Central Standard Craft Distillery plans to open a new 10,000-square-foot production facility in July near Marquette University‘s campus just west of downtown Milwaukee.
The liquor maker plans to spend about $1.1 million renovating an existing warehouse located at 2330 W. Clybourn St. to house new fermentation and production equipment. AÂ total of nine employees will be hired to work at the new facility over the next two years.
Central Standard Co-Founder Evan Hughes said the company also plans to add a tasting room and offer tours at the new location soon after it opens for production.
“That will be part of the plan, however it’s more important for us right now to focus on the production side,” Hughes said. “It’s going to be geared up to open as a production facility, and our intent is to have a public portion at the front of the facility where we could do tours and promotions. I imagine that wouldn’t trail too far behind.”
Central Standard’s decision to open a new production facility is being driven by a sharp increase in demand. The distillery had a 324-percent increase in distribution from 2015 to 2016, Hughes said. He estimated the new space will allow them to increase production by at least 10 times in the coming years.
“We want to have a better ability to do R&D and do new product development, and we’d also have the ability to do more contract work (at the new facility) as well,” he said. “Our current facility is beautiful, the tasting room is fantastic, we just don’t have a lot of room for fermentation.”
Hughes said the new production facility will not operate at full capacity right away, but the new equipment will allow them to ramp up production gradually to fit demand.
“We’re extremely excited about the neighborhood,” Hughes said. “The neighborhood was very welcoming to us. Part of our ethos is being a part of the community and we’re excited about putting some of our time and talent into helping grow that community as well.”
Central Standard’s current tasting room and production facility is located at 613 S 2nd St. in Milwaukee’s Walker’s Point neighborhood. The business will maintain its operations at that location.
