E-Malt.com News article: USA, DE: Warlock Brewing Company to open by March 2015

Owner of Warlock Brewing Company in Smyrna, Ron Price said he hopes the microbrewery will have its soft opening by early March, delawareonline.com reported on December, 12.

In September, Price closed the lease on warehouse space at the Smyrna business park and now he's about a month into construction. For several weeks, he and a group of volunteers have been hammering away at wood frames and trenching drainage troughs along the concrete floor of the 10,525 square-foot space right outside of town.

Price said the brewery's pilot brewing system – a small batch production unit – is on its way from Oregon. A deposit has been placed on a larger, 15-barrel system that will serve as the brewery's major production unit. All told, Price said he expects it will take about $750,000 to have the brewery up and running.

In the first year, he said he plans to produce about 500 to 700 barrels. Price said he expects to have the full system up and running by July.

The brewery is planned to include a tap room for tasting, live events and the sale of cases and pints. The tap room will include 12 taps, Price said.

The brewery's first offerings will likely be a variety of hoppy American ales, Belgian specialties, some German lagers and ales, as well as seasonal offerings, he said.

"Variety is the spice of life, that's what we're all about," he said. "We're going to mix it up and get as much as we can out there."

Delaware annually produces 211,280 barrels of craft beer, or 9.7 gallons per resident 21 and older, which is fourth in the nation, according to the Brewers Association, which tracked the state's craft beer sales in 2013.

The state, especially the central and southern part of the state, is becoming a hotbed for the craft brewing industry. It ranks eighteenth in the nation in the number of craft breweries per 100,000 adults aged 21, at 1.5, according to the Brewers Association.

Warlock Brewing will be the seventh, and one of the more northernmost microbreweries, in Delaware, Price said. The closest upstate microbrewery is Twin Lakes Brewing Company in Greenville. In Kent County, breweries like Fordham & Dominion Brewing in Dover and Mispillion River Brewing in Milford have opened their doors in recent years.


19 December, 2014