USA, FL: Barley Mow Brewing investing in expansion

The owners of Barley Mow Brewing Co. plan to add a 20,000-square-foot production facility to their existing nano brewery and tavern in Largo by late summer, Tampa Bay Business Journal reported on April 30.

Barley Mow offers 25 to 35 varieties of small batch beer throughout the year. Jay and Colleen Dingman operate a 2,000-square-foot facility and 1,200-square-foot beer garden at 518 West Bay Drive.

In February, they paid $950,000 for an industrial building at 521 Commerce Drive, a few blocks away.

They financed the purchase through an SBA loan, savings and by offering about 15 percent of equity in the business.

Many of the shareholders are regular customers, Jay Dingman said.

By opening the production facility, they will be able to distribute their beer on a larger scale.

Dingman would like to have a presence in every U.S. state within three years.

The debut of Barley Mow in 2011 coincided with a rise in popularity of craft beers.

Craft brewers sold an estimated 15.6 million barrels of beer in 2013, up from 13.2 million barrels the previous year, according to the Brewers Association, a nonprofit trade association in Boulder, Colo.

“Our timing was outstanding,” Dingman said. “What I was hoping would happen is happening. It’s happening quicker than I thought it would.”

02 May, 2014