It’s shaping up to be a busy year for 4 Hands Brewing Co., as the brewery announced plans today, Jan. 21, to increase production and dip its toe into the spirits market. Owner Kevin Lemp said the brewery will add 30 more barrels, additional fermenters and an additional tasting room to its current space at 1220 S. Eighth St.
“This will be the last big expansion,” Lemp said. “We want to be an inch wide and a mile deep and serve the customers in our market. We’re not interested in expanding into 20 different markets.”
With more space, 4 Hands is also adding a distillery. Recipe development is underway, and Lemp said the brewery plans to produce seasonal gins, barrel-aged gins and whiskey. 4 Hands will produce two seasonal gins this year – a spring-summer gin with a citrus-forward profile and a fall-winter gin that will be more botanical and herbaceous. The barrel-aged gin will also likely be a winter release.
Many of the ingredients in the spirits will be familiar to 4 Hands fans. “We’ll use rye in our whiskey because rye features in our flagship Divided Sky,” said Lemp. “We may use jasmine in a gin since we use jasmine in our Single Speed.”
Look for the spring-summer gin to be available in the second quarter of 2016.
This article appears in January 2016.