Central Nebraska brewery expands to keep up with demand
Nebraska's craft beer industry is booming, and local breweries are expanding in response.
"It's definitely growing."
Craft beer is more popular than ever.
"The way Nebraskans see and drink beer is definitely changing, and it seems to be changing steadily, and probably will for the foreseeable future. So, Nebraska beer is definitely becoming more interesting," said Trevor Shaben.
Thunderhead Brewing says this is great news. The company started in 1999 with a one-barrel system and has been growing ever since.
"Right now we have a 30-barrel brew house. This year we'll brew a little over 2,400 barrels; last year we did about 1,900," said Shaben.
As Nebraska's love of microbrews continues to grow, Thunderhead is expanding to keep up with demand.
"It's going to be 9,600 square feet, 24-foot high ceilings. It'll allow us to expand production probably for the next 10 years. It'll be a year or so before we need it, but we're starting it now."
According to the brew master, the expansion will create a few new jobs.
"Right now we're running about as big of equipment as we could ever want to run and we're about as automated as we can be. From this point forward, all growth will require more man hours," said Shaben.
If you'd like to see this expanding brewery for yourself, they offer free tours every Saturday from 2 to 5 p.m.
