USA, KY: Gallant Fox Brewing Company close to opening in Louisville

The Frankfort Avenue corridor in Louisville is close to getting a brewery, the Insider Louisville reported on April 2.

And when Gallant Fox Brewing Company opens, it will be a bit unlike most breweries in Louisville — it will be a nanobrewery inspired by those owners Roger Huff and Patrick Workman came to love during a visit to Asheville, N.C.

The pair will employ a one-barrel brewing system, pieces of which were collected from various places around the region, with a couple of two-barrel fermenters for double batches, which means a lot of turnover.

“We’ll be brewing a lot,” Workman says.

Gallant Fox is targeting June 1 as an opening date at 2132 Frankfort Ave., in a small strip center behind Varanese (the official address is actually 2132 New Main St.). Huff and Workman signed the lease on the space in February 2018, so the project has been in the works for more than a year.

The brewery will be a bit on the quirky side, with a few taxidermy foxes as part of the décor, not to mention a custom-made, chainsaw-carved wood statue that mimics the brewery’s logo of a fox in a top hat.

Wallpaper is being added that gives the illusion of thin tree trunks surrounding the space.

The owners are doing most of the redesign work themselves, including new floors. A bar will be installed soon.

The taproom space is about 950 square feet, while the brewhouse, located in the back of the structure, is about 600 square feet. In addition, Gallant Fox leases a space next door that is roughly 950 square feet, in the anticipation that if and when business makes it feasible, they will be able to expand the taproom.

Huff and Workman worked together for more than a decade, which is how they became friends. They both were home brewers, so eventually they began to collaborate. Opening a brewery wasn’t really an initial plan; instead, it happened organically.

“At a certain point, our equipment got too large,” Huff says.

“We took over Roger’s garage,” adds Workman.

Once completed, the taproom will seat about 40, including three booths, bar seating, one long high-top and several two-top tables. Twelve beers will be on tap; at first, about six of those will be Gallant Fox beers, with guest taps rounding out the selection. Eventually, however, Gallant Fox beers will normally occupy all dozen taps. A selection of bourbon also will be available.

In addition to a brewery license, Huff and Workman also have applied for a package sales license. Not only will they bottle some house-brewed beers for special releases, but they also won’t be averse to selling outside packaged beers as well.

As for beer styles, Huff admits he leans toward modern brews, while Workman says he is more into older styles, from ESBs to Bière de Gardes. He even plans to brew a grute beer, which is made without hops. In other words, look for a wide variety.

Also, rather than kegging — Gallant Fox has no intention of distributing anytime soon — beers will be served directly from bright tanks, ensuring the beer will be as fresh as possible.

One beer that likely will make an appearance is CoCo Nutty by Nature, a coconut stout. Several beers are listed on the brewery’s website, but there won’t be any true core beers that will be on tap all the time, especially since the brewing duo has collected more than 100 recipes over their years as home brewers. But small batch variety is sort of the point of a nanobrewery.

“The taps will be constantly changing,” Workman says. “You might not see the same ones” on successive visits.

04 April, 2019