USA, MI: Big Cat Brewing Company closing its doors for good

A popular Northern Michigan brewery is closing its doors for good.

Nikki and Aaron Ackley, owners of Big Cat Brewing Company in Cedar, announced plans to close for good on Tuesday after 14 years of business in the tourism hotspot of Leelanau County.

“After much consideration and deep soul searching, we have come to the conclusion that we will not be able to reopen and continue our business of 14 years,” a Facebook notice reads. “With now losing Memorial Day weekend and no guarantee of being able to open at full capacity this summer, it has become obvious to us that our business operations are no longer sustainable.”

“We are so very grateful for your patronage over the years and also for the terrific relationships we have formed with customers and employees. We are going to spend the summer reinventing ourselves and designing a plan to re-purpose our building in order to keep it. Again, we thank you all from the bottom of our hearts and wish you well through these trying times.”

Opened in 2006 as the Cedar Rustic Inn, the restaurant became Big Cat Brewing in March 2016. Frequented by residents, tourists, and travelers to nearby Sleeping Bear Dunes, the brewery was a founding member of the Sleeping Bear Ale Trail.

The brewery served breakfast, lunch and dinner and offered a wide variety of brews including Busy Bee Brown, Extra Special Bitter, Rye't Meow RyePA Handsome Hound porter and Smackintosh, a hard cider.

Breweries, like all Michigan restaurants, have been closed to dine-in customers since Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued a sweeping executive order on March 16. Michigan’s stay-at-home order has been extended until May 28 and it may be even longer until restaurants, bars and brewers can reopen.

Big Cat Brewing had been intermittently closed since then before making the decision to close permanently.

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