Flagstaff, AZ — After five years making beer out of its downtown Flagstaff location, Mother Road Brewing Company is taking a major step to expand its operations. Last week, owners Michael and Alissa Marquess signed a lease on an 8,000-square-foot production facility about a mile east of the historic Mikes Pike brewery. This gives supporters a lot to celebrate for Mother Road’s 5th anniversary on November 17th.
The new space, located at 1300 E. Butler Ave., will house a 20-barrel brewhouse and two 80-barrel and 120-barrel fermenters with a potential total capacity of 20,000 barrels per year. That’s five times the 4,000 barrels per year the Mother Road crew is currently able to crank out of the 3,000-square-foot Mikes Pike brewery. A tasting room and patio are in the plans as well, so visitors are encouraged to stop by for a pint.
The total budget for buildout and equipment is $1 million and the goal is to have the doors open by April 2017.
“It’s going to give us a great ability to have flexibility and a better guest experience at the original tap room while increasing the quality, consistency and output of beer at new production facility,” Michael said. “We’ll be making a really great place for staff to work and create in.”
The expanded production capacity will allow Mother Road to launch three new styles next year and extend its distribution in Arizona and beyond.
As for the downtown location, it will continue to house the current 15-barrel system, which will become a pilot brewery focusing on experimental beers and seasonal releases.
“That way, there will always be something exciting and new coming out of the original Mike’s Pike tap room,” Michael said.
The original space also will see its own set of renovations, likely next summer, to create more indoor seating and a more comfortable guest experience, he said.
The Mikes Pike building will be less cramped because newly purchased canning equipment and a more modern lab space will move to the Butler facility. The new brewhouse and boiler assemblies will be fabricated by Ridgway, Colo.-based Forgeworks while local design and construction services will be provided by Rob T Construction and UPDESIGN’s Anne Soper.