Ology Brewing Company opens second location
The smile on the face of Ology Brewing co-owner Nick Walker just kept getting wider and wider with every glass of beer he saw poured Monday night. And with good reason.
Seeing patrons in Ology Power Mill — Ology Brewing Company's new tasting room at its second location — was a historic moment for Walker and for Tallahassee's craft beer scene.
"It feels good, man," said Walker, as he looked around at the 50 or so people who came out for the sneak preview opening. "We've been working non-stop to make this happen."
More than one kind of expansion
"We needed to expand our brewing capacity, which is the main reason we're here," said co-owner Max Arndt. "And we had a little bit of extra space, so we decided to add a tap room as well. So now we'll be serving the east side of town here, and frankly anyone who wants to come."
Arndt said the new tasting room at 2708 Power Mill Court, not far from Capital Circle and Park Avenue, will feature a handful of Ology's most popular taps, plus one dedicated to kombucha and another for cold brew coffee — eight taps in all.
The Power Mill facility will also be open seven days a week, while the original Midtown location, 118 E. 6th Ave., will maintain its Thursday through Monday schedule.
Though the Midtown serving facility is larger — about double the square footage and number of taps than the new tasting room — the new place has 3,500 extra square footage wrapped around it. That means room for loads of new equipment and an operation to distribute Ology beer to area bars and restaurants.
"There's going to be a lot more Sensory Overload to go around, that's for sure," said co-owner Brian Clark, referring to Ology's flagship hazy New England IPA.
Not just beer
The new location is also nestled off Tallahassee's Fern Trail, a favorite of local biker riders. As a result, Power Mill will share a small part of it space with a bike shop run by Hubs & Hops owner Roger Hawkes, one of Ology's original investors. The bike shop will be open seven days a week for beer fans who want to rent bikes, have their bike repaired or stop in for a pint before or after their ride.
And one more detail to note: Ology's new place will also be part art gallery. Each room will feature a different local artist's work on its walls, accompanied by information about the artist. Those exhibits will rotate every few months.
"The local artists aspect of this new place is so cool," Ology co-owner Paul Woodward said. "We have so much talent here in Tallahassee, we figured, why not give them a space to show it off?"
Though food and crowler/growler fills will remain the province of the Midtown location, the greatly increased distribution capacity of the Power Mill facility — plus the extra features — means good news for fans of Ology's beer.