Manhattan, Kan.-based Tallgrass Brewing Co. is making plans to triple its brewing capacity with a $5 million expansion project. This is the brewery's latest move in solidifying Tallgrass as a regional player in the exploding national craft beer market. Tallgrass will be acquiring an existing 60,000 square foot building in its hometown, which it will convert into a brewery.
Tallgrass expects to begin production at the new location in late 2014. At full capacity the new brewery will be capable of producing 100,000 barrels or more than 3 million gallons of beer each year. The building, a former call center near Manhattan's regional airport, is located on nine acres of land, allowing room for Tallgrass's plans of future growth and expansion.
"Increasing our production capacity is very exciting. This new and larger facility will give us the space and ability to be a dynamic and creative brewer of not only more beer, but also those specialty and limited edition beers that we've been dreaming of making since we started the brewery," says Jeff Gill, president and founder of Tallgrass.
Since switching from bottles to 16 oz. cans in 2010, Tallgrass' annual sales revenues have increased by an average of 72 percent every year. Last spring Tallgrass expanded into the Chicago area. The new brewery's extra capacity will allow it to further expand its sales territory in the coming years.
Brewery design specialists, The Neenan Company of Fort Collins, Colorado, will oversee the building's conversion. One key aspect of the brewery's new design will be the enhancement of the Tallgrass visitor experience. Currently, several hundred people attend Tallgrass's "2nd Saturday" monthly tours at their Quail Lane location. Tallgrass anticipates 3,000 to 4,000 monthly visitors at their new production facility, making it one of the area's top tourist destinations.
"We decided early on that this needed to be more than just a place to make beer. We wanted it to be a showplace, a unique and welcoming location we would be proud to show off to our loyal Tallgrass beer drinkers. They deserve a great tour experience, and this facility will allow us to give them that," says Gill.
