About Us

Many people wonder how ‘we’ became ‘us’.
Sometimes, we wonder as well.

Our Story

Tim worked the country as a stand-up comedian, playing with some big names in some big arenas as well as some smaller names in much smaller venues. Brigid worked as a Detroit Public School teacher, earned her Ph.D, and became a professor at Eastern Michigan University. And we raised a daughter, Julia, who continues to bring joy into our lives.

Beer? In Tim’s travels he often sought out regional craft beers that flew under the radar and were not available in Michigan and brought them home. Sunday nights in the neighborhood (Tenny Street, Dearborn) soon found Brigid and Tim hosting an array of friends looking to share in the beer booty. Within a short amount of time, the same friends started to bring their own treasures to be tasted. Sundays on Tenny Street. Good start to the week.

In 2008, Tim (along with a lot of other people….) was liberated from his supervisory position at a major cable company and the comedy road had hit many potholes. Brigid had been traveling extensively for her job and discovered several little shops she was excited to share with Tim – who would then book whatever comedy performance he could in nearby towns and off we would go. We would spend these trips hatching a plan – Tim would finish the last year of his degree in the Entrepreneurship program at EMU and write our business plan, then after graduation we would cash in Tim’s 401K and open the store. For over a year they honed their plan, right down to knowing that they would be dog friendly and each kid that came into the store would receive a pretzel rod. Doors opened on Friday, October 7th and Tim and Brigid waited with anticipation until the first customer arrived four hours after we hung our “Open” sign.

Ferndale

1300 sq. ft. of craft and imported beer nirvana.   Come in for one of our Friday night tastings and meet everyone.

We did not choose Ferndale for our first location.  Ferndale chose us.  You can try and fail and this town will be there for you as long as you’re working hard.  We did that.   We survived a summer of road construction and a broken water pipe (one week before Christmas…) within the same year.  And you know what, people from Ferndale supported us.  A lot.

Detroit

8° Plato Detroit is located at 3409 Cass Avenue Detroit, Michigan. An amazing selection of bottled and canned beer, cider and meads are available, but we also have a bar in the back to provide draft beer for growlers to go.

Yep. There are ‘taps’ in the Detroit store. You can actually have a beer while you are shopping for your beer. Or just hang out. Looking for more Detroit history? Ask Brigid ~ her family arrived with Cadillac in 1701.

Who we Are

Fun-loving and knowledgeable, we’re here to talk beer

Tim Costello of 8° Plato Beer Company
Tim Costello

Brigid Beaubien of 8° Plato Beer Company
Brigid Beaubien

Zach of 8° Plato Beer Company
Zach

Damon of 8° Plato Beer Company
Damon