E-Malt.com News article: USA, OH: Four String Brewing to triple capacity with an expansion to a new brewhouse

Four String Brewing Co. is increasing its production.

The Columbus-based beer maker is moving its mass brewery to a 25,000-square-foot building at 660 N. Hague Ave. The $2 million move also means an upgrade to a 30-barrel brewhouse and an almost immediate tripling of capacity, Columbus Business First journal reported on April 28.

“This allows us to open up to the rest of the state,” owner Dan Cochran said. “This will give us the beer to do that.”

Four String is maxed out at 2,500 barrels a year in its current facility at 985 W. Sixth Ave. near Grandview Heights. The plan for Hague Avenue is to crank out around 8,000 barrels annually at first with plenty of space for growth beyond that.

“That building has the room for us to expand to up to 50,000 barrels,” Cochran said.

Four String also is bringing on a new brewmaster. Columbus-native Larry Horwitz will return to town with more than 20 years of craft brewing expertise, including 12 years as the regional brewer for Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant brewpub group in Wilmington, Delaware, where he oversaw brewing at six sites.

Horwitz, who consulted with Cochran on the brewery’s initial opening in 2011, also is buying into the business as a partner.

“Larry is an old friend of mine,” Cochran said. “We’d been waiting for the opportunity to scale up to a point where it would make sense to bring him on as brewmaster.”

The new facility, which also will have a canning line and a taproom, is getting financial support from the city of Columbus’ Business Development Fund and of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. The expansion also is expected to create 12 new jobs, eight of which will be immediate. Four String employs eight people now.

Four String expects to open the new brewery in September.

Cochran isn’t abandoning the current operation on Sixth Avenue. That 3,000-square-foot space will get more seating since the larger fermenting tanks are moving out. It will be the home of Four Strings’ Solo Series line of beers, the brewery’s small-batch and limited edition brews.

“We’ve had this nice growth trajectory at the tap room, but it’s levelled out recently,” he said. “We know straight up that’s because we’re fitting as many people as we can fit in there.”

Four String was one of the area brewers at the front wave of this state-wide craft beer boom. It began distributing its kegs in 2011 and added cans last spring. The taproom opened in 2013.

It is latest area brewer to upgrade to a bigger facility in the face of rising sales and demand. North High Brewing added a production brewery in addition to its bar last year. Columbus Brewing Co. is in the midst of a move into a 50,000-square-foot space at 2555 Harrison Road. That’s right around the corner from where Four String is setting up.


29 April, 2015