USA, VA: Brass Cannon Brewing moving to new location and expanding to 20-barrel brewing operation

When Brass Cannon Brewing opens its new location on Mooretown Road in Williamsburg, it will not just be a move, it will be a major expansion, The Virginia Gazette reported on June 17.

The brewery, formerly located in Toano, will expand from a four-barrel brewing operation to a 20-barrel one.

"It's a five time expansion of capacity," Matt Webb, said on June 17 as he oversaw continuing work on the new location at 5476 Mooretown Road. "But it's really more than that. The old rig (the brewery apparatus) could only be run once a week. The new rig can be run once a day."

Brass Cannon has been selling beer since 2012, and started as a labor of love by avid home brewers.

The company won't be opening the new location quite as soon as it hoped.

"We put out June 25 on social media," Webb said. "We aren't going to make that, there are still construction delays."

He said Brass Cannon is now shooting to have its brewery and tap room open by the first weekend in July.

"We have a good two weeks work of work, mainly putting the brewing system together and then getting our permits," Webb said.

The new 3,500-square-foot location is twice as large as the Toano locations and includes a much larger taproom.

The taproom at the Toano location was an afterthought, since Brass Cannon opened before the General Assembly allowed breweries to sell for consumption on premises.

The company had a kickstarter campaign which raised $10,200 to outfit the new taproom, hopefully with an actual brass cannon.

The taproom will generally offer Brass Cannon's five year-round beers and one seasonal style.

Brass Cannon's new location is right down the street from the area's oldest craft brewery, Alewerks.

That should optimize opportunities to visit on the Capital Tasting Trail, a proposed initiative by the Greater Williamsburg Chamber & Tourism Alliance to leverage the area's budding spirits industry — greater Williamsburg will soon be home to three craft breweries, each with taprooms, two distilleries, a meadery and a major vineyard.

20 June, 2016