USA, FL: Wynwood Brewing Co. owners looking for a second location

Wynwood Brewing Co., Miami's first craft beer production company, has outgrown its 7,200-square-foot space in Miami, and the owners want to expand the business at a second location, the Business Journal has learned.

Founder Luis G. Brignoni and his father and co-founder Luis "Pops" Brignoni say they're looking for suitable sites in Miami-Dade County for an additional 30,000 square feet of space where they can open up another taproom and produce more beer to meet the demand.

"More people want our beer and, unfortunately, we have to turn them away," Luis G. Brignoni said. "We hate doing that."

Wynwood Brewing is on track to produce about 5,000 barrels of craft beer this year, with heightening demand for local craft beer and strong partnerships with big businesses such as Norwegian Cruise Line. With the new facility, the duo says they can produce more than 30,000 barrels.

The added space will also double Wynwood Brewing's staff to 40 employees, Luis G. Brignoni said. But sites that fit the bustling brewery's needs are hard to find.

"There are not too many areas in Miami for manufacturing facilities," Luis "Pops" Brignoni said. "We want to have some decent land we can grow into."

The company expects to start producing at its second site by the end of 2017.

For now, Wynwood Brewing will expand as much as it can at its site in the Wynwood neighborhood, the founders said. The business will add two more fermenter tanks, for a total of 14.

The brewery started in 2013 with just four tanks. The Brignonis actually founded the company in 2011, but getting permits for the business wasn't an easy process.

"We never thought it was going to take so long," Luis G. Brignoni said. "We were basically the trailblazers, so it was difficult to explain to everybody what we wanted to do."

Luis G. Brignoni got the idea to open up a brewery after his father bought him a beer brewing kit while he was attending Florida International University. The hobby became a passion for Luis G. Brignoni, and Luis "Pops" Brignoni would eventually come out of retirement to help his son launch and run the business.

The duo spawned Miami's craft beer scene, which now includes Concrete Beach Brewery, J. Wakefield Brewing, MIA Brewing and others.

"I really wanted to create that craft beer community that you see all over the United States," Luis G. Brignoni said. "The market has really just taken off."

09 March, 2016