The beginnings of a new Jack Pine Brewery officially took form Oct. 7, promising more jobs, more space, and of course, more beer.
Jack Pine founder Patrick Sundberg, his family, city officials and employees from contractor Nor-Son construction gathered in Baxter to officially break ground on a new building to replace the existing Jack Pine building on College Drive, farther south.
"It's kind of a relief to see things starting to move," Sundberg said.
The new location, on Edgewood Drive just off the southbound lanes of Highway 371 south of Arrowwood Lodge at Brainerd Lakes, will offer better access to potential customers and have more than double the space of the existing location. The brewery looked at several different possible locations before choosing the Edgewood site, Sundberg said.
"It's certainly not cheap being in a commercial area, but it'll pay off," he said. "We're closer to Gull Lake, so we'll have a little bit more traffic, we're a little bit more visible than we are right now and it'll be easy to get in and out, too."
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Sundberg said the goal is for construction to be finished in the spring, with the new 7,400 square-foot facility opening "shortly thereafter." It should be only about a month or two after construction is finished before the beer starts flowing, with a fully fledged operation by summer, he said.
The bigger space will likely involve hiring more staff as the brewery takes on longer hours and private events. Part timers will form the new hires initially, with full timers to possibly follow, Sundberg said.
"We're starting off with a 2,000 barrel capacity per year, and we've got room to grow pretty easily to 10,000 barrels a year," he said. "Basically, the people will grow with the business."
For context, the average beer keg is equivalent to half a barrel and the existing space on College Drive has a production output of about 800 barrels per year.
The new brewery will also feature canned beer in four-packs or six-packs.
