When selecting a beer, wine or liquor for any sort of event, Michigan manufacturers are creating both new and classic flavors and brews.

Michigan Brewing Company in Webberville produces a variety of beers and has expanded into distilling liquors.

“We are coming out with new vodkas and gins. They will be some of the first … made with Michigan grain,” owner and brewer Bobby Mason said.

MBC’s new vodka, PA 218, soon will appear in local venues. A new gin also has been created with plans to add a whiskey to the lineup.

Mason founded MBC in 1995 and said he utilizes neighboring companies in the running of his business.

“To keep everyone else in business, we keep it local. We use local suppliers for packaging,” Mason said. “We are hoping people notice and everyone reciprocates.”

MBC also is looking for ways to help the environment by going green. During beer production, generators are fueled with biodiesel made from canola seeds from Charlotte and grease from the fryers in MSU cafeterias.

For those more partial to the grape, Burgdorf’s Winery, 5635 Shoeman Road, in Haslett, offers at least 24 different wines available to tasting visitors.

Owners Deb and Dave Burgdorf said they have noticed less purchases this year. Dave Burgdorf said he attributes the change to the fact people simply are being more cautious about where they spend money.

Although they grow some grapes, they prefer to get their grapes from Michigan farmers when in season, typically from vineyards near Lansing.

“We try to support our Michigan agriculture. … They already invested time, energy, land and have the expertise in their vineyards,” Dave Burgdorf said. “We want to use that for our winery.”

Along with wine tasting parties, Burgdorf’s teaches customers how to make their own wine.

Seafood from Okemos

Who said shrimp can’t come from Michigan?

It can be found down the road from MSU.

Shrimp Farm in Michigan, Seafood Systems, 3450 Meridian Road, in Okemos, is the only farm that offers Michigan shrimp.

The market has been open for four years. Owner Russ Allen said the company is focused on developing a process that commercializes shrimp bred in Michigan.

“This isn’t the end product. This is just the beginning,” Allen said. “We have pretty much developed a process and showed them that it works. We feel that on a commercial scale, we can sell shrimp in Michigan as cheap as anywhere else in the world.”

According to the Foreign Agriculture Service, the U.S. imports shrimp from countries including China and Thailand.

“Our whole focus is to develop a new industry in Michigan,” Allen said. “We wrote new legislation in agriculture, making the best laws to promote (it). Everything we do is classified under agriculture and treats us like any other farmer in the state.”

Michigan makes it ‘Better’

In college, the second level of the food pyramid is basically sodas and junk food. Everyone loves something to snack on, and Michigan offers customers popular choices straight out of the Motor City: Better Made Snack Food Company and Faygo Beverages Inc., both in Detroit.

“We’re big on the ‘made in Michigan’ theme, and even the backs of our bags have the story where we explain that we are a union company, and we hire most of our personnel from the urban area of Detroit,” said Mark Costello, Better Made’s vice president of sales.

Faygo director of marketing Matt Rosenthal said operating out of Detroit amid the current economic situation in Michigan has made times tough.

The key, he said, is learning to control spending.

“I don’t think anyone should buy a Michigan product just because it’s from Michigan. That doesn’t make sense. What does make sense is buying a great product made in Michigan, and that’s what we have,” Rosenthal said.

The companies give back by sponsoring local sports teams and foundations and utilizing other Michigan companies.

Community impact

“It’s a matter of justice for me,” said J.T. Stout, sustainability coordinator for East Lansing Food Co-op, or ELFCO. “It’s justice if you help people make a good living and help people thrive and to a huge degree by buying locally, we are giving justice.”

Stout said he thinks buying locally creates a ripple effect, starting with the immediate economy and branching out to neighboring markets.

“I can say that because I know the farmers we buy from. They deliver the food here,” he said. “I have a face that tells me where my tomatoes and garlic are made from. They have kids in local schools. That’s important.”

Economics professor Paul L. Menchik said buying locally will have a multiplied, or rippling, impact on the economy.

“If the proprietor has more money to spend on inputs and equipment and if the labor is here, then the workers have more money to buy the goods that they buy. So if people spend their money locally, it aids the local economy,” Menchik said.

Since price is the biggest factor, then buying goods from afar may trump buying local, Menchik said. College students, for example, may find bargains on necessary items that are imported.

“There is a balancing act on the consumer,” he said. “They want to get the best value for their money, but they have the interest in helping the local economy.”

For people like Tim Durkin, a grocery manager at ELFCO who buys many of his Michigan products from the store, price is not the biggest factor.

“Getting it locally, like produce, gets you in tune to the idea of buying seasonal stuff,” he said. “I think it’s important to support area farmers and support businesses that buy from local producers.”