Brewing In Mason

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BAD Brewing features many different kinds of craft beer.

Jack Hellmann

BAD Brewing features many different kinds of craft beer.

About 20 minutes south of Lansing, you can find a small-town home to a county government and a barrage of small businesses. As you get toward the heart of Mason, the large franchises that surround America come to halt and the locally-owned businesses consume the town’s retail market.

Among these shops, you’ll find business owner, Brian Rasdale, who owns Mason’s BAD Brewing Company. Rasdale is a St. Johns native and earned his associate’s degree from Lansing Community College.

BAD Brewing Craft Beer
The Origin

In 2012, Rasdale was 27 when he opened the shop, making him seven years younger than the average of a new business owner. Despite his youth, BAD Brewing has made its mark on the community with extensive expansions and clever marketing promotions.

Expansion

The initial square footage was small, but the birth of a new business was popular to the city of Mason. In 2015 business was so good, BAD Brewing expanded and bought the other half of the 440 South Jefferson Street facility. While this expansion gave more room to their customers, Rasdale then installed outdoor heated igloo’s.

“We initially got them two years before Covid,” said Rasdale “just to create more space cause things were pretty tight in here.”

Little did Rasdale know this installation of igloos would be a pivotal step ahead when the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020. While the initial surge of the pandemic did restrict their operations, Rasdale was undeterred and adapted the best he could. Rasdale described COVID as “tough” and noted that the numbers may never go back to the way they were before COVID, but they’ve risen to a comfortable sum.

The addition of extra space has given the brewery more mobility moving forward in hosting events. The indoor-outdoor venue provides them with a seasonal rotation of events and staff. The initial installation of the igloos isolated parties from each other. After COVID, they made adapted by making a long tent allowing the separate parties to share the indoor/outdoor space.

Marketing

Despite the youth of the owner, the small town, and a pandemic, BAD Brewing has found ways to become one of Mason’s staple points. Under the leadership of Rasdale, they have begun hosting trivia nights, comedy nights, and live music. BAD Brewing Co. has developed their own branding merchandise featured at the store location. Hats, hoodies, t-shirts, bottle openers, and more are available year-round.

Bad Brewing Mug Club

Last is their in-store membership known as the “Mug Club,” a hot commodity in Mason. This popular attraction features in-store mugs that are hung on a wall. With this membership, you can receive exclusive deals only available to the 1,000 members of this club.  With your membership, you’re given a mug to personalize that you can use every time you go to Bad Brewing.

One of the members of this club, Kevin Wheat, is a regular BAD Brewing patron and considers the bar to be the “cheers of Mason” – an area where several members of the town and community go to create bonds. Wheat often uses this establishment to meet up with friends and family

Teaming Up

“They’re not competition,” said Rasdale, who isn’t necessarily trying to compete with the other business, but rather put their best product forward. It’s this team attitude that has allowed the city of BAD Brewing Co. to team up with other local breweries. They have created a beer trail that consists of 11 other breweries or bars. If someone is to get a beer at all 11 bars by Feb. 28 they will win a t-shirt. The idea was formulated in a meeting that the owners of the local bars hold once a month.

Teaming up and bringing attention to the area is a goal Bad Brewing is striving to do. BAD Brewing bartender Kyle Francis, believes that BAD Brewing “ contributes to the social life of mason.” While Mason is home to businesses like Kean’s which has been around for 90 years, the addition of BADBrewing has added new life. 

BAD Brewing’s neighbors have found success in the attention they draw as well. While local shops are always looking for attention through sales and promotions, Rasdale noticed how they feed off of each other. For instance, the shop next store, Kean’s, drew a lot of attention during the BAD Brewing “Bourbon Barrel Beer Fest.”

Rasdale also pointed out the small things like getting gas or groceries in Mason and the impact it has on the town. The collaboration of this local business has led to the economic growth of mason and promises a bright future ahead, he said.

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