For more than a decade, the Mitten Brewing Company has quietly built a lasting pizza and beer haven.
When Chris Andrus and Max Treirweiler opened the Mitten, 527 Leonard St. NW, in 2012, they did so, building on their homebrewing hobby— hoping to build a career out of something they loved. It was at the height of the craft beer boom, when hundreds of breweries were opening up across the country every year.
To differentiate, the meticulous pair decided to pour their resources behind figuring out a great pizza dough and developing a delicious pizza menu to go alongside their equally excellent brews. And, to add to the plan, they found the historic Engine House No. 9 on the Westside of Grand Rapids built in 1890 and turned it into a baseball mecca with a local slant to the Detroit Tigers.
It’s worked.
As the craft beer industry has slowed to a crawl, more breweries have closed than opened two years in a row, the first time that has happened in more than 20 years after consistent double-digit growth, the Mitten continues to thrive. But it’s not by chance.
“It’s been tough, obviously. A lot of places are closing, and it sucks to see peers struggling in many ways,” Trierweiler said. “We’re working really hard. It’s not easy for us, we’re working to improve quality every day. It’s a never-ending battle.”
Since opening on Leonard Street, the Mitten has also opened up satellite locations in Northport and Saugatuck, as well as a pizza-only takeout hub in Rockford.
Its staples have been on the menu since they opened in 2012, like the Field of Greens, Da Meat Hook, Pesto Chicken, Mediterranean and the Westerdog, a pizza inspired by, well, Yesterdog in Eastown.
The pizza is regularly lauded as some of the best in Grand Rapids, with regular nods as “Best Pizza” in this very magazine by the readers. This year, they’ve landed spots in both relevant categories: Best Pizza and Best Brewery. (Check out the complete “Best of Grand Rapids List: Food & Drinks” HERE.)
More recently, the pizzeria has offered Detroit-style deep dish, which Trierweiler said hasn’t received quite the traction of the original pizzas, but is starting to ramp up.
It’s interesting too, as the Mitten has long turned out some of the best beer in Michigan, it often takes a back seat to the pizza. Not that that’s a bad thing, as the firehouse is often full of families and groups that might not even order a beer, that can’t hurt in a world where restaurants are struggling. But still, as a brewery that can be an oddity.
“The beer we’re making, I’m really proud of it, but it still takes a backburner to the pizza,” Trierweiler said. “That’s not disheartening, our pizza is that good, but sometimes I wish the beer got a little bit more recognition.”
The beer does also stack up against the best in the country and world, with multiple beers winning medals at the Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup. Beers like Triple Crown Brown, a delightful, light, toasty English dark mild, have won those international competition medals over the years because of a strong dedication to constant quality. (Writers Note: One of my favorite beers of all time is the Mitten’s Country Strong IPA.) Last year, the brewery took home Gold at the Great American Beer Fest for Mr. Oktoberfest.
Mr. Oktoberfest represents a pivot of sorts over the last few years at the Mitten as beer consumers also make a pivot. As noted before, the craft beer boom has faded, and consumers are making their way back to tried and trues. Ten years ago, beer drinkers loved walking into a store and sifting through the huge array of beers to see what new, crazy style or hot brewery they could try.
That has caused a fatigue. Craft breweries have produced less beer year-over-year for several years in a row. There’s a multitude of reasons, from that choice fatigue to just the overall trend of Americans drinking less and less.
“There’s fatigue, for sure,” Trierweiler said. “But craft beer is never going to die, it’s here to stay. But people’s habits have shifted, there’s no doubt about that.”
When the Mitten opened, craft beer made up 6.5% of the beer market by volume. That’s reached more than 13% in 2025. But consumers are heading away from the novelty pastry stouts and big, hoppy hazy IPAs that once dominated conversations at breweries. Instead, they’re going back to classics like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, or simple, clean and light lagers. Some of that could be economic pressures as people look to make sure their dollars are spent on something they know they like. Rather than venturing out to try a new beer, they go back to the brands or styles they know and like.
And that’s exactly where the Mitten is headed, back to one of their original slogans, “classic styles with a twist.”
“Classic styles fit our mold, that’s who we are,” Trierweiler said.
The Lager Portfolio
The Mitten is currently focused on building a solid lager portfolio to hit on a lot of those classic taste profiles drinkers are now turning to. This summer there will be a solid array of lagers to hit various flavor profiles:
- Platinum Sombrero, a Mexican lager
- Pour of ’84, a classic Bohemian-style pilsner
- Mitten Lager, an amber lager perfect with pizza
- Sodfather, an extremely light rice lager
- Oktoberfest (later in the summer)
“We’re working hard to make the lagers the best we can,” Trierweiler said.
That doesn’t mean the Mitten is giving up on the rest of the styles like the delicious Country Strong IPA or Dock’s No-No double IPA or Peanuts & Crackerjack Porter. In fact, the Mitten recently began offering a beer special for the first time ever, a $5 pint of the week.
“It’s the only special we’ve really done,” Trierweiler said. “We want to highlight some of the beers we’re making that people might not try otherwise.”
Beyond the beer and pizza, the Mitten has also become a staple in the community. From the beginning, the Mitten has partnered with a different non-profit each month, donating a portion of sales. Andrus even wrote a book on the concept, “Dough Nation: How Pizza (and Small Businesses) Can Change the World,” about the importance of purpose driven entrepreneurship and its impact on communities.
Community Driven Initiatives
In 2025, the Mitten Foundation raised more than $66,000, including:
- 180,000 free meals for food-insecure neighbors
- $2,875 in free books for local children
- $14,000 in holiday groceries
- $2,647 for local teen mothers
- $3,539 to help children with disabilities
- $3,949 in no-cost mental health benefits for employees
- $5,109 in donations to disability nonprofits
- 400 board member volunteer hours
So more than a decade after its launch, the Mitten continues to show that a steady focus on quality and community can outlast industry trends. As breweries across the country face consolidation and closures, the Mitten keeps finding ways to evolve, whether that’s refining its beer lineup, perfecting its pizza, or deepening its local impact through its foundation. What began as a side project between two homebrewers has grown into a West Side institution, one that’s built to last by sticking to what works and giving back along the way.
