Steve Neukomm, owner of Square One Brewery and Distillery, has sold his other beer operation, Augusta Brewing Company & Beer Garden. The Augusta, Mo., properties have been purchased by Terry and Jeri Heisler, owners of John G’s Bier Deck in nearby Washington, Mo., and longtime Augusta Brewing Company customers.
Neukomm told Sauce that he sold the small microbrewery and beer garden primarily because of the difficulty of running operations in two locations that were separated by a three-hour round-trip drive. “I was feeling frustrated because I couldn’t be everywhere at once,” stated Neukomm on Wednesday during a phone conversation between breaks at the American Distilling Institute‘s annual Whiskey & Moonshine Distilling Conference in Louisville, Ky.
Neukomm purchased the assets of Heartland Brewing Company in 1999. A year later, he bought the Augusta property that is now the home of the Augusta Beer Garden and also changed the name of the brewing company to Augusta Brewing.
Selling the Augusta operation will enable Neukomm to focus on Square One, particularly the small-batch distillery. Since becoming a licensed spirits distiller in 2008, the entrepreneur has released some inventive craft liquors, yet these products are currently available only at Square One’s location in Lafayette Square. “The first product we are going to put on the market is the cherry wood-smoked malt whiskey,” said Neukomm. “We are working on packaging and getting distribution for it in area restaurants and stores.”
Even though he no longer owns Augusta Brewing Company & Beer Garden, Neukomm doesn’t expect to stay a stranger to the business that he ran for 10 years. “I still have a house down there,” he added.
Update: Neukomm informed Sauce that Square One took home a silver medal in the whiskey liqueur category of the ADI’s whiskey competition held yesterday during the distillery conference. Square One’s Vermont Night is made of whiskey aged in oak that is infused with orange, lemon, cloves, cinnamon and vanilla bean, and sweetened with Vermont maple syrup.
– Ligaya Figueras
This article appears in May 1-31, 2010.