In this month’s Guide to Beer, we listed a handful of breweries coming to the area, four of which will be located in southern Illinois. Make that five; Templar Brewing will soon commence operations in Alton, Ill.
The brewery will be located downtown at 331 Belle St. It will open as a wholesale brewery, so while it will not have a tap room, owner Rick Blevens said he expects Templar beers to be on handles at the bar next door, Mac’s Time Out, and later at other area watering holes. Besides selling the beer in kegs, he is in discussions to have Templar beers bottled and sold in 22-ounce bombers. The brewery has the capacity to produce 600 barrels annually.
Now that Blevins has the necessary licenses and permits in hand, he hope to begin brewing as early as this week. The first batches of Templar are slated to be available by early April. Initial offerings will include an IPA, a golden ale and a brown ale. Blevens said the brown ale is one that he and his business partners – sons Richard Blevens III and Nick Blevens – are particularly excited about.
The project has been in the works for more than a year, according to Blevens, who trained at SlapShot Brewing Co. and Pipeworks Brewing Co., both located in Chicago. “I told [my sons] when they graduated from college that we’d open a business. They agreed on this,” he said.
This article appears in Guide to Beer 2014.