E-Malt.com News article: USA, OH: The popularity of Barley’s Brewing Co. products prompts expansion

The last time Barley’s Brewing Co. expanded its beer-making capacity, the owners had to rip up the floorboards and drop stainless steel fermenters into the basement, Columbus Dispatch reported on April 4.

Down in depths of the Columbus-based brewpub, it isn’t hard to see why Barley’s needs a little more room to craft its English-style suds. “We’re finally addressing the problem,” said Angelo Signorino, Barley’s longtime brewmaster. "We can’t make enough beer.

Barley’s is leasing the empty Keyes Plumbing building a block away on Vine Street. Signorino can brew about 1,000 gallons a week in the bowels of the basement at the restaurant on High Street, but by the end of the year, he’ll be cranking out 3,000 gallons a week.

The basement brewery will continue to wet the taps at Barley’s restaurant while the production brewery serves off-site accounts.

Barley’s has a handful of outside accounts, but has never had the capacity to seek out new business or enter retail markets.

The new space on Vine Street is big enough to accommodate future expansion and possibly a bottling or canning operation. It’s time to take Barley’s to the masses, said Jason Fabian, general manager.

The expansion will give Barley’s an opportunity to get more creative and possibly do more barrel aging – the brewpub has a relationship with bourbon maker Woodford Reserve – but Barley’s will always hew close to its roots.

Craft brands captured 11 percent of the beer market by volume last year, a 40 percent jump year-over-year. Even more impressive is that craft beer captured 20 percent of all dollars spent on beer.

The growth, especially in central Ohio, hasn’t crested yet. The Brewers Association, a national trade group for craft beer, hopes to seize 20 percent of the beer market by volume by 2020.

Fabian doesn’t see Barley’s, which self distributes, in stores or bars beyond the Columbus region, but understands that there is untapped potential in retail sales.

Barley’s has a lot on its plate this year beyond the new brewery. A bar remodel is slated for late summer, and the owners are kicking around plans to expand into the second floor.

“We’ve been around for 23 years,” Fabian said. “It’s time to put some love back into this building and business.”


08 April, 2015