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(Rendering of Columbia Craft Brewing Company’s upcoming expansion)
In spite of the nearly 8000 craft breweries currently online in the US, we continue to receive new announcements almost daily.
And here’s just some of what’s been happening while you were enjoying a long holiday break…
Columbia Craft Brewing Expands
Columbia Craft Brewing will be upping its game in 2020 with a big new expansion to its existing facility that it has just broken ground for.
In 2019 the brewery, which only opened its doors a little more than two years ago, began working with the City of Columbia and architects and engineers in South Carolina on the promising new addition to its existing structure.
The new upgrade includes a rooftop bar with 16 taps and striking skyline views, a covered all-season patio along with an additional outdoor patio for pets, an enhanced cooler space, and a barrel aging room that will be able to house upward to 100 bourbon/wine/rum barrels.
And as Columbia Craft’s Media Manager Melanie Schmitz explained to the Free Times, the expansion, which the brewery hopes will be finished by May, will afford visitors lots of additional space to enjoy its beers…
“The rooftop will be almost as large as the current taproom and likely accommodate about 40 to 50 people. The patio cover/expansion will give us a lot more space on the lower level, too. Fans and heaters both upstairs and on the patio will hopefully make the spaces comfortable for most of the year. I can’t wait to get a view of the city from the rooftop, not to mention the sunsets.”
(Courtesy Pepper Powers)
Bath Ale Works to Open New Brewery
After years of delays Bath Ale Works will NOT be opening in Bath Maine after all, but just up the road in Wiscasset, Maine.
But as Pepper Powers, co-owner of Bath Ale Works explained to the Press Herald, the new Midcoast Maine facility will be a well worth the wait in a region already home to Maine Beer Co, Flight Deck, Black Pug, Sea Dog, Stars and Stripes Moderation and Bath Brewing…
“The brewing industry in Maine is more of a fraternity because everyone helps one another… That’s one of the things I love about the industry. This has been a long time coming and we’re really looking forward to opening…We want to do our best and bring something unique to the Midcoast.”
Powers, who began brewing his own beer at home in the early 1990s, hopes to have Bath Ale Works online no later than July, the height of summer tourist season in Maine.
