When Tapistry Brewing opened its doors toward the end of last summer, it put Bridgman on the expanding map of Michigan towns that call themselves home to a microbrewery.

“Bridgman’s been a great city for us. They’ve been very supportive,” said Joe Rudnick, co-owner of the production facility and taproom located at 4236 Lake Street.

By founding Tapistry, Rudnick and his partner Greg Korson joined what the Michigan Brewers Guild estimates to be a $133 million industry for this state. Bringing a piece of that industry to the local economy and supporting the local community are priorities for these partners.

“Bridgman’s a beautiful little town, so you can come down here and see what Bridgman’s about, if you haven’t already. The atmosphere in [the taproom] is welcoming. It obviously has an artful characteristic to it. We use just local artists — these are all their prints,” said Korson, pointing to the walls, “to help support them — so they can put up their wares and get exposure that way. So again, it’s part of that local community feel. That’s what we have to offer to people.”

“We use meats from Al, the butcher down the street,” Rudnick said, referring to Bridgman Premier Meat Market. “Bit of Swiss makes our bread. So there’s a lot of local support in what we do.”

Rudnick and Korson are working hard to provide a fun atmosphere at Tapistry by offering nightly specials. For example, on Mondays they offer $2 Tier III beers, on Tuesdays there is Team Trivia Night and Thursday is both Mystery Beer Day and Brat Night.

“We always have weekly events,” Rudnick said. “We’re also trying to create some bigger events this winter…We’re always trying to do creative things and make it fun for people. Our goal right now is getting locals out of the house. When it gets colder, when the weather’s not so great, people don’t want to be outside as much, and we’re trying to do anything and everything we can to get people out.”

One way Rudnick and Korson plan to accomplish that goal is by participating in the Bridgman Holiday Village Chili Cook-Off on Dec. 7. They will also be inviting the local community into their taproom for the presentation of the Chili Cook-Off awards at 7 p.m. The city’s celebration also includes gingerbread house building, a tree-lighting ceremony and a pet parade, among other activities. They are also participating in the Toys for Tots toy drive.

If southwest Michigan residents do accept Korson and Rudnick’s challenge to get out this winter and visit Tapistry, they will find 18 to 20 varieties of their craft beer on tap on any given day. The brewery also offers firkins, which are small casks of beer that have fermented naturally.

In addition to their hand-crafted beers, Rudnick and Korson offer something more: education.

“It’s all about educating people. That’s what the whole craft brew industry is all about,” Rudnick said. “We’re doing a Brewing 101 class…and people can come in, and we talk about beer — how everything works…. It’s basically an educational thing, to get them in, get them excited about beer.”

Brewing 101 will take place on Dec. 5 at 6 p.m. Participation is free, but class size is limited, and those interested must sign up in advance.

“The plan is to certainly run another in the future,” Korson added.

To stay abreast of all that’s going on in the world of Tapistry beer, Rudnick and Korson recommend visiting their webpage at www.tapistrybrewing.com and clicking on the Facebook link there. They say there is also a “very cool” video of the brewers in action, made by assistant brewer Michael Ludwig, available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSOKGx4DEiY.

“Our focus is beer. That’s 100 percent why we’re here,” Rudnick said.