Late last year, Big Bay Brewing Co. launched its line of signature craft beers and sodas, and the company is now preparing to open a 2,300-square-foot tasting room, retail store, meeting room and office facility at 4517 N. Oakland Ave. in Shorewood.
Big Bay Brewing will hold a soft opening there this week, said Jeff Garwood, co-founder and managing partner with the company. The tasting area will have a small bar and a few tables where people can order pints of the company’s brews. It will also sell six packs of beer and soda, as well as Big Bay promotional items like T-shirts.
Despite the presence of long-established microbrewers like Sprecher and Lakefront in the Milwaukee area, Garwood and his business partner believe there is ample room in the beer market for their brand.
“Wisconsin skews under the national average for craft beer development, which has been growing aggressively,” he said. “We see a lot of growth opportunities in Wisconsin. We look at the northeast, where craft beers are now approximately 25 percent of the market and still growing.”
Last year craft beers’ share of the Wisconsin beer market increased from 7 to 9 percent, Garwood said.
“That’s a significant shift in craft beer consumption in the state,” he said.
Big Bay believes there is more room to grow for the craft beer market in the state, and the company hopes to capture a share of that.
Big Bay’s beers and sodas have been on the shelves of Milwaukee-area liquor and grocery stores since Thanksgiving, Garwood said.
“We’ve been pleasantly surprised by the retail support,” he said.
Several area bars, such as North Star American Bistro in Shorewood and several Buffalo Wild Wings locations have Big Bay beers on tap.
Garwood spent more than 20 years working at Miller Brewing. He and his business partner, who asked to remain anonymous, decided to launch their own beer brand about two years ago after Miller asked him to move to Chicago.
Garwood’s last job with Miller Brewing was in quality assurance in its packaging department. He has also worked in quality, ordering, and production management.
“I’m not a brewer, but I know enough about the process to get myself in trouble,” he said.
Garwood’s business partner has a background in marketing and branding. Instead of building its own brewing operation, Big Bay has entered into an alternating proprietorship with the Milwaukee Brewing Company, which brews Big Bay’s beer.
“We go in and lease equipment and space from them to brew, package and store our beer,” Garwood said. “It’s with my malt, my hop bills – I own all of that. I’m billing wholesalers and paying the state and federal excise taxes.”
Milwaukee Brewing Co. is owned by Jim McCabe, the owner of the Milwaukee Ale House and the Grafton Ale House, and is where much of the beer for the two Ale Houses is made.
Under the alternating proprietorship, Milwaukee Brewing Co.’s master brewer works with Garwood to fine-tune his beer recipes. The master brewer performs brewing for Big Bay, under the supervision of Garwood and his business partner.
All of the company’s beers are made with its proprietary strain of yeast, which gives all of its beers a unifying taste profile.
At the moment, Big Bay offers two different beers, Wavehopper, a Kolsch-style ale, and Boatilla, an amber ale. Later this year, the beer brand hopes to launch two additional beers, a porter and a pale ale.
“We need to walk before we run,” Garwood said. “These four beers will give us a nice portfolio, a base of product that allows us to do something different or unique.”
Big Bay Brewing’s new facility in Shorewood will also house the company’s sales offices. Garwood and the company’s two-member sales staff are now working to significantly expand its distribution.
“In Wisconsin, people like beer and they like trying new things,” he said. “We have aspirations to expand through the Midwest and beyond. We’re meeting now with distributors up north, where people vacation.”
