September 29, 2017 108 Comments

Breaking Free from Quaint: Pete & Sam at The Silver Lining and Modern Craft Tasting Room in West Branch

How is it that Modern Craft Wines have brought together such wildly different people? The answer is in the question—our people, like our wines, are wildly different!

Modern Craft – A different kind of wine ® attracts those of us who like to mix things up, get a little rowdy, and break free from the hum-drum routine. We’re not afraid to follow our own paths either, and our coolers are proudly stocked with bottles of MC Chai Tea and Cabin Cider for get-downs and bonfires.

Corks? Ha. We crack open, mix and pour fusion drinks on ice, and laugh out loud when people say, “You can’t do that with wine!”

Breaking Free
“We’re like the un-franchise franchise,” chuckles the mastermind behind it all, Tom Nixon, owner. “Where normal franchises produce carbon copies and apply strict branding rules to ensure similarity, no two Modern Craft Tasting Rooms are alike.”

From the colors on the walls to the crowds of people inside of them, each are different—just the way we like it—but all are adventurous!

Rebels With a Clue: Pete & Sam
Take a sip or a slug, sit back a minute, and meet two Modern Craft Wine Tasting Room owners who are doing things different in downtown West Branch—and watch how the “Mixperience” is helping them liven up their downtown and strengthen their community.

“Breaking free is more of a personal philosophy and way of life for us. We like to take the road less traveled, so to speak. We don't live ordinary lives, but extraordinary ones,” says Samantha Fabbri, co-owner of The Silver Lining and Modern Craft Tasting Room, the first retail and wine-tasting combination business in the state of Michigan!

Says Peter Fabbri, also co-owner of The Silver Lining and Modern Craft Tasting Room, the decision to partner with Modern Craft was a natural fit. When, in 2012, a relaxation in state law allowed the retail/wine-tasting combo, Pete and Sam seized the opportunity to add a flavor-layer and unique quality to their shop—many in West Branch sell wine, but The Silver Lining is the only gift shop and combined “Mixperience” wine tasting room in West Branch—while also bringing something new and different into their downtown that would help invigorate local business as a whole.

“We are passionate about our community, its success and the people living in it,” Sam says.

Mixperience
Along with a good “mix” of savvy and unselfish local business owners and community advocates, Pete and Sam (who keep quiet about their numerous accolades like being named “2016 Best Outstanding Business for ‘Community Involvement’” from West Branch Chamber of Commerce and “2016 Business Professionals of the Year” by Ogemaw County Economic Development Corporation ) have spearheaded large-scale events to even further foot traffic.

Think more than 10,000 people over 10 years flocking to the downtown streets of West Branch for the bi-annual "Art Walk & Wine Tasting" Spring or Holiday event—mark your calendars now for December 2, 2017 and the 10th Annual Holiday Art Walk & Wine Tasting! Artists galore, vendors, three Michigan-based wine companies and, of course, the Modern Craft “Mixperience”. It’s not to be missed!

Put Your Pinky Down
Try to drink in the fact that all kinds of different people, from millennials to senior citizens, can enjoy Modern Craft Wines and fusion drinks inside The Silver Lining, and the “Mixperience” opportunity is now available to West Branch and its surrounding areas that isn’t typical of smaller, rural towns. Here, here, we’ll drink to that!
Or try to pour into your mind that two of our Modern Craft Tasting Room owners were the first in the state to do “something different” and have now mixed Modern Craft into the thread of their town—and been able to “make it their own” in intelligent and community-strengthening ways. A well-crafted crew, Pete and Sam!
Put your pinky down, and let’s share a toast: To the un-franchise franchise that is Modern Craft Wine Tasting Rooms and the people who own them, thank you. Each of you are different, and that’s just the way we like it. Cheers!

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