Detroit Zoo opens beer pub, names Griffin Claw official craft brewery

To ring in its 95th anniversary, the Detroit Zoo now has a limited-edition, exclusive beer, but more than that, the special brew is part of the attraction's expanding relationship with a local brewer that includes a new pub and the release — and re-release — of other alcoholic drinks.

It's all in time for the Labor Day weekend holiday.

Aptly named Celebrating 95 Years IPA, the pint-sized beverage was made by Michigan-based Griffin Claw Brewing Co., which recently became the zoo’s official craft brewery, and it can be found at the zoo’s new pub — more of an outdoor beer stand, really — across from the rhino exhibit.

"It’s only available at the zoo," Christopher Lasher, the craft brewery’s marketing director, said of the zoo's exclusive offering. "It’s an exclusive for the zoo’s 95th anniversary, which started Aug. 1, and they are celebrating the whole month."

The beer comes in white cans with gold and purple lettering and features the different designs on the zoo water tower over the years and note that the beer inside was made in collaboration with the zoo to support conservation programs and to protect "wild animals and their habitats."

The zoo plans to add a new design to its freshly painted water tower soon.

And, Lasher said, if you want a taste of the specialty brew — or to buy a can of the limited-edition run for your collection or a friend's — don't wait too long because Griffin Claw only produced 40 cases, less than 1,000 cans, and soon it will be gone.

Griffin Claw, which has taprooms in Birmingham and Rochester Hills, became the zoo’s official craft beer partner last month, but it is not the zoo’s exclusive beer brand. The zoo also sells Budweiser. And, the local brewer adds, it has had a relationship with the zoo for years.

The brewer has been offering its beers at the Royal Oak attraction's Zoo Brew events, where beer aficionados can sample dozens of Michigan craft beers while also listening to live music and checking out the animal exhibits.

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In 2019, the brewery released its first beer in its "Survival Series," which aimed to raise money and bring awareness to the zoo’s conservation projects.

The first beer was the Piping Plover Pilsner, named after a migratory, sparrow-sized shorebird that nests along the Great Lakes. The beer’s name, the zoo said, also helped spread the word about the bird’s plight. It is now the Piping Plover Lager.

Other specialty brews that were released, included Panamanian Golden Frogs, Partula Snails and the Grauer’s Grace, in honor of the gorillas in Congo.

In May, Griffin Claw was at a sold-out Zoo Brew.

In addition to the limited-edition India pale ale that sells for about $10, Griffin Claw is offering some of its other beers, including its Norm’s IPA, its Conflict of Interest a New England style IPA, its reintroduced Survival Series label, and vodka seltzers.

Lasher said he did not know the financial arrangement between the brewery and the zoo, but from a marketing perspective, the zoo now gets to sell its hot and thirsty, 21-year-old and older visitors ice-cold pints of locally brewed beer.

And by associating with the zoo, the microbrewery can boost its profile to zoo visitors who have come from all over Michigan, the nation and even the world. The deal also helps the beer brand project an image of social responsibility and environmental sustainability.

Lasher said Griffin Claw started as a basement brewery for the Big Rock Chophouse in Birmingham.

In 2010, the restaurant entered its brews — Norm’s Raggedy Ass IPA and Bonnie’s Raggedy Ass Imperial IPA — in a contest and won, and in 2013, decided to develop the brewery as its own enterprise. It moved into its own building.

The company, Lasher said, aims to be a good community partner. It uses, for example, a carbon-dioxide recapturing device to keep the gas out of the atmosphere. And its zoo pub is made from a shipping container, and painted by local artist Rick Malt, and surrounded by a beer garden.

Guests are allowed to carry in a cooler full of food and drinks.

The pub offers something that visitors are prohibited from bringing into the zoo: booze.

And, Lasher said, while there isn’t an actual Griffin — the brewery's namesake mythological creature that had the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion — at the zoo, if you look close enough, you might be able to see one painted on the pub.

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or [email protected].