Oasis Brewing Co., 6550 Comanche Trail, Austin, in the Oasis, Texas shopping complex, is undergoing an expansion that will increase its square footage by almost one-third of its current space, allowing the brewery to add production capacity and expanded marketing, President and Managing Partner Max Schleder announced today.
The site currently includes a brewery, taproom and restaurant.
“The taproom has been on fire,” Schleder said of the brand’s growing popularity.
He said the brewery’s session beers—meaning a beer with a lower alcohol content of around 5 percent—are now sold locally at Twin Liquors; Spec’s Wine, Spirits and Finer Foods; Randalls; and H-E-B and will be available in the El Paso market later in January as well as Kroger grocery stores in April.
Schleder said he took over the former Uncle Billy’s Brewery space at the end of 2013, opening Oasis Brewing Co. the following May. Since then, he said the business has won numerous awards, including the top prize in the 2014 Great American Beer Fest, only six months after opening.
“That [award]gave us instant credibility,” Schleder said.
The expansion will take the brewery from a 5,000-barrel capacity in January 2015 to 30,000 barrels when the project is complete this spring, he said.
“We are trying to grow our brand and get more beer out of the brewery and into the market,” Schleder said. “Our end goal is to distribute out of state.”