St. Louis suds cannot be stopped. O’Fallon Brewery announced today that it will open a new, larger location in December. The new facility at 45 Progress Parkway in Maryland Heights will more than double O’Fallon’s annual brewing capacity to 25,000 barrels. The new space will also give O’Fallon its first tasting room. “Our current facility now is mainly all product. We don’t have a place where people can visit and try our beer… and we get requests all the time,” said Jim Gorczyca, the brewery’s president and CEO.
Currently, the brewery produces its draft beer at its 8,500-square-foot facility in O’Fallon, Mo. Due to a shortage of space, the brewery partners with Stevens Point Brewery in Wisconsin to produce its bottled and canned beers. The additional 45,000-square-foot brewery will enable O’Fallon to bring all operations back to the St. Louis area and increase its draft beer production for wider distribution.
Before fans can belly up to the bar, the warehouse space will require major renovations. O’Fallon will overhaul the space, which previously housed assembly and supplies for a local biomedical company, in April. Despite the months of construction ahead, Gorczyca said the new location near Westport Plaza is an ideal spot for its new operations. “We feel we’re in a place that is the best of both worlds,” he said. “It’s close to our roots but opens us up to people who want to come and visit.”
The tasting room will offer O’Fallon beers, as well a guest tap to highlight local, lesser-known breweries from St. Louis and St. Charles counties. The taproom will also offer food, and guests will be able to tour the new facilities.
This article appears in February 2014.