USA, TX: Neches Brewing Company expanding into former Beaumont brewery

Neches Brewing Company owner Tyler Blount settled into one of the 1970s Dairy Queen orange booths in the taproom of his Port Neches Avenue brewery to talk about plans for a Beaumont expansion in the former Pour Brothers site, the Beaumont Enterprise reported on July 18.

The Beaumont craft brewery closed the 585 Wall St. location in January 2023, despite a community effort that reopened the doors after it first closed in 2022.

Looking to expand Neches Brewing Company’s brew capacity and distribution, Blount purchased Pour Brothers’ brewing equipment at a foreclosure auction.

“It all happened kind of spontaneously, “ Blount said. “We weren’t planning to do that, because we’d just bought a building across the street (from his current establishment on Port Neches Avenue) in 2020.”

But the ready-made site for larger- scale brewing and distribution opportunities was too good to pass up.

“We’re too small with our current set-up to do that here,” he said. “There, we’ll be able to manufacture more beer and get it into grocery stores and other places, like the Gruene Dance Hall in the Hill Country.

They’ve already got a deal to distribute their “Walt Wilkins” brew at the venue, which is famous for big-name country performers like Wilkins and Willy Nelson.

“There’s still a lot of trouble shooting, and we have to order some things like kegs and a new walk-in cooler, but it’s awesome that the brewery is already complete – that’s the hardest part,” Blount said. “Those guys did an amazing job making that (brewing side).”

Blount will share the space with a local catering business that will set up shop inside what used to be the Pour Brothers tap room.

The entities will share the cost of utilities and property taxes – the latter being the most stressful addition to Neches Brewing Company’s expansion.

“I’m not looking forward to that part,” Blount said. “Even in Mid-County our property taxes have gone way up, but the good news is the property is worth more.”

And it's a property Blount has been interested in for at least a decade.

“I used to work at Century Tower as a health and life insurance agent and was home brewing a lot. I wanted to open my own (craft brewery) and looked at that property,” he said.

Having it become available now with a brewery that is primed for larger scale production and distribution “was like little God winks I was getting (telling me), ‘Yeah, this’ll work out,’” Blount said. “We started off small and we’re still small, but we’re growing.”

It hasn’t been an easy journey, especially amid COVID business shutdowns, but Blount’s venture survived the choppy waters of pandemic commerce.

Now he and others are battling a new learning curve as small-business owners – how to navigate the current of social habitats that were changed by COVID and inflation uncertainty that means fewer people are spending money on craft beer.

“Disposable income isn’t real prominent anymore,” Blount said.

When it comes down to putting food on the table and paying bills, “people may not be able to afford going out for a craft beer,” he said.

He looks to long-time business owners like “Big Rich“ Courville for advice on weathering small-business storms.

“He’s gone through all of these struggles, and he told me, ‘Work on the things you can control, and the things you can’t control, don’t worry about,’” Blount said. “He’s a great business mentor, and every local business person needs to have someone like that in their corner.”

It’s support he’s relied upon recently while dealing with an equipment failure that has had Blount relying on a diesel generator to power the back portion of Neches Brewing Company the past four weeks.

He’s looking nearly $20,000 to repair the problem, including the cost to rent the generator and fuel to keep it running.

It’s also put his plans for renovating the historic site across the street and additional work on the Beaumont distribution site temporarily on hold.

“I’d like to be up and running by the end of the year, but realistically it’s probably more like the beginning of 2024,” he said.

Blount looks forward to the launch and the ability to take Neches Brewing Company to the next level.

“This is getting us to the next phase in our story,” he said.

It’s also moving the needle on the growth of downtown Port Neches, Blount believes.

“Our little town is starting to hop and really cool things are popping up,” he said.

The Port Neches Avenue business district struggled for years with only a couple antique stores and largely empty buildings.

Now there’s a coffee shop, craft brewery, an axe-throwing venue and various boutiques.

Red Bird, a new barbecue restaurant, is set to open next to the brewery in August. Blount is already working on ideas for a Red Bird brew to cross-promote the businesses.

“It’s going to be really cool for the Avenue, and it’s going to help me out,” he said.

There’s also the new riverfront establishment, which Pour09 and Ko Korean Grill owner Min Dai is hoping to open.

Just across the river in Bridge City, Donnie DeLate and Bill Mungai recently opened Hop City, a brick oven pizza and craft brewery led by brewer Murad Hraiz from Crying Eagle brewery in Lake Charles.

Ultimately, Blount would like to see Port Neches and the region become a “middle of the road stop with cool stuff for the traffic between Houston and Lake Charles,” he said.

“There’s just all these young entrepreneurs (like me) who grew up here and want to see their hometown thrive,” Blount said. “A rising tide lifts all ships.”

19 July, 2023