Hidden King breathing new life into Ann Arbor German beer hall

A new business in Ann Arbor is breathing new life into a 140-year-old German beer hall, and soon guests will be able to buy beer there again, as well as coffee, wines and spirits.

The Hidden King, located at 210 S. Main St, is opening in May 2023. The walls within Hidden King speak to the history of Ann Arbor, particularly the impact of German settlers on Ann Arbor. This German heritage plays out in the beer that Hidden King will serve as they will feature beers by Teo Watson-Ahlbrandt, whose German roots shine through in the quality of the beer he brews.

Teo Watson-Ahlbrandt, head brewer at Big Hart Brewing Co, previously owned Edelbrau Brewing in Ann Arbor. Before that, Watson-Ahlbrandt worked at Dark Horse Brewing.

It was at Dark Horse Brewing that Watson-Ahlbrandt met Christopher Lasher, who recently launched Super Duper Drinks, a cold brew coffee business,

"I have a friend in downtown Ann Arbor that's starting a coffee thing; maybe you two should connect," told Hidden King owners Mark Wilfong and his sister-in-law Emily.

The walls within Hidden King speak to the history of Ann Arbor, particularly the impact of German settlers on Ann Arbor.

A sit-down was organized between Lasher and the two.

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"And then he (Teo) brought me in here, and I sat down with Mark and Emily. We drank cold brew and talked about coffee," Lasher said during a recent interview.

When Lasher mentioned the sit-down, I couldn't help but think of the Sopranos and Tony meeting with the mob bosses.

The "coffee thing" mentioned by Watson-Ahlbrandt is the Hidden King.

As you walk in the door of Hidden King, on your right, you can't miss a small remnant of the German Beer hall—a 3-foot-by-3-foot section of an old mural protected by a glass panel.

"The mural depicts Gambrinus, a European cultural figure celebrated as the icon of joviality, beer, and brewing. He is always depicted wearing a crown and holding a keg and a cup in each of his hands," a Click On Detroit article reads.

Hidden King doesn't look like a German beer hall. The space is bright and clean but somehow cozy. Wilfong was hanging pictures when we arrived for an interview. All photos are a snapshot of local history.

"A Netflix chef called his restaurant a social gesture, and I kind of stole that," Wilfong said.

If you are wondering, The Netflix chef is Massimo Bottura.

The space where Hidden King lives today was once a unique store called Peaceable Kingdom. Wilfong's mom, Carol Lopez, opened the Peaceable Kingdom in 1973 on Ann Arbor's westside. She bought the Main Street building in 1986.

Wilfong points out a picture on the wall, "And the rubble picture right there is the before and after. I am five years old. My first general contracting job, there's my dad taking credit for my work."

We all laughed.

Hidden King will start serving alcohol at the end of the first week of May.

"We have a full class C, but we’re trying to find where we fit on the street," Wilfong clarified.

His spirit of collaboration and community immediately reminded me of that same spirit in Michigan beer.

Part of the community aspect of Hidden King centers on coffee. Super Duper coffee will be available at Hidden King. We wanted to learn more about Lasher's adventure into coffee.

Super Duper coffee will be available at Hidden King.

"It says on the bag they are located in Rochester," I said while holding up a Super Duper coffee bag. "Are you making coffee in your basement?"

"No, at the brewery, Griffin Claw," Lasher replied, where he is now working.

Lasher's roaster is in Troy at their warehouse, and he brews and packages in Rochester. He admits it is a really good deal.

"We are going to put coffee on tap in the tap rooms," Lasher added. "We are debating between nitro coffee, cold coffee, and straight up, just coffee, and then you can add ice."

Lasher has been experimenting with barrel-aging beans using Griffin Claw barrels. He added pre-roasted green coffee beans to bourbon and "3 Scrooges" Whiskey barrels and then rolled the barrel around the brewery every day for two weeks.

I said, "Hopefully, you got a picture of that."

"I did make a GoPro video of me breaking down the barrel," Lasher said laughing. "Because you’ve got to bust apart the barrel to get all the beans out."

He roasted the bourbon barrel to a medium roast. For the "3 Scrooges" Whiskey beans, since it was holiday spiced liquor, he added a little cinnamon to amp it up.

"That little splash of cinnamon made it really nice," Lasher said.

The coffee beans were put in gold coffee bags with labels. Both were sold at the Griffin Claw Store.

"So yeah, it's a pretty good partnership so far," Lasher said.

He said several times during the interview how grateful he was to Griffin Claw and all the many people who have helped him launch Super Duper Drinks.

Super Duper Drinks are growing quickly. Maybe a year ago, Lasher bought a one-pound roaster that goes over a gas burner. A bigger electric roaster promptly replaced it.

"The beans float in the hot air, so you control how much hot air is getting blown up into the hopper, and you control how much heat is being supplied by the electricity," he explained. "You're keeping a constant flow of beans floating around in the hot air that makes it more of an even cleaner roast than drum roasters. I think it is a better-quality bean that comes from air roasters."

He roasts every week, keeping the beans fresh.

"I found this new way of making cold brew that there's only like two other companies I know that do a similar process," Lasher said. "I cold brew in less than an hour. I completely remove anything in the environment that would be bad for coffee, like oxygen sitting around all night.

"I do it really quickly using different pressures and stuff. I’m able to get a quicker, cleaner, more flavorful coffee. Then I package it. I like to let it sit and settle for at least a night. It makes packaging easier when it's colder. I found this new way of making cold brew through a bunch of research, and there aren't a lot of companies that do it this way, but I can tell you it makes the cold brewing process a lot quicker and more efficient. It keeps all the bad stuff out but ends up locking more and better flavors and aromas into the brew."

Hidden King's Ann Arbor business is a brilliant example of Michigan craft brewing's influence on other industries.

Lasher said he likes to keep the batches small, adding that it allowed him to brew, roast and package every week.

"And then I ship all that stuff out that week so that I know that everyone's getting like less than week old product," he said.

How long does it last? I asked. He answered that if you keep it refrigerated, it will keep for six months.

It packs a caffeine punch too. Currently coming in at about 1.85 Total Dissolved Solids. Soon Super Duper Drinks will introduce a half-decaf blend which Lasher is calling a "sessionable coffee" you can have later in the day and still be able to sleep at night.

I couldn't help asking if the coffee business is similar to brewing beer.

"Yeah, a lot of the equipment is similar," he said. "I've just been around it all the time, learning about brewing. Then having access to brewers who actually know all the stuff. For example, I've bought all this equipment that is not cold brew coffee equipment. It's not craft brewing equipment. It's essentially lab equipment, but it's big. It's stainless steel, and I made it. I guess I kind of, I don't want to say invented it, but it's not meant for this. I made it meant for this because I use that crazy process I'm not allowed to talk about."

This comment makes us all laugh.

We jokingly referred to his cold brew coffee equipment as the "Superlyzer 9000."

"I've got it all retro-fitted. It's basically like brewing equipment, similar cleaning, sanitizing methods, and chemicals," Lasher said.

Super Duper beans have been used to make Griffin Claw's "Soupy-C," a coffee, caramel, and cinnamon Stout. Dark Horse bought 40 pounds of very light roasted coffee from Lasher for this year's "Zhaftig Ghastly" pale stout. Lasher said, "I remember when I was there (When he worked at Dark Horse.), that's how they did it. It was a really, really light coffee, and then just hammered them (the beans), didn't grind it. They just broke the beans a little bit and put it in a filter to run beer through it just to pick up the flavor and the color."

Lasher uses a blend of beans from the same origin countries but different rations. He always uses beans from Costa Rica with Colombian, Honduran, or Guatemala.

"The Costa Rican beans I get are kind of chocolatey," he said. "They give up some of those chocolate characters, and then the Colombian beans are just like that straight-up OG coffee. I can't describe it besides just coffee. It smells and tastes coffee, and that is what I like."

"So that mixed in it with a little chocolate, little sweetness," he continued. "And then the Honduran just gives it more body and character. I like a little bit of fruitiness."

Super Duper Drinks "Adventure Pouch" reminds me of the Capri Sun pouches we hand the kids after soccer games. I’ve also seen similar packaging for "adult" drinks, like the Dailys Wild Berry Margarita Pouch.

I asked Lasher who else is packaging coffee in a pouch.

"You notice all of the big industries are turning to pouches and flexible packaging like apple sauce, baby food, and cleaning supplies," he said. "In other countries, these are like the most popular packaging."

Can you recycle the pouches?

"Yeah. I'm trying to source through them even more sustainable packaging," he said. "It will be printed, too, instead of a label. So they have pouches that are industrial compostable. The best thing about the pouches is they're a lower carbon footprint overall. A couple of boxes is the equivalent of a pallet of cans or bottles. There's less material in the manufacturing process, so there are less CO2 emissions. To ship it to me or whoever, it's a box instead of a pallet or a full truckload of pallets or cans and bottles."