Oskar Blues Brews Creative Expansion

Oskar Blues, the proudly-raucous craft beer brewery based in Longmont, CO needed to expand its operation to keep up with rising demand for its products in all 50 states and around the world. They chose Austin, but were challenged with finding the right space to create a large, state-of-the-art brewing facility in a tight industrial market, and with a compressed timeline. It not only needed to accommodate their operational demands, but also be located in an area that blended well with the company culture.

In typical Oskar Blues style, the 50,000 square foot industrial building was stripped of the prior tenants additions inside and out and transformed into a modern, open-space, with a 45,000 SF brewery, 5,000 SF tasting taproom and music venue, plus a 2,700 SF outdoor balcony. The facility shows off its massive production room by creating permeable spaces connected with windows and glazing, allowing patrons to see from the porch to the brewhouse.
 
The location in north Austin off Metric Boulevard near The Domain is also ideal. It offers great access to major thoroughfares and is gaining a renowned reputation for its collection of stellar local breweries.

This substantial investment is making a major impact on the company’s ability to quench the thirst of folks on a global scale. It will have an initial brewing capacity of 30,000 additional barrels of beer per year, with plans to increase it to 100,000!
 
The company also was recently named one of Inc. 5000's Fastest-growing Companies in America for the fifth year in a row; is ranked 24th on the Brewers Association Top 50 Breweries list; and with the increased production from this facility those accolades will only increase.
 
On a larger level, Oskar Blues is helping to redevelop this industrial area into a more vibrant and community-oriented entertainment district. Its rehabilitation of this once-overlooked building is a celebration the company’s mantra: Do what you know is right, do it well, and deliver a quality product.