About Saint Arnold Brewery
Saint Arnold brewery shipped its first keg of beer on June 9, 1994, and, from that moment on, the brewery has skyrocketed in true Space City style to become one of America's most beloved craft breweries. One of its most famous creations, a German Kôlsch called Lawnmower, has won two gold medals at the Great American Beer Festival, and Saint Arnold Amber has won a gold medal at the All American Brew Fest. Saint Arnold is special in its mass appeal; it produces quality craft beer for regular beer lovers and cutting-edge creations for true craft beer enthusiasts. Beer isn't the only interesting thing happening at Saint Arnold– we're also interested in how a brewery deals with growth. It's not just another business that can pick up and move to a bigger office when it hires more employees. Brewing is a bit more complicated than that.
Enter Lennie Ambrose, marketing and events coordinator for Saint Arnold, who is going to tell us the entire story. |
|
The lot on which Saint Arnold currently stands was once a lumber yard, but that didn't survive long.
"A couple of blocks down the street, there was a pub, in 1911 I guess, and a homeless guy built a fire there to keep warm. It got out of control and burned the whole neighborhood down. Until the Chicago fire, it was one of the biggest fires in American history," Ambrose said. |
The current building, which was built in 1912, has served as a paper bag factory, Sysco's first distribution center, and a food service warehouse for the Houston Independent School District.
"It was just kind of a big, open, refrigerated freezer building. I like to tell people that anything nice you see is something that we added. It was pretty grim before," Ambrose said.
The original building was three floors, plus a basement, so the beer hall, offices, and bottling line are all within the original structure. The brewhouse, with its massive fermenters, was tacked onto the outside when the brewery moved in seven years ago. Almost everything within the original building was renovated except for the outer walls, such as the tile and woodwork.
"It was just kind of a big, open, refrigerated freezer building. I like to tell people that anything nice you see is something that we added. It was pretty grim before," Ambrose said.
The original building was three floors, plus a basement, so the beer hall, offices, and bottling line are all within the original structure. The brewhouse, with its massive fermenters, was tacked onto the outside when the brewery moved in seven years ago. Almost everything within the original building was renovated except for the outer walls, such as the tile and woodwork.
Ambrose also swears that the building is haunted.
"Our bottling line manager had his two-year-old near the front bar when we were first moving in, and she said, 'Hey, daddy, can I play with all of these kids?' and he said, 'What are you talking about?'" Because, of course, there were no other children anywhere in the building. Brewers have also heard ghostly singing while they're working, but the ghosts haven't hurt anyone (or the beer), so nobody is particularly concerned by these friendly apparitions. |
Lennie Ambrose, Saint Arnold marketing and events coordinator, tells us about the history of the brewery in the private lounge.
|
Saint Arnold was originally housed in a warehouse near the 610–290 interchange, and this first facility was capable of producing 24,000 barrels of beer per year. One barrel is about 31 gallons.
Rows of fermenters bubble away in the brewery. Each has its own name, such as St. Adrian or Michael Jackson (not named after the singer, but after a brewer).
|
"It served us well, but eventually, we just didn't have enough space for the public to come and visit us or for the brewing equipment. We outgrew that facility totally," Ambrose said. "We looked at building something from the ground up, and we also looked at some facilities just outside of the Loop. We came across our building and it fit our needs perfectly. It took a full year for the brewery to move all of its operations to its new home on Lyons, which produces about 65,000 barrels per year. Much of the equipment was moved from the old location to the new, such as the 60- and 120-barrel fermenters, although the 60-barrel fermenters have since been replace by 240-barrel fermenters. A new 120-barrel brewhouse was also added. |
Saint Arnold is still growing in production and popularity, so its expansion plans have by no means come to an end.
"We have purchased the lot across the street from us and are looking into purchasing the street itself," Ambrose said.
"We're going to keep this structure and these facilities here, but we'd have more public space across the street, like a beer garden, plus some production over there as well."
When asked about the brewery's wish list, Ambrose says that the brewery is as happy as a clam.
"We need more cold space and bigger loading docks. We purchased a canning line last February, which was a new addition here. Otherwise, we don't need anything."
Check out the video below to see more images of the brewery and hear Ambrose tell its story.