HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – A light breeze passed through The Brew Stooges' quiet seven-barrel brewery Tuesday afternoon in downtown Huntsville.
Tonight, the 2,500-square-foot brewhouse and tap room will come to life with six permanent taps and three portables pouring ice cold beer in the heart of the Rocket City.
"We like to keep it easy going and simple," said co-owner Chris Bramon. "We want people to come here and be incredibly comfortable. When you're here, you're right smack in the middle of it.
The Brew Stooges, a craft beer venture started by business partners Bramon, Tracy Mullins and Jeff Peck, launched a new tasting room and outdoor seating area a few months ago at its facility on 109 Maple Ave.
With help from volunteers and groups like Know Huntsville, Mullins, Peck and Bramon have seen their customer base grow in recent months with the addition of free barbecue on Saturday nights, music events and even a live podcast.
"It's doing a lot better than we originally envisioned to start off with," Bramon said. "And it just keeps getting bigger and bigger."
Down the street from the iconic, now-closed Tip Top Café, the beer makers are working on new signage to attract more brew lovers to the downtown brewery and tap room, which seats up to 25.
Although there are a couple of picnic tables out back, Bramon said the crowds have been so large they "routinely have people standing."
The Brew Stooges isn't the only local craft beer business seeing hefty growth. Rocket Republic Brewing Co. announced in June it will launch a brew house and tap room in Madison, while Huntsville's Straight to Ale recently expanded into the Atlanta market.
The Alabama Brewers Guild reported in April that statewide beer production grew 47 percent last year. The number of taxable removal barrels (the amount of beer sold and taxed) was 28,373 in 2013, up 47 percent from 2012, while the number of breweries nearly doubled from seven in 2012 to 13 in 2013.
You can now find The Brew Stooges' local brews at Huntsville's Bandito Burrito, West End Grill, The Nook, Mellow Mushroom and Pie in the Sky. Their beer is also on tap in Decatur, Athens, Birmingham, Mobile, Montgomery and Tuscaloosa.
Peck, who spends his work days at NASA, feels good about their progress.
"We want to try to grow the business organically with the market," he said. "If the market doesn't grow, then we don't get any bigger ... but I think it will. We think we can grow our market into Alabama, as well as at some point go across state lines."
The brewhouse is located in a building where Mullins ran his side business, Complete Plumbing, for about 10 years. The trio started construction on the property in the spring of 2012 before opening a year later.
During the first 10 months of operation, Peck said they were busy getting their processes down, reaching distribution agreements and landing new markets. When they felt comfortable enough to move forward with the expansion, they assembled the tap room.
The brewhouse is open to the public from 5 to 9 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Bramon said they're working with the city of Huntsville to bring a trolley to the downtown brewery.
"If we can get folks to ride the trolley down here, that means we'll be on the normal downtown circuit," he said. "You can come downtown and visit us anytime you want and you don't have to drive."
A beer tasting with The Brew Stooges will take place July 12 and 26 during The Lowry House's Backyard Concert Series.