USA, WI: St. Francis Brewing Co. assessing new site for expansion

St. Francis Brewing Co. is assessing a site in the Menomonee Valley for a long-planned expansion, co-owner Rick Michalski was quoted as saying by Milwaukee Business Journal on August 18.

The company is under contract for a 2-acre parcel at 712-800 W. Canal St., near the Harley-Davidson Museum and the river, he said. The final price will likely come to about $300,000, Michalski said. St. Francis is currently in the midst of a 90-day due diligence process on the land. The site is near land that Lakefront Brewery of Milwaukee was eyeing for a potential brewery before deciding against the site.

A separate brewery has long been part of the plan for St. Francis Brewing Co., which opened its brewpub at 3825 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. in St. Francis in April 2009. It has since considerably ramped up its brewing efforts through an outside contractor, but still wants a manufacturing space of its own.

Following stalled plans to site the brewery in a warehouse near its brewpub, Michalski said St. Francis Brewing hopes to locate its 18,000 to 20,000-square-foot expansion in the Menomonee Valley.

St. Francis Brewing offers permanent beers named after five of the seven deadly sins: Greed, a golden ale; Lust, a weissbier; Envy, an India pale ale; Wrath, an amber ale; and Sloth, a brown ale. It has a Gluttony seasonal series and a Pride small-batch series. The company has been contracting its bottling and kegging through Black River Falls' Sand Creek Brewing Co.

22 August, 2014