By Alex Cash
Staff Writer
JACKSON – Poison Frog Brewery is not just any name chosen for the two-year-old establishment on Horton Road. Upon entry, patrons can look at the colorful, live, poison frogs for which its name was deliberately picked.
“It was a chance I had wanted to take for 20 years, to get into the poison frog hobby and I finally pulled the trigger. If we were going to have a Poison Frog Brewery then we needed to have poison frogs,” said owner, Phil Wilcox.
Wilcox found that the largest purveyor of poison frogs in North America was a fellow Jackson High School graduate. Josh’s Frogs, out of Owosso, helped get him into the hobby.
Poison Frog Brewery was the moniker of Wilcox’s former home brewing project. At the same time that he was learning home beer brewing, he was learning to illustrate on computers using Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Frogs just jumped onto the beer labels he was learning to create for bottling his home brews.
It’s the unique setting that Wilcox believes sets his brewery apart from the others in town. Their building is a former house that was converted to a retail space in the 1970s, and now back into another establishment that patrons can feel at home in. People can admire vibrant murals on the walls and relax into comfortable couches while drinking out of custom glassware.
“We like to look at ourselves as an equal opportunity alcohol provider,” said Wilcox. Having all three licenses, beer, wine, spirits, Wilcox can dabble into each. He enjoys making mead and cider along the wine thread and said he likes leaving the grape wines to those who are working hard to grow their own grapes. They are a three barrel brewery, which means the batches are small enough to be able to rotate product often and try new things.
Poison Frog Brewery is taking part in the Try Five event, which is a collaborative effort by the Jackson Beer Collaborative. The five participating breweries each craft their own version of the same beer for passport holders to try. Passports can be purchased at Poison Frog Brewery or any of the other locations for $30.00. It includes a pint glass and five exclusive pints of beer.
At the Poison Frog Brewery, there are more than just libations to keep the customers entertained. The establishment prides itself on providing a wide variety of unique events to apply to many audiences.
“We’ve done things from open paint to jewelry events to psychic night to yoga to women’s self-defense and so on,” said Executive Events Director, Angela Zwick. “My goal is to offer a venue for a variety of artists to perform.”
Poison Frog Brewery is located at 1908 Horton Road in Jackson. They have limited parking on site, but additional parking can be found just across the street. Visit them on Facebook or give them a call at (517) 748-5997 for more information.
Alexandra Cash is a Jackson native with a passion for world travel, culture, lifetime learning, and adventure. Visit her website to read stories of her adventures at alexandracash.com or view her videos on YouTube at Alexandra Cash – Cash’s Corner.
