Expansion, new taproom, new collabs all in the plans for Main & Mill Brewing in 2020

Expansion, new taproom, new collabs all in the plans for Main & Mill Brewing in 2020

I admit I have a soft spot for Main & Mill Brewing Company, as they were the first brewery to follow me on Instagram. So let me try to return the love by letting you all know what the great Denny Foster has planned for us beer lovers in 2020.

Where to Find Main & Mill

A straight shot south down Interstate 55 from St. Louis is where you’ll find a brewing company that, while just six years in operation, is carrying forth a rich brewing tradition that began more than 120 years ago.

Main & Mill Brewing Company is located on Main Street in Festus, Missouri, a town built on beer.

Legend tells us Festus was actually created as a place for people to drink after a long day of work at the nearby Crystal City PPG plant that made high-quality glass. Due to some regulations in Crystal City at the time, beer was only available in taverns outside of the city limits. The most popular place in Festus was the West End Tavern. It opened in the late 1800s. The pub/tavern served beer and liquor and later became a huge seller of St. Louis brewed Lemp beer.

The building that housed the West End Tavern is where Main & Mill continues providing beer to thirsty patrons.

Main & Mill opened in 2013, a product of love of beer and community. Brewmaster Denny Foster was born and raised in Festus and specifically chose to open his brewery on Main Street to help the redevelopment of downtown. The West End Tavern building was close to being demolished when Foster and his father Barry bought the building, built their brewery and opened to an enthusiastic local and regional drinking clientele.

A New Year In Beer | 2020

In April of 2019, Foster and Main & Mill announced a major expansion. The brewery will open another brewing operation and new taproom just a few blocks from the current location, which will remain in full operation. The expansion should allow the Main & Mill to double its current output of 550 barrels of beer per year.

“We are super excited to get our expansion up and running. Once we’re brewing we start to focus on the taproom build-out which we hope to have open by mid-2020,” said Foster. “Those two things will increase our flexibility a great deal which opens us up to things never before possible. You’ll start seeing tons of cans, more bottles, and a much larger barrel selection for those bottles coming in 2020.”

New Releases

Currently, Main & Mill has 3 canned, new releases planned, once the expansion is up and running. The Green Door is Open, is a single-hop Citra hazy double IPA that represents the green door on the side of their new building that employees are definitely familiar with.

The 400 Yard Walk, represents the distance from the current location to the new location. This one will be a smoothie style, Berliner Weisse, with black raspberries, black currants, and lime zest.

A third new release is going to be a bit of a surprise.

More Cans

You can expect a new can release each month in 2020, true one-offs rather than the same set of “flagships” that are done elsewhere. “We plan to truly have fun at the new location and do beers we want to do with a plan of release ever 3-4 weeks,” said Foster. “We’re super pumped to get rolling and have everyone see what we have planned.”

New Collaborations

The first new collaboration will hit in January, with Southern Grist out of Nashville, but we don’t know yet what it will be. A second collab will follow with Three Chiefs out of California. Locally, Main & Mill expects to release beers brewed with Narrow Gauge and 2nd Shift within the first quarter of 2020.

Expansion, new taproom, new collabs all in the plans for Main & Mill Brewing in 2020