CINCINNATI – MadTree Brewing plans to open a new $18 million brewery, taproom and event center in Oakley, the company announced Wednesday.
The former RockTenn building at 3301 Madison Road will be renovated into their new brewery, just about one mile from MadTree’s current location, according to the announcement. It will include a 100-barrel brewhouse, an expanded quality laboratory, larger 64-tap taproom, 10,000-square-foot beer garden, larger Catch-A-Fire Pizza cafe and two private event spaces.
“It was extremely important for us to remain connected to the city and neighborhoods that have supported us since day one,” Kenny McNutt, MadTree co-founder, said. “This is where we all live, work, and play, and we didn’t want to abandon our home to save a few pennies.“
MadTree, which opened in 2013, sells to 48 counties in Ohio and three counties in Kentucky. During talks with city officials, they said their demand was surpassing their production, and the expansion could allow them to expand their distribution.
“We’ve been struggling to keep up with demand locally and this expansion will allow us to catch-up. Plus, we can begin sharing MadTree in other parts of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana,” Brady Duncan, MadTree co-founder, said. “It’s still a bit surreal to think how far we’ve come in less than three years.”
While the expansion will allow MadTree to increase their production volume, they also said they planned to intensify their focus on quality, too. They already installed an ‘advanced quality laboratory” at their original location, and additional monitoring equipment.
“The new brewhouse and related equipment will allow us to scale up our production rapidly and with an extreme focus on quality and consistency of the beer,” Jeff Hunt, MadTree co-founder, said. “We will have all of the latest and best brewing equipment at our disposal.”
The expansion will also mean the creation of 40 new jobs over the next three years in addition to 50 jobs immediately moving to Oakley, according to MadTree’s announcement. The brewers said the city and JobsOhio would be assisting them, but the details of the agreement haven’t been finalized.
