Popular brewery Dry County Brewing Company is expanding with a new taproom as part of a mixed-use development in downtown Kennesaw.
Founder and owner Trey Sinclair announced the plans on the brewery’s Facebook page.
Sinclair said in a post on the brewery’s website that when Dry County opened at its current location at 1500 Lockhart Drive NW in 2016, it was illegal for breweries to sell beer to the public.
“(The taproom) was simply an extension of our production space and didn’t get a whole lot of love or focus,” he said. Georgia laws have since changed, prompting Sinclair to want to provide a better experience for customers.
He said the move will also allow Dry County to use the Lockhart space for tanks and equipment to ramp up the production of beer.
With an eye on a late summer opening for the downtown taproom, which will be located at the corner of Main Street and J.O. Stephenson Avenue, Sinclair plans to keep the Lockhart Drive location open to the public through at least 2021, “or as long as there is a demand.”
The new space will feature double the number of taps as the original taproom. That, coupled with the smaller tanks onsite to produce small batch beers, “will allow our brew team to stretch and test their creativity in a way that is not currently possible at our Lockhart Drive taproom,” Sinclair said.
The new location will also offer improved outdoor areas, with an rooftop patio and doors opening directly into the Common Grounds Plaza greenspace. Kennesaw’s new open container ordinance will allow customers to purchase beer from Dry County and walk around downtown with it.
Hungry? “Local, established chefs” will own and operate an adjoining restaurant that will provide food for Dry County patrons.
While other cities came up while discussing expansion, Sinclair said staying in Kennesaw made the most sense logistically and personally.
“I cannot think of a future for Dry County in which a Kennesaw Taproom does not exist, and hopefully you can’t think of a future for Kennesaw in which Dry County does not exist either,” he said. “I am extremely excited about the future that I see in and around Kennesaw and I want us to be as close to that action as we can be.”
Sinclair was not immediately available to provide additional information on Dry County’s new location.
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