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This summer, something special is brewing in Rockford — literally. Rockford Brewing Company has partnered with Montcalm Community College (MCC) to launch Sap House Ale, a creative collaboration that blends local craftsmanship with ingredients drawn straight from the region. 

At the heart of the project is Jeff Sheehan, one of Rockford Brewing’s founding owners and brewmasters, now in his 23rd year of making beer professionally. For Sheehan, this venture is as much about inspiration as it is about process. 

“This year is a learning year,” Sheehan said. “Every year, the maple sap runs — and when it does, the clock starts.” That seasonal rhythm became the heartbeat of Sap House Ale, a brew built around one key ingredient: sap collected from more than 75 maple trees tapped on MCC’s Sidney campus. 

Rather than using traditional brewing water, Sheehan and his team replaced most of it with maple sap, allowing the natural sweetness and depth of the sap to define the beer’s profile.  

“It’s like having a giant toolbox,” he said. “You start with that one inspiration ingredient, and you build around it. I’m very familiar with all of the raw materials that go into beer, so it’s about choosing what brings out the best in the sap.” 

Sheehan said he added a touch of maple syrup at the end of the brewing process as a back sweetener. 

“It brings out more maple flavor and gives it a little more body and sweetness, with some toffee, caramel and vanilla notes to it,” he said of the final product. 

The idea for the beer actually began last year, but the concept didn’t come to full fruition. 

“It kind of fell through the cracks,” Sheehan admitted. “This year, we came in and brewed it over a weekend — that’s when the sap was running — and made it happen.” 

The partnership began when Sheehan and MCC Arts & Humanities Instructor Seth Sutton, who also chairs the college’s Sugar Council, met through mutual friends a couple years ago. 

“We just hit it off with passion for what we each do in our lives,” Sheehan said. 

“One day Jeff and I were talking about sugar making and we just came up with the idea of making a maple beer and all the different possibilities there were with marketing and promoting this type of product,” Sutton said. 

“That conversation sparked something inside, because for months, I couldn’t get the conversation and ideas out of my head and I kept coming up with new ideas that would lead to another idea, and another and another and pretty soon I just figured that if I was going to spend this much energy on a conceptual idea, we might as well see if we could make it happen,” Sutton said.  

To his delight, college administrators supported the project from the very beginning. 

MCC students also played a key role in shaping how Sap House Ale will be presented to the public through its branding and promotion. 

“Our students had a huge part to play in this process,” Sutton said. “From concept development to design, students in the college’s Commercial Design program contributed to the look and feel of the beer’s marketing materials.” 

As a result, all promotional and future marketing materials will proudly state: Developed in collaboration with the Commercial Design students at Montcalm Community College. 

Sutton said the final product supports the hands-on learning approach that he strives to deliver in the classroom. 

“I wanted to give our students and community an opportunity to have a hands-on experience with not only the process of sugar making, but also what it takes and what it looks like to collaborate with a community business partner in this way; to collectively conceive of an idea, plan it out, and then strategically take steps to turn that conception into a reality,” Sutton said.