An Early Look at Bare Bones Brewery

This summer Bare Bones Brewery will open just north of Oshkosh at the intersection of County Roads S and Y. If Dan Dringoli had his way, beer would already be pouring from the taps at the brewery he’s been working to launch for well over a year.

“The reason we're so behind has to do with zoning,” Dringoli said. “That put us behind the 8-ball. We wanted to be open by April at the latest. I expected to be in here by January 1 and that we'd be making beer right now.”

The change in zoning required approval from both the City of Oshkosh and the Town of Oshkosh. The process proved to be more involved than anticipated. While the municipalities sorted through legalities, Dringoli researched and waited. “We couldn't get anything going until the zoning changed,” he said. “I couldn’t start building. I couldn’t order equipment. We were at a standstill.”

Last October, the issue was finally resolved. Dringoli got busy. A 9,000 square foot building now stands on the 2.9 acre parcel of land just off of Highway 45. And he expects to take delivery of his 15-barrel brew system in May. After months of waiting, things are quickly coming together.

Bare Bones Brewery

Dringoli would like to begin brewing by late May and hopes to have his tap room open by Memorial Day weekend. He’ll start with 12 guest beers and gradually work in his own beers as they become ready.

“I'll probably start with three of our beers and then move on from there,” he said. “Eventually I'd like to have six of the taps dedicated to our beers and the other six filled with guest beers. That would be the ideal thing.”

If all comes together as planned, Dringoli can expect a busy summer. The brewery is easily visible from Highway 45 with the tap room looking out onto the Wiouwash State Trail. “I love this location,” Dringoli said. “I really wanted this lot because the trail is right there. There’s that connection between pedal biking and breweries. We’re going to be part of that.”

Dan & Patti Dringoli

The brewhouse will be located behind the tap room. A draft system within the brewhouse will feed into the tap room opposite the wall separating the two spaces. The remaining portion of the building will be occupied by PuroClean Disaster Recovery, a company also operated by Dringoli.

In addition to beer, Bare Bones will also have a liquor license and offer cocktails and wine. The focus, though, will be on the beer Dringoli will brew.

Though he hasn’t brewed professionally before, Dringoli has a homebrewing background and knows the process well enough to realize where his blind spots are. He’s enlisted the help of two experienced brewmasters to fill in those gaps. Dringoli seems to be adamant about quality. "What I won't do is put out shitty beer,” he said.

Initially, the beer will only be sold from the Bare Bones tap room. In addition to pints over the bar, Bare Bones will offer 64-ounce growler and 32-ounce howler fills for take out. Dringoli would eventually like to sell kegged beer to area taverns and restaurants.

“With our system, we should be able to distribute pretty darn well,” he says. “But are we going to do it ourselves or are we going to put it through a distributor? Right now I think I'd rather self-distribute.”

At the moment, Dringoli is narrowing down his choices for the beers he’ll lead off with. His personal preferences may be an indication of where he’s headed. “I really like porters and stouts and IPAs,” he says. He’ll wait, though, until the brewery is in place before committing to an opening line-up. A couple months from now, we’ll get to see what Dringoli has come up with.