Expansion readies BadWolf Brewery for local distribution

[ngg_images gallery_ids=”520″ display_type=”ds-nextgen_royalslider”]

The goal for BadWolf Brewery: get its beer into every restaurant in Downtown Manassas.

The two-year-old brewery expanded to a new 6,200 square foot production facility and tap room in a warehouse complex on at 8420 Kao Circle in Manassas earlier this year. It’s “the next step up” in their game after opening the company’s original brewery on Center Street in Manassas.

Owners Sarah Meyers, 31, and Jeremy Myers, 35, and their nine employees will use the space to produce larger quantities of beer for with the goal of distributing it to local restaurants. The new facility also hosts events, and is a place where customers can walk in and buy a growler or keg for their parties at home.

Customers can also bring their own food to the new tap room — whether it be takeout or brought from home in a crockpot — and eat and sip on BadWolf beer.

“Manassas was ready for an eventual shift,” said Jeremy. “There was already so many great restaurants downtown, and the area was ready for a craft brewery, and we just happened to come in at the right time,”
The couple credits educated consumers who helped to build their strong local following.

“We live in cultured times when more people are asking questions about where their food comes from, where it’s made, what’s in it, and not just believing something that is crammed into their brain from a TV ad,” said Sarah.

BadWolf originally opened on Center Street in Manassas and quickly grew to be a local favorite. They Meyers’ wanted to open a large facility like the new one but couldn’t afford it.

BadWold eyed an old restaurant space for their expansion in the Tacketts Mill shopping center in Lake Ridge. But it would have cost too much to bring the Lake Ridge building up to current building codes, said Jeremy. Also, Prince William County did not allow small craft breweries in shopping centers at the time, but that has changed.

The company worked with a bank to secure a loan and then worked with Manassas City officials to find the new production house where they eventually located. The company plans to offer different experiences in their old and new tap rooms.

“We’ll do a batch of wild brews at the original brewery for those who want to mix it up, and then we’ll have the ‘safe zone’ here at the production facility for those who want the taste of something more familiar,” said Jeremy.

The brewery will next work to strike a deal with a beer distributor so its brews can be poured from taps in local restaurants. BadWolf’s two most-popular beers — “AK 47,” an Ameri-Kolsch style, hoppy-flavored ale, and its popular “Jesse’s Girl” amber ale is what they will pitch to Fredericksburg distributing company J.F. Fick.

The brewery also wants to bring in local restaurant owners to educate them on the beer making process. The new center also has yeast lab that will allow the company to harvest its own yeast. That key ingredient costs $300 per batch of beer brewed, and each brew nets 10 barrels of beer.

The couple will also add a new fixture to the new tap room: a 50-inch flat screen TV. UPS dropped it off on Tuesday and Jeremy helped unbox it.

“We always said we wouldn’t have a TV because we wanted people to come in and talk amongst themselves and interact. But people love to watch their games,” said Sarah.

The couple recently visited Old Ox Brewery in Fairfax County and noticed how many people came into watch baseball. That convinced them to order the new TV.

Friday and Saturday nights are the busiest times for BadWolf Brewery. The brewery will see about 100 customers at the new tap house on these nights, and about half that number at their brewery on Center Street.

Since BadWolf opened its doors two years ago, Manassas has welcomed Heritage Brewery, and KO Distilling that will focus its efforts on producing spirits. In nearby Woodbridge, Onery and Growling Bear breweries have opened.