Dark Horse Brewery

History

Dark Horse Brewery began as a restaurant owned by Bill Morse. His son Aaron Morse suggested a redesign of the restaurant into a brewpub. The brewpub opened on West Michigan Avenue in Marshall. After converting its brewpub license into a microbrewery license in 1998, the taproom moved in 2000 to S. Kalamazoo Road. In 2010, Dark Horse added a general store that sells merchandise and home brewing supplies.

In early November 2010, the taproom was broken into and the building burned, in a suspected arson. Reconstruction began later that month.

In 2014, a reality show called Dark Horse Nation, featuring the company and its employees, premiered on The History Channel.

In 2019, with $12,018 in unpaid property taxes and $1.5 million in unmet mortgage payments, Dark Horse was purchased by Roak Brewing Co. of Royal Oak, Michigan. In 2021, ROAK Brewing closed its Royal Oak Michigan tap room and brewery and consolidated all of its brewing operations in Marshall, including a separate tap room and kitchen located on the Dark Horse campus.

In 2024, ROAK was acquired by Benchmark Beverage Company out of Livonia. In February of 2025, Benchmark also acquired Brew Detroit, who had recently closed their taproom in Detroit's Corktown neighborhood. Benchmark stated that they would brew five of Brew Detroit's flagship beers at the Marshall facility, and that they would be available on tap there alongside beers from Dark Horse and ROAK.

Awards

The craft beer-rating website RateBeer ranked Dark Horse 29th in its 2013 list of Best Brewers in the World.

References

References

1. "Dark Horse Brewing Company". [[Beer Advocate]].
2. Halfpenny, Rex. (Jan–Feb 2012). "Dark Horse Brewing Company". Michigan Beer Guide.
3. (November 5, 2010). "Investigators call Dark Horse Brewing fire 'suspicious'". Beerpulse.com.
4. (November 5, 2010). "Suspicious fire at Dark Horse Brewing Complex". [[WWMT]].
5. (September 18, 2014). "'Final' episodes of 'Dark Horse Nation' to air on Sept. 27". [[MLive]].
6. (September 14, 2019). "Lawsuit reveals that Dark Horse Brewing owes $1.5M in unpaid mortgage debt". WWMT.
7. (September 12, 2019). "Roak Brewing Co. to acquire Dark Horse Brewing in upcoming merger". [[Detroit Free Press]].
8. Selasky, Susan. "Brew Detroit acquired by Livonia beverage company; operations will move to Marshall".
9. Liberty, John. (February 1, 2013). "Best Brewers in the World 2013". [[MLive]].