Big Rapids’ Cranker’s is under­go­ing mas­sive con­struc­tion with the addi­tion of its new micro­brew­ery. Scheduled to open at 213 S. State St. in early March, the $815,000 project will be the first brew­ery addi­tion to the restaurant’s three locations.

Jim Crank, FSU grad­u­ate and owner of Cranker’s Coney Island, said the deci­sion to cre­ate a micro­brew­ery in Big Rapids came from a desire to expand the local cul­ture in the community.

“We want peo­ple to enjoy the micro­brew­ery cul­ture. This will be a very unique place,” Crank said.

He said orig­i­nal plans to open the micro­brew­ery in August were resched­uled in order to ensure that spac­ing would ben­e­fit the restaurant’s addi­tional services.

“We wanted to make sure we made the brew­ery big enough to accom­mo­date our orig­i­nal goal,” Crank said.

Ferris State University pre-dentistry major Rachel Mockaitis said the calm set­ting of a brew­ery would be a dif­fer­ent expe­ri­ence than most local bars.

“It would seem like a more chill atmos­phere than a reg­u­lar bar,” Mockaitis said. “If I wanted a more relaxed atmos­phere I would con­sider going there.”

Crank said he plans to employ between 16–24 new employ­ees for the micro­brew­ery expan­sion project. Construction on Cranker’s Coney Island and Brewpub expan­sion project began in October. An approx­i­mately 6,200 square foot ren­o­va­tion, the brew­ery will seat about 150 patrons.

Six beers will be on tap includ­ing “Bulldog Red” Irish ale, “Torchlight” Munich blonde, “Professor” India pale ale, “Dambreaker” brown ale, “Strong Arm” stout and “The Local” marzen. Four sea­sonal beers will be added through­out the year such as the “Crankenstein” Oktoberfest, “Old Siberian” win­ter ale, “Ploughshare” mai­bock and “Ambrosia” honey Kolsch.

The reg­u­lar Cranker’s menu will be avail­able through­out the day with a pub menu avail­able from 3 p.m.-11 p.m.

Cranker’s Brewery is also allow­ing FSU stu­dents a $10 dis­counted mem­ber­ship into its Mug Club. Limited to 300 mem­bers per year, Crank said Mug Club mem­ber­ship is $60 per mug and offers dis­counted pric­ing for Cranker’s mer­chan­dise and events such as tastings.

Depending on the suc­cess of the Big Rapids’ micro­brew­ery, Crank said addi­tional brew­eries would be con­structed at other restau­rant loca­tions. For more infor­ma­tion on Cranker’s Brewery, visit crankers​brew​ery​.com.