By R. R. Branstrom rbranstrom@dailypress.net MANISTIQUE — Since December of 2016, TAP21 in Manistique has been serving exclusively Michigan craft brews from the lines fed through a striking back bar, a Brunswick-Balke-Collender that dates to 1983. The history of the saloon is tied to that of the town. In the early 1870s, Abijah Weston and A.J. Fox of New York State purchased the Chicago Lumbering Company, whose assets included river rights and a small timber and sawmill at Manistique. At the time, the settlement only had the sawmill, two slips at the mouth of the river, a handful of homes, a boarding house and a store. Weston and Fox rapidly built up the Chicago Lumbering Company and expanded the town of Manistique, improved and grew the sawmill and erected new homes. Chicago was rebuilding after the great fire, and demand for production of building materials was high. Weston formed a second timber company with mills on the west side of the Manistique River and named it the Weston Lumber Company. Between the Chicago and Weston companies, both of which had the same officers and stockholders, the two companies owned almost the entire town. They were famously opposed to alcohol and aimed to keep Manistique dry. To that end, properties leased or sold by the lumber companies came with a clause that “the premises could not manufacture, store or sell intoxicating liquors,” according to a Schoolcraft County Historical Society article by Vonciel LeDuc. The ban created a niche waiting to be filled. A man named Dan Heffron bought the only property not owned by the lumber companies and built multiple structures, LeDuc wrote. One was a saloon. Seeing the tavern’s success, other entrepreneurs followed suit. One was Nels Johnson, a Swedish immigrant who began working as a lumberjack for the Chicago Lumbering Company in the early 1880s. “Nels saw how excellent Heffron’s business was, so he bought property from Heffron and built a saloon, so Swedes could drink at an establishment owned by a fellow country-man,” wrote LeDuc. In 1910, the Nels Johnson Saloon sold to Emil and Fred Ekberg, according to the historical society. The name “EKBERG” is still seen in tiles on the stoop of 242 S. Cedar St. The original 24-by-14-foot mahogany back bar and stamped tin ceiling that made up the ornate interior of the saloon that opened over 130 years ago are also still on display today in what is now TAP21. Owner Tiffany Gault said that it’s common for people to stop in their tracks in the entryway in awe when they see the bar. It operated as the Ekberg Tavern until 1960. From that point, it became the Harbor Bar, and did business with that name under a handful of proprietors, including Robert and Aspasia Walters, who ran it between 1962 and 1981, and Robert “Joe” and Mary Kay Wood. At some point in time, the saloon was connected to the adjoining premises to the north, a restaurant, and operated as a combination bar and grill. However, the connecting doorway was sealed years ago, and under its last owner, Harbor Bar was a bar with no restaurant. The place ended up closing down in the mid-aughts. Gault said that it had been shut for about eight years when the sale price dropped to something that appealed to her. It was November of 2015 that the idea to put in an offer on the historic bar struck Gault, who was working as a staff accountant at M Bank at the time. Her business plan was completed by January; in July, approval came in for the liquor license transfer; and in August of 2016, the sale of the property was finalized. With a new concept for the establishment – an eatery with 21 taps at the bar dispensing exclusively Michigan craft beers and ciders – Gault had a fair bit of remodeling to do. “It didn’t have the tap lines before,” she said. “We installed a glycol chiller, and we’ve got trunk lines making sure that the beer is pushed up at 32 degrees so we yield the most out of every keg.” To offer food service, they installed a kitchen in the northwest portion of the building; to accommodate it, the restrooms were relocated. In cozy alcoves with wooden tables and benches, yellowed wallpaper was removed, and the walls painted. The saloon got new flooring, and the bartop – one single piece of wood – was refinished with a clear epoxy. Though Gault’s refurbished establishment didn’t start serving food until June 2017, it opened as TAP21 in December of 2016 – to immediate success. “I opened it December 10th with the hopes to work the first two years still at the bank, just to make sure that this got off the ground,” Gault explained, “but this kind of took off. So I was done with the bank by January 1st. I had no choice.” She said that her colleagues at mBank understood that it was a “now or never” opportunity. After TAP21 began serving food, business took off even more. Now, booming patronage means that the place employs close to 40 people in the summer, the peak season. “We sell through like, 35, 40 kegs a week all summer long,” Gault reported, adding that vendors have told her that TAP21 outsells some bars in Marquette. As far as food, the menu offers appetizers, soups, salads, sandwiches, pizza, tacos, seafood, pasta, steak, and a kid’s menu. Gault said that TAP21’s prime rib tacos are a favorite of many, and that Friday fish fries and Saturday prime rib nights are very popular, too. A proclaimed ketchup lover, Gault said that TAP21’s bacon onion jam is so good she doesn’t use ketchup on the TAP burger, a specialty that also comes with housemade beer cheese. TAP21 hosts themed parties, karaoke, and DJ nights, usually in the summer. Occasionally, the establishment is rented out for private parties. Right now, the bar is decorated for St. Patrick’s Day, and a karaoke night is planned for Saturday the 15th. Even this time of year, when minimal traffic is seen in a lot of the U.P., business at TAP21 is decent. “I’m just really happy and really proud that we are doing well,” said Gault, “because it’s the dead of winter, and this is when we’re supposed to be slow.” One thing customers can look forward to is the opening of a second floor at TAP21. The second story used to house four apartments, but it’s been undergoing a remodel and is well on its way to becoming another bar. Having found an old sign with beer prices from 1981, Gault said she’s considering calling the upper level the “Harbor Bar” unofficially. The idea at present is to let the top floor be a more casual and recreational space with limited food options – perhaps just pizza and sandwiches, rather than the full menu offered downstairs – and to install a golf simulator. The capacity of the ground floor is 77; upstairs it will be 71. TAP21 opens at 11 a.m. daily. In the winter, the place stops serving food at 9 p.m.; in the summer, food stops at 10 p.m. Bar closing time depends on business.

MANISTIQUE — Since December of 2016, TAP21 in Manistique has been serving exclusively Michigan craft brews from the lines fed through a striking back bar, a Brunswick-Balke-Collender that dates to 1983.

The history of the saloon is tied to that of the town. In the early 1870s, Abijah Weston and A.J. Fox of New York State purchased the Chicago Lumbering Company, whose assets included river rights and a small timber and sawmill at Manistique. At the time, the settlement only had the sawmill, two slips at the mouth of the river, a handful of homes, a boarding house and a store.

Weston and Fox rapidly built up the Chicago Lumbering Company and expanded the town of Manistique, improved and grew the sawmill and erected new homes. Chicago was rebuilding after the great fire, and demand for production of building materials was high. Weston formed a second timber company with mills on the west side of the Manistique River and named it the Weston Lumber Company.

Between the Chicago and Weston companies, both of which had the same officers and stockholders, the two companies owned almost the entire town. They were famously opposed to alcohol and aimed to keep Manistique dry. To that end, properties leased or sold by the lumber companies came with a clause that “the premises could not manufacture, store or sell intoxicating liquors,” according to a Schoolcraft County Historical Society article by Vonciel LeDuc.

The ban created a niche waiting to be filled.

A man named Dan Heffron bought the only property not owned by the lumber companies and built multiple structures, LeDuc wrote. One was a saloon.

Seeing the tavern’s success, other entrepreneurs followed suit. One was Nels Johnson, a Swedish immigrant who began working as a lumberjack for the Chicago Lumbering Company in the early 1880s.

“Nels saw how excellent Heffron’s business was, so he bought property from Heffron and built a saloon, so Swedes could drink at an establishment owned by a fellow country-man,” wrote LeDuc.

In 1910, the Nels Johnson Saloon sold to Emil and Fred Ekberg, according to the historical society. The name “EKBERG” is still seen in tiles on the stoop of 242 S. Cedar St.

The original 24-by-14-foot mahogany back bar and stamped tin ceiling that made up the ornate interior of the saloon that opened over 130 years ago are also still on display today in what is now TAP21. Owner Tiffany Gault said that it’s common for people to stop in their tracks in the entryway in awe when they see the bar.

It operated as the Ekberg Tavern until 1960. From that point, it became the Harbor Bar, and did business with that name under a handful of proprietors, including Robert and Aspasia Walters, who ran it between 1962 and 1981, and Robert “Joe” and Mary Kay Wood.

At some point in time, the saloon was connected to the adjoining premises to the north, a restaurant, and operated as a combination bar and grill. However, the connecting doorway was sealed years ago, and under its last owner, Harbor Bar was a bar with no restaurant.

The place ended up closing down in the mid-aughts. Gault said that it had been shut for about eight years when the sale price dropped to something that appealed to her.

It was November of 2015 that the idea to put in an offer on the historic bar struck Gault, who was working as a staff accountant at M Bank at the time. Her business plan was completed by January; in July, approval came in for the liquor license transfer; and in August of 2016, the sale of the property was finalized.

With a new concept for the establishment – an eatery with 21 taps at the bar dispensing exclusively Michigan craft beers and ciders – Gault had a fair bit of remodeling to do.

“It didn’t have the tap lines before,” she said. “We installed a glycol chiller, and we’ve got trunk lines making sure that the beer is pushed up at 32 degrees so we yield the most out of every keg.”

To offer food service, they installed a kitchen in the northwest portion of the building; to accommodate it, the restrooms were relocated.

In cozy alcoves with wooden tables and benches, yellowed wallpaper was removed, and the walls painted. The saloon got new flooring, and the bartop – one single piece of wood – was refinished with a clear epoxy.

Though Gault’s refurbished establishment didn’t start serving food until June 2017, it opened as TAP21 in December of 2016 – to immediate success.

“I opened it December 10th with the hopes to work the first two years still at the bank, just to make sure that this got off the ground,” Gault explained, “but this kind of took off. So I was done with the bank by January 1st. I had no choice.”

She said that her colleagues at mBank understood that it was a “now or never” opportunity.

After TAP21 began serving food, business took off even more. Now, booming patronage means that the place employs close to 40 people in the summer, the peak season.

“We sell through like, 35, 40 kegs a week all summer long,” Gault reported, adding that vendors have told her that TAP21 outsells some bars in Marquette.

As far as food, the menu offers appetizers, soups, salads, sandwiches, pizza, tacos, seafood, pasta, steak, and a kid’s menu.

Gault said that TAP21’s prime rib tacos are a favorite of many, and that Friday fish fries and Saturday prime rib nights are very popular, too.

A proclaimed ketchup lover, Gault said that TAP21’s bacon onion jam is so good she doesn’t use ketchup on the TAP burger, a specialty that also comes with housemade beer cheese.

TAP21 hosts themed parties, karaoke, and DJ nights, usually in the summer. Occasionally, the establishment is rented out for private parties. Right now, the bar is decorated for St. Patrick’s Day, and a karaoke night is planned for Saturday the 15th.

Even this time of year, when minimal traffic is seen in a lot of the U.P., business at TAP21 is decent.

“I’m just really happy and really proud that we are doing well,” said Gault, “because it’s the dead of winter, and this is when we’re supposed to be slow.”

One thing customers can look forward to is the opening of a second floor at TAP21. The second story used to house four apartments, but it’s been undergoing a remodel and is well on its way to becoming another bar. Having found an old sign with beer prices from 1981, Gault said she’s considering calling the upper level the “Harbor Bar” unofficially.

The idea at present is to let the top floor be a more casual and recreational space with limited food options – perhaps just pizza and sandwiches, rather than the full menu offered downstairs – and to install a golf simulator.

The capacity of the ground floor is 77; upstairs it will be 71.

TAP21 opens at 11 a.m. daily. In the winter, the place stops serving food at 9 p.m.; in the summer, food stops at 10 p.m. Bar closing time depends on business.