E-Malt.com News article: USA, TX: Temple is home to a brand new BJ's brewery.

BJ's corporation has opened a brewery to brew the beers for all of its restaurants in Texas, but it will also be open starting next month to area residents who want to take tours, sample the beer, and buy kegs, kwtx.com reported on May 7.

"A craft brewery in the middle of downtown; it has a lot of character," said Charley Ayres, vice president of the Temple Economic Development Corporation.

It has been open for a couple weeks now, brewing barrels of beer for the chains 30-plus restaurants in Texas.

"They've gotten to a certain point of growth that they were brewing their beer on the West Coast and shipping it to their restaurants here. So, it got to a point that they had to be in closer proximity," said Ayres.

"We are excited to be the first brewery in Temple. I can sense that there is a lot of excitement in the air everywhere I go. I have a BJ's shirt and I get asked do you work for the brewery. People ask when we are going to be open," said Alex Puchner, the senior vice president of brewing operations for BJ's Restaurants.

Later this year, workers will start canning and bottling BJ's beers and stocking them in retail stores all across Texas.

"It's another significant asset that's in Temple that will draw people to Temple because there is nowhere else to see that or experience it," said Ayres.

Ayres said that the BJ's Brewery adds another significant asset to the city, which makes Temple unique.

"That's one of the things that's really being helpful to Temple and something that will help our growth. We have two or three things that are significantly Temple and that is a key when your community has that certain thing that is really unique to your community."

The brewery created about 10 jobs, but those employees will be making about $50,000, which Ayres said that's way above the average county wage.

The brewery plans to open to the public by mid-June.


08 May, 2015