If all goes as planned, Lisa and Randy Blain and partners Doug and Cindy Lameyer will open Five Lakes Brewing this summer at the former location of the Seasons in Time Restaurant and Jake’s Goodtime Bar & Grill, 1638 142nd Ave. at the High Mark Center mall in Dorr.
The two couples, who describe the business as a micro-brewery, a small wine maker and small distillery, appeared Monday night before the Dorr Township Board to seek its blessing in asking for a liquor license form the Michigan Liquor Control Commission.
They are buying the adjacent buildings on 142nd Avenue from John Van Singel.
The board agreed to support their request on a 4-1 vote, with Trustee John Tuinstra dissenting.
“At one time, alcohol was illegal in this country,” Tuinstra commented.
He said he has just finished reading Bill O’Reilly’s “Killing Lincoln,” in which is was pointed out that assassin John Wilkes Booth was drunk when he shot Lincoln. Tuinstra also listed a number of alcohol’s negative impacts on individuals and society, including cancer, liver disease, depression, drunk driving deaths and spo0ke of incidents in which people “drank themselves to death.”
He said he doesn’t object to restaurants offering small amounts of wine, beer or liquor with a meal.
Supervisor Jeff Miling eventually halted Tuinstra’s commentary and Library Director Natalie Bazan insisted that use or abuse of alcohol was a matter of personal choice.
Mrs. Blain then rose in the audience to state, “It’s not just a place for people to come and drink. We hope to provide a family atmospheres and serve food.”
Treasurer Jim Martin said a brewery and distillery is more likely “to attract a better kind of clientele, more for an upper end, more conducive to the person who has one drink than volume alcohol consumption.”
Mrs. Blaine said she and her husband and the Lameyers hope to have the business up and running by June at the earliest or August at the latest.
PHOTOS: Lisa Blain speaks to the Dorr Township Board about plans for a microbrewery, small win maker and small distillery, which will replace the Seasons in Time Restaurant and Jake’s Goodtime Bar & Grill.
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