Old Nation

CRAFT BEER AFICIONADOS, HOP HEADS, BEER GEEKS AND BEER NERDS. THOSE ARE OUR PEOPLE.  THEY TALK ABOUT BEER, HOW MUCH THEY LIKE IT AND HOW THEY’D LOVE TO OPEN A BREWERY ONE DAY, NOW THAT THE CRAFT BEER MARKET IS “HOT”.  WE LIKE THESE PEOPLE AND WE RESPECT EVERY ONE OF THEM.

But Old Nation was built by a different kind of “beer nerd”.

It was built by 2 university educated brewers, each with over 14 years of experience professionally brewing craft beer at breweries big and small, all over the northern hemisphere.

Travis Fritts and Nate Rykse have devoted their lives to learning how and why different people brew beer differently and with different ingredients; to the study of the history of those ingredients and the beer they make in every beer drinking culture; to the reasons why this yeast does that, why that malt does this, what happens when you mix Belgian, German, American and English disciplines of brewing, not just ingredients.

We are professional brewers.  It’s what we do.  We’ve been professional brewers since way before it was cool and want to share the result of all of that training and hard work with as many people as we can.

Thankfully, we found some likeminded people to work with us in Williamston, the most charming little town we could find in the middle of the big Mitten.

Our chefs have the same sense of pride in the dishes they make as the brewers have in the beer.  We offer handcrafted Pasties, noodles and sauces made daily , MI beef burgers, house braised corned beef and fresh homemade desserts just to name a few. The cheese in our fried cheese curds is carefully sourced and selected from Michigan State University. Even the pickle chips are hand breaded, one by one.

We don’t cut corners. We don’t follow trends.  Our only concern is making every drop of Old Nation beer and every crumb of Old Nation Food the best we can possibly make.  We are, above all else, dedicated to the craft.

Our wish for you is that you always drink good beer and eat good food.  Our mission is to provide that.  We hope you will join us at Old Nation whether at our pub, your local bar or at your favorite beer store.

Thanks,
Travis Fritts and Rick Ghersi
Owners,
Old Nation Brewing Co.