MARINE CITY — Three years after they opened a winery downtown, the owners of the newly revamped WaterStreet Winery and Brewery are a few weeks into the swing of things with an expanded menu — and double the space for an area projecting “two different vibes.”
Dave Swantek, who originally opened TwoRivers Winery with wife, Julie , said they did that on purpose.
“You get the best of both worlds,” he said Friday.
The couple first broke ground on the expansion to newly include brewed beer on site in January after leasable space next door became available. Dave Swantek said he got in touch with a brewer friend, and since opening both sides under the WaterStreet banner, the response has been good from both their new and returning customer base.
When asked what originally got them started on the brewing journey, Swantek said it was just one part of a multi-prong approach to fulfilling frequent requests to enhance customers’ experience “when they come in the door.”
“There were three main things that everybody was always asking for. Could you expand someday and do beer? Well, we did that. It’s next door. What else could you do? Could we have an outside area? There’s now an outside patio off of the brewery,” he said. “The third thing was could you guys do food? We’re manufacturers, so we can’t do food. We don’t have a separate kitchen. … So, we’re never going to have the third thing, but Marine City has some outstanding restaurants, and anyone can bring anything that they want in.
“Hopefully, that helps out with the customer experience because now someone can try from over 100 different kinds of alcohol. That includes probably about 85 different kinds of wine, I think we have 12 or 15 hard ciders, and nine beers on tap, two seltzers, and one very fun blackberry carbonated wine. So, there’s something really for everybody here if they want ot sit down, have some good conversation with some like-minded people, and have a good time.”
After getting necessary approvals from the state liquor control commission, WaterStreet is brewing, fermenting, bottling, or kegging their beer and wine on-site — a soft clanking of bottling could be heard in back mid-interview Friday — as part of a low-capacity, high-variety operation.
“We can be nimble based on taste,” Swantek said.
And the two sides of the outfit out front have been built to accommodate those different tastes, Swantek said, similar to the style of beverages people may seek out.
Both favored nautical vibes, but the winery side featured fewer televisions with a lower, faux tin ceiling, while the brewery saw higher ceilings with more industrial features.
This time of year, Swantek said wine slushies were popular, particularly with Marine City’s social district.
But he admitted tastes were also seasonal.
In the summer, it was sweet and light wines, of which they have 15, cycling out this fall. With beer, it was light lagers and ales before transitioning to porters and stouts later this year.
Calling Marine City “a great little town,” Swantek said they’ve been able to help draw customers from a variety of places, including from out of state.
For more information on WaterStreet, visit https://waterstreetwineryandbrewery.com . Located at 218 Water St., they’re open from 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 2 to 10 p.m. Friday, noon to 10 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.
Contact reporter Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com .
This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: 'Best of both worlds': Marine City winery opens up attached brewery
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