USA, WI: Janesville's first downtown microbrewery on pace to open by Thanksgiving

Janesville's first downtown microbrewery, Rock County Brewing, is on pace to open late this year, one of its owners said in an interview to Gazettextra.

John Rocco, Rock County Brewing co-founder, said he hopes to be tapping the brewery's first brews to customers in time to catch the Thanksgiving holiday crowd.

“We feel like we've really got to be open by then. That day before Thanksgiving, that holiday, it's like the biggest beer day of the year,” Rocco said.

Rocco said he and his three partners are neck-deep in construction and setup of brewing equipment that will operate in the rear of a storefront under renovation at the Carriage Works building at 10 N. Parker Drive on the downtown's east side.

Rocco said the microbrewery has had a partial occupancy review by the city, and Rock County Brewing and the Carriage Works building owners, Shannon and Shawn Kennedy, are working in tandem with contractors to push the renovation through final construction phases.

According to city building inspection notes, the project still needs improvements to rear exits that would empty to a narrow lot sandwiched between a high retaining wall separating the Carriage Works building from an elevated parking lot just east.

Inside, the microbrewery's future tap room, where customers will be able to taste beer selections and buy beer to go, has some “finishing work” yet to be done, Rocco said. The taproom, which will be at the front of the building along North Parker Drive, will have elevated seating above a ramp leading from a modified, garage-style bay that will allow the microbrewery to operate as an open-air establishment during warm-weather months.

Rocco said he hopes to see the work on renovations and the brewing equipment finish within four to six weeks. That would leave enough time for Rock County Brewing to brew its first batch, Rocco said.

“We've got to have five weeks to do that first brew if we're ready for late November. That's the finish line, and we're really eager to reach that. We want to brew some beer,” he said.

Rocco owns and operates Farmhouse Brewing Supply, a craft and home beer brewing supplier on Janesville's northeast side.

Rocco and his partners, all craft brewers, announced plans in 2015 to open a microbrewery in downtown Janesville. They had led an earlier request to the city of Janesville for changes to zoning rules that would allow microbreweries and brewpubs to operate in the city's downtown.

The city approved the changes as part of a long-term strategy to revitalize downtown and to foster new entertainment and retail development.

Rocco and his partners settled on a location for their microbrewery at the Carriage Works building, which Shannon and Shawn Kennedy had bought to renovate as the new home for SASid, their insurance services tech company.

Rocco said Rock County Brewing is awaiting its state license to operate the brewery, but he said that should come through within a few weeks. He said the microbrewery received its federal operating license in May. It was a longer wait for the federal approval than the microbrewery expected, Rocco said.

“That might have kept us from moving forward on some things. But the work we've got left now, it's a lot of finishing. We're trying to do it all in a short time, but I don't think it's going to hold us up much,” Rocco said.

In August 2015, Rocco had said they hoped to be open by January or February 2016.

The microbrewery won't be open in time this year to attract visitors who frequent Janesville's downtown farmers market, as Rocco and his partners had hoped.

But the opening of the microbrewery could come online as another major retail renovation project downtown, the Block 42 storefronts on North Main Street, is poised to bring a shot of new niche shopping and dining to the downtown's east side.

That project is being led by Pensacola, Florida, residents Quint and Rishy Studer, who are in-laws of Carriage Works building owner Shannon Kennedy.

The Gazette was unable to reach Shannon Kennedy for comment on the microbrewery project, but he and Shawn Kennedy told The Gazette earlier they're excited the Carriage Works would house the downtown's first microbrewery. They believe it will add some flavor to downtown commerce and even a built-in, after-work hot spot for their company's workers.

The brothers said they decided to relocate SASid downtown in part to offer young, white-collar employees a location close to entertainment and niche retail. They said they were attracted to Janesville's downtown because they believed ongoing private redevelopment and the city's planned ARISE riverfront revitalization could make the downtown a bigger draw.

11 September, 2016