, nearly black out of the tap, with a large, bubbly, tan ice cream float kind of head - light, dry cocoa aroma, with hints of minerals, a little bit of coffee - smooth mouthfeel, but a little thin on the palate for my taste - somewhat sweet, and quite chocolatey, but there is a kind of milk-like sweetness that makes the beer start to taste like chocolate milk or yoohoo after a while - light bitterness in the finish tries to help balance this quality, but doesn’t quite do the job - decent, but I think I’m giving up on Arcadia.
theisti (5579) reviewed Nut Brown Ale from Arcadia Brewing Co. 19 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Bottle, part of a sampler pack. Cloudy dark brown pour, smallish head. Dryish brown ale, with nothing real memorable.