E-Malt.com News article: USA, WI: Octopi Brewing to build in Waunakee not Madison

A brewery that had been planned for Madison’s Southeast side is instead being proposed for Waunakee, Madison.com reported on October, 28.

Isaac Showaki, Octopi Brewing Co. founder, said flood plain issues forced him to look for other locations for his $5 mln, 20,000-square-foot production facility. Showaki said he looked at sites in Madison, Cottage Grove, Fitchburg and Sun Prairie before selecting a three-acre parcel in the 160-acre Waunakee Business Park.

“We want to break ground as soon as possible,” Showaki said. “We really like the (business park). It’s a nicer park than we had seen before, and there’s really good businesses around it. Waunakee has been really helpful in moving it along, and it’s made things a lot easier.”

The Waunakee Plan Commission reviewed the project and could approve the plan at its next meeting Nov. 24. The project would include an estimated $200,000 in tax incremental funding from the village but a final amount has not yet been finalized in a development agreement, said Todd Schmidt, the village’s administrator and economic development director.

Showaki helped co-found 5 Rabbit Cerveceria in Chicago in 2011. When he left the brewing company in 2013, he was overseeing contract brewing and was chief operations officer. In June, Showaki, who now lives in Maple Bluff, announced plans for a brewery in Madison that would primarily brew on contract for other beer companies. Plans call for 10 employees, the ability to make 50 barrels of beer per batch and in its first year make about 10,000 barrels of beer, 90 percent of it under contract.

The Waunakee facility, which would be the first brewery in the village in the modern era, would mirror the Madison plan and include a 2,500-square-foot tasting room for 50 people and an outdoor patio with seating for 40.

“I think it’s neat to know that potentially a couple handfuls of different beers produced by different brewers are going to be occurring here in Waunakee,” Schmidt said. “We’re definitely excited for him. Not only will it be an opportunity for folks in Waunakee to enjoy unique smaller batch craft beer, but it will be an opportunity for us to attract people from outside of Waunakee in terms of tourism.”


29 October, 2014