A New Brewery, A New Homebrew Shop, and a New Crowler Machine

Things move quickly around here. And after taking the month of July off from blogging, I’m playing catch-up. Here’s a trio of beer-based items of interest that developed while I was away. We’ll start with the big one...

The Proposed Oshkosh Bier & Brewing Facility

Oshkosh Bier & Brewing
In May, Oshkosh Bier & Brewing announced its intention to build a taproom and production facility in Oshkosh. The brewery in planning has now taken the first step toward securing a location.

Jeff Fulbright, founder and managing member of OB&B, is seeking a 12-month, option-to-purchase agreement from the Oshkosh Community Development Board. The property he’s after is at the southwest corner of Pearl and Jackson streets. The vacant parcel sits next to the empty Morton’s Pharmacy building. Let’s zero in on that location. The site is highlighted in red.

The OB&B proposal is ambitious. It puts forth a plan to construct the “Largest Oshkosh brewery since Peoples Brewing was built in 1913.” Here are few highlights from the document OB&B submitted to the city.

• The proposed brewery would be a 15,000 square-foot facility capable of producing 40,000 barrels of beer annually. Included would be a 2,000 square-foot taproom and outdoor beer garden.
• Estimated start-up cost is approximately $1.5 million.
• John Zappa, former master brewer from Stevens Point Brewery, will be involved with the launch of brewing operations. 
• OB&B will employ 6-8 people in full-time positions.
• Distribution of draught and packaged beer will be handled by Lee Beverage.
• Administrative decisions will include partner and company counsel Charles Hertel of Dempsey Law and an advisory board consisting of partners, investors and local businessmen.

The proposal is an interesting document to say the least. You can view it in its entirety here.

Homebrew Shop Coming to Oshkosh
Dave Koepke of The Cellar in Fond du Lac has been talking about moving his homebrew shop to Oshkosh for several months. He’s closing in on making that happen. Koepke has leased a storefront located along the Highway 41 corridor in Oshkosh for his new store. There remain details to work out, but there’s a good chance The Cellar will have relocated to Oshkosh by fall. I’ll have more coming on this in the near future.

Dave Koepke

Oshkosh Gets its First Crowler
The Ruby Owl Taproom installed Oshkosh’s first crowler machine last week. The machine packages draft beer in 32-ounce cans for take-away sales. The beauty of the package is that it preserves beer better than the standard growler with screw-on cap. I’ve stored filled crowlers for more than a month before opening. The beer held up wonderfully.

We’ll end with a short video of Adam Carlson of the Ruby showing what a crowler fill looks like. Prost!