BrewDog Announces Columbus, OH Facility Updates

Rain, wind, sun and snow – if ever there was a reason for us to embrace Ohio as the spiritual twin of Aberdeenshire, the December weather is it. It’s been a few months since we gave you all an update on how BrewDog USA is progressing in the Discovery City – September in fact, just prior to the very first #PunkAGMUSA. So let’s head over to the US and find out how new arrivals – both people and brewhouse kit – are getting on in their quest to bring fresh BrewDog beer to North America!

The long and the short of it is that our 100,000 square foot production facility in Columbus is going great guns. Since the last update the custom-built Esau & Hueber kit has arrived on site and is being joined together – literally every day something new arrives or is connected! The 200 HL/170 Barrel system is almost there, we have the mash and lauter tuns in place, the bright tanks ready to go and the first dozen fermenters have been delivered, pointed skywards, and installed. There’s plenty to work on though, keeping our amazing construction engineers busy!

Aside from the influx of steel, other things being created on site at the moment include the ongoing project to convert the amazing space in the photo above into DogTap Columbus. The designs have been finalised and the taproom is very soon going to begin appearing – and not a moment too soon! Elsewhere on the site we have taken delivery of our canning line and this will be the next large-scale project for our installation team to tackle at the start of January.

The last time we featured our Columbus plans here on the blog it was to launch word of the Open House at our brewery for prospective employees from the local community. As it turned out, that word had spread far and wide – our crew had an astonishing 600 people arrive to learn more about BrewDog and the roles we have for passionate beer fans to join our team. We met folks from all over Ohio and from Indiana, Illinois and even as far afield as New Jersey!

The event on both days was another truly incredible lesson into how friendly the people of the Midwest are. The local people have continued to make us hugely welcome and share our excitement about the brewery build, even chatting to us over breakfast in the local diners! From everyone at BrewDog, a big thank you to those who came, particularly those bearing homebrew, homemade dog biscuits and advice on settling into the Buckeye State.

As the aim of the Open House was to add to our team, in that regard our US pioneers have swelled in number. We recently welcomed the amazing Massie Lawson who has joined us in a sales role and in recent weeks have made another two key appointees with our new Maintenance and Engineering Manager Steve Sanford and our first addition to the brewing team – Jake Borsvold. Stand by for more crewmates joining the good ship BrewDog USA very soon!

As we head into 2017 we will have an update on our upcoming BrewDog USA Bars and also a continued series of updates as we approach the first test brews on our Columbus kit and then complete the DogTap and welcome the locals in on a more regular basis!