Salt Springs Brewery | Worship craft beer in a renovated church in Saline

For more than a hundred years, folks in Saline came to pray in this space. Today they come for the libations. Given how some people these days treat craft beer drinking as a near-religious experience, Salt Springs Brewery’s home is a fitting cathedral.

Don’t wander in looking for a Bud long neck or a bucket of Miller Lites. At Salt Springs, they only serve what they make in-house, and beer-seekers can choose from a menu of about a dozen tap selections with clever names like Kick Axe Kolsch, Crispy’s Tippel, 3 Kids in a Candy Store IPA, Big Brown Bunny Porter and Salt Paddy’s Nitro Stout.

On that topic, what’s up with the salt references?

The historical marker across the street explains, laying out a local history that begins with a Paleozoic Era reference when the Lower Peninsula was covered by sea water and ends in 1832 when Saline – the French word for “salt marsh” – became the name of the community. About 50 years later in 1899, the local Methodists built a church, an ornate stone structure with impressive stained-glass windows that allowed natural light to blanket the congregation. Fast-forward more than a century, that natural light – but not Natural Light – fills mugs of craft beer and spreads across dishes that include an assortment of specialty burgers, sandwiches and pizzas built on house-made sourdough.

The building alone is worth a visit. A church-turned-brewery isn’t an everyday renovation, and the folks at SaltSprings Brewery did it right. Bits of its history mingle with country chic decor below expansive stained-glass. Not up for the full meal experience? You can catch them for brunch early on Saturdays and Sundays, when citizens everywhere should be appreciative of the good things in life. Like biscuits and gravy. And beer.

Amen.