USA, KY: Monnik Beer Co. opens the doors of its newest brewery in Louisville

After more than a year in development, Monnik Beer Co. has finally opened the doors at its newest brewery and taproom, the Louisville Business Report said on January 22.

Monnik, a popular Germantown brewer, just opened its second location on the other side of the Ohio River on Thursday. The company has taken over the former home of New Albanian Brewing Co.'s Bank Street Brewhouse at 415 Bank St. in New Albany, Indiana.

Co-owner Brian Holton said Monnik had been looking for a second location for quite a while when some friends involved in New Albanian told him they were looking to sell the brewhouse.

"We looked at it and we felt that downtown New Albany is a thriving, exciting place for restaurants," he said. "We thought it would be a good opportunity."

Holton said they were also attracted to the brewhouse because it had a turnkey, 15-barrel brewing system, which almost doubles Monnik's capacity. It also has given the brewery space to move its canning line over to New Albany.

Monnik acquired the property near the end of 2019 — just months before the coronavirus pandemic reared its ugly head and devastated the food and beverage industry. While Covid-19 did delay some contracting work due to demand and supply chain issues, the brewery continued to move forward with renovations on the 5,100-square-foot space.

Ian Luijk, co-owner of Monnik, is a general contractor hailing from Amsterdam. Holton said they have been on trips to the Netherlands, taking inspiration from the aesthetics of their favorite places.

"Like our location in Germantown, we like a lot of textures such as wood and concrete... some painted and some natural," Holton said. "The warm and cozy feeling is very important to us."

"We want people to sit down and not want to leave," Luijk added.

Inside, Monnik New Albany is dominated by natural wood elements within the tables, seating, walls and ceiling. The curved bar in the main dining room is also wooden, but features a contrasting black subway tile where the taps are.

Between the two dining and drinking areas indoors, Holton said they can seat about 64 people when spacing tables six feet apart. Bars and restaurants in Floyd County are restricted to 75% capacity due to Covid-19, and establishments must stop bar service at 10 p.m.

Monnik also has turned a former parking lot into a sizable outdoor patio space that will offer access to even more seating in the coming months. Behind the patio, the brewery constructed a 2,100-square-foot addition to create much-needed storage space for all of its cans.

Holton said Monnik pivoted in 2020 and began packaging more beers into cans to make up for losses on draught beer sales. He's hopeful that the New Albany taproom will offer some much needed additional revenue as it has been down 35% to 40% because of the pandemic.

"We recently changed distributors last year for the Louisville area and we're pretty optimistic that they're going to be able to help us increase sales," he continued. "We also plan to self-distribute in Floyd and Clark counties to hopefully help move some more beer."

Monnik New Albany has 15 beers on tap and one cider, including its six flagship beers: Churchill Best, King George, Eagle Skull Saison, IPA, Hauck's American Pilsner and His Dark Materials. The other beers will change on a rotational basis. The New Albany taproom will also offer a completely new cocktail menu, which features gin, rum, agave, bourbon and vodka selections.

The kitchen at the new location is smaller, so the food menus will slightly differ. Holton said Monnik New Albany has more burger options, such as the Bier Burger with beer mustard, a beer-battered onion ring, pickles and beer cheese on a pretzel bun ($13), and the Dutch Burger with a coriander rub, pickled cabbage and blue cheese ($12). The menu also features Monnik's signature house cut fries, as well as other bar snacks, salads and entrees.

Monnik New Albany is open from 4 to 10 p.m. every day except Tuesday.

21 January, 2021