From a half-baked class project to Spartan Stadium beer sales, it's been a Short's 20 years

Correction: Joe Short co-founded Short's Brewing Company. His name was incorrect in an earlier version of this story.

BELLAIRE — Some of the thousands and thousands of cans of beer that will be sold at Spartan Stadium Saturday night can trace their roots to a half-baked Michigan State University class project.

Scott Newman-Bale's entrepreneurship class project — a business plan for a bar in Bath Township in the early 2000s — was a dud that never got off the ground, but it helped set the stage for what is now the state's No. 3 craft brewery: Short's Brewing Company.

"It's kind of a weird full circle," said Newman-Bale, the brewery's CEO who helped found the business with Joe Short, who leads the beer side of things.

Short's Brewing is known for innovation — and, yeah, flat out weird beers like peanut butter and bloody mary — that can highlight the craft of brewing. The company is getting ready for its 20th anniversary next year, so he said to expect to see revivals of some oddball favorites.

The Bellaire-based brewery's decades-old, straight-forward light lager — Short's Local's Light — is getting the brewery the most attention right now. With comparatively little distribution, the beer is one of the top-selling craft lagers in the nation and is being sold at Spartan Stadium, Newman-Bale said.

Local's Light is one of eight alcoholic drinks available in cans at Spartan Stadium, including during the first night game of the stadium's "beer era" on Saturday night when the Spartans take on rival University of Michigan.

What you need to know about alcohol sales at the MSU-UM game

State laws changed this summer to allow alcohol sales, if approved by the school, at university events, including football and basketball. MSU introduced alcohol sales — seven beers and a vodka-based seltzer — more than a month ago during a Sept. 16 game against the University of Washington.

About 16,500 cans were sold in the first outing, led by Coors Light. The stadium has a capacity of 72,000. Alcoholic drinks are sold at 10 fixed locations, three of which offer Local's Lights and six kiosks that offer the "core four" options (they have been updated and are now Coors Light, Sparti Parti, Bell's Oberon Eclipse and NUTRL, a seltzer) and one kiosk with the other four drinks, including the Short's offering.

The university requires IDs from everyone, limits drink sales to two at a time, and limits sales to an hour before kickoff time until 10 minutes left in the third quarter.

The beer sales are expected to bring in at least $1 million during a full football season and at least $660,000 in the truncated inaugural season, since no alcohol was sold during the first two home games.

A portion of the revenue will go toward MSU's University Health and Wellbeing initiative to fund education programs, with the remainder split between athletics and student life & engagement, with the intention to use the money for stadium fan experience improvements, said Kat Cooper, a university spokesperson.

University spokesperson Dan Olsen said, following the Washington game, that there was no increase in alcohol-related incidents. The first two home games saw a combined 24 alcohol-related incidents, with no alcohol served in the stadium, and the two home games at which alcohol was served saw a combined 21 alcohol-related incidents, according to Dana Whyte, a spokesperson for the university's Department of Police and Public Safety.

Ten of MSU's Big Ten counterparts also sell alcohol in their stadiums. Michigan, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Northwestern still don't allow sales or only offer boozy beverages in high-dollar suites. People using Spartan Stadium suites have been allowed to buy and consume alcohol because those facilities aren't connected to Spartan Stadium.

Brewing in Michigan, and for Michigan State University

Newman-Bale said Short's has become the third-largest brewery in the state, behind Bell's and Founders with New Holland close.

"It's very concentrated in Michigan, with about 10 breweries at the top," including Atwater Brewery and Old Nation Brewing Co., "and probably close to 500 breweries in Michigan at this point," said Newman-Bale, a former president of the Michigan Brewers Guild.

He is seeing a shift from higher-alcohol and experimental beers, a traditional strength for Short's Brewing, toward lower-alcohol content and more traditional beers, including the lager that has been helping his brewery.

"There's a generational shift. We were in college at the time making crazy beers," Newman-Bale said. "And we're still making crazy beers, but we've evolved and grown into something that has something that appeals to everyone."

Newman-Bale wasn't at the first MSU game where his company's beer was sold, but several of his 180 employees attended.

"I was working in our (Bellaire) pub," he said. "I but I did get a lot of texts. There was a lot of pride there."

Newman-Bale said he hopes to extend sales into other sports.

"Spartan Stadium and Michigan State means a lot to me, personally," said Newman-Bale, a 2004 graduate. "That was a moment when it wasn't about the sales. I mean, the sales are nice but just the fact that 80,000 people can have access to your product. That means a lot more than just business."

Contact Mike Ellis at mellis@lsj.com or 517-267-0415

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Shorts Brewing at Spartan Stadium, a class project became a brewery