E-Malt.com News article: USA, MD: Independent Brewing Co. to finish construction on Bel Air craft brewery

Phillip Rhudy says he's trying to use as many locally-sourced products and services as possible in constructing his new Bel Air craft brewery and in the beer he'll be making there, Baltimore Sun reported on July 30.

"We have 12 acres of barley planted now at Hawk's Meadow Farm in Whiteford," Rhudy said during a tour of the brewery on July 30.

“The transformation of the former auto shop at 418 N. Main St. in Bel Air into the Independent Brewing Co. is about 95 percent complete, with the exception of an upgrade to the electrical service,” said Rhudy, the brewery's owner and brewmaster.

"We're 95 percent done," Rhudy said, as workers from Silver Hill Contracting Inc., of Baldwin, busied themselves with the final stages of construction.

All of the brewing equipment has been installed behind the tasting room.

The brewing process starts in the three-tank "brew house," which can produce 10 barrels of beer per batch.

Once placed in kegs, the beer will "either go out the door for distribution or into the cooler for retail sales," Rhudy said.

Initially, the beer won't be canned or bottled, which would add significantly to the cost of production.

Rhudy said the brewing system allows staff to brew two batches per day, as they can finish one batch in the brew house and start another batch while the first is moving to the fermenters.

"If we choose to, we can brew twice a day to fill one fermenter, which is 20 barrels," Rhudy said.

According to Rhudy, the brewery, which takes up 4,200 square feet on the first floor of the former repair shop, has the capacity to brew up to 2,600 barrels per year.

A Fallston resident, Rhudy and his partners in the business signed a lease for the building during the summer of 2014.

They weren't able to obtain a building permit from the Town of Bel Air until December, however, because of a moratorium, in effect since the spring of 2013.

The moratorium was imposed because of concerns by the Harford County Health Department and the Maryland Department of the Environment about Maryland American having enough supply to meet customer demands in drought conditions. It was lifted after Maryland American made a deal with the county to buy additional water, as needed, from the county's supply, until the company builds a 124 million gallon reservoir planned on property it is purchasing from the county just west of the Maryland American treatment plant on Winters Run.

Rhudy said construction on the brewery finally got underway in May.

Meanwhile, he has been working to get Independent Brewing’s products placed for sale in local beer, wine and liquor retailers and in bars and restaurants.

Rhudy said Independent Brewing will benefit from a state law approved in 2014 that allows customers to fill their growlers – personal refillable draft beer containers – at retail stores.

He said the law gives his company an opportunity to get its kegs into retailers that previously would only accept products in cans and bottles, where customers can fill their growlers with his beer.

"That kind of opens the market up for smaller breweries," Rhudy said.

Rhudy said Independent Brewing is a "limited-distribution" brewer and, as such, he plans to keep distribution of his beers within Harford County in Maryland.


31 July, 2015