Memphis Made Brewing Co. has replaced three of its fermenting tanks with larger ones in an effort to expand production at its Cooper-Young facility in Midtown.
While he currently describes the ultimate capacity as a "moving target," co-owner Drew Barton says he and partner Andy Ashby are capable of producing 1,500 barrels at the moment, but "it'll be more than that in a couple of weeks, and hopefully by the end of the year we'll add even more fermenters." Two kegs make up a single barrel of beer.
Memphis Made began production in October of last year and has steadily added to its offerings, which now include such local favorites as Lucid Kolsch, Junt, Soulful Ginger and Bear Cat IPA. As demand has increased, and with the addition of bottled beers now available around town, the expansion, Barton says, "could have been done about four months ago."
A tasting room at the brewery, located in the old Pie Factory at Cooper and Central Ave., is next on the ownership team's minds and is currently in the design phase and under review by code enforcement. "It'll definitely be (open) this year," Barton says. "We're working hard on it as we speak, we're getting the building prepped up right now . . . we're rocking and rolling on it as soon as we get permission from code."
The pair plan to add staff in the near future to accommodate the traffic and demand of the new tasting room.
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