Springfield Brewing Company purchases building, prepares to triple brewing capacity

Springfield Brewing Company has purchased the building directly west of its downtown location, as the company prepares to triple its brewing capacity.

Bryan Bevel, a partner and the brewing company's managing director of operations, told the News-Leader this week that the installation of eight 30-barrel stainless steel fermentation tanks in the building at 521 W. McDaniel will give the brewery the ability to produce about 6,000 barrels of beer annually. In 2015, operating at maximum capacity, the brewery produced about 2,200 barrels.

"It's not that we need more space," Bevel said. "We need more fermentation."

Bevel said 2015's output was about double that of 2011, the year that he and fellow partners purchased the brewery from Springfield-based Paul Mueller Company, which opened the brewery and restaurant at 305 S. Market Street in 1997 as something of a showroom for its stainless steel tanks.

The brewery did minimal distribution when it was owned by Mueller. Now, four permanent beers and three seasonal ones are distributed to 60 counties in southwest Missouri, Bevel said. The most popular? Hop Lobster.

The additional capacity will allow the company to add an additional permanent beer, along with a fourth seasonal one, to those it distributes, Bevel said; additional beers are sold at the restaurant.

Springfield Brewing's current Market Street facility is about 21,000 square feet, although only about 6,000 of that is devoted to brewing. The building next door adds an additional 6,000 square feet. The company had been leasing the space for use as dry storage for its bottling operations. Prior to that, the building was part of Menzie's Auto Painting & Body. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Springfield Brewing is still going through building permitting process to renovate the space, and Mueller is manufacturing the eight tanks that will be installed. Bevel said brewing could begin in early April. Citing the expansion, operations at the nearby Mother's Brewing Company and White River Brewing Company and a facility expansion at Piney River Brewing in Texas County, Bevel said: "Craft beer in general is at one of the highest points it's ever been in Springfield, Missouri."

Nearby lofts under construction

Springfield Brewing's renovation isn't the only work being done in the immediate area.

Construction has begun on the Brewery District Lofts development in the 500 block of West Walnut Street. Plans approved this summer by Springfield City Council, which granted property tax abatement for the project, called for a three-story building with 25 one- and two-bedroom apartments. The first floor of the building is also planned to have commercial space.

The project is separate from the brewery, although one of Springfield Brewing's partners, Christina Chanter, is involved. A project representative said in June that development could be finished this summer.