Olde Mecklenburg Brewery prepares for move to $8M facility

The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery has started brewing test batches of its signature beers at a newly renovated facility between South Tryon Street and Yancey Road, just one-tenth of a mile from the brewery’s current home on Southside Drive.

The new facility, with a price tag of nearly $8 million (including the property), will house a 60-barrel brew house -- four times larger than the previous space. Founder John Marrino, who started OMB in 2009, says the new space makes it the largest craft brew house in the state.

The new building will also feature a larger taproom and restaurant, a natural Biergarten (outdoor area) and flexible public/private event space with a total capacity of close to 500 people.

OMB will have a grand-opening party for the public July 19. 

In 2013, Marrino announced plans to buy the 25,000-square-foot former American Crank Shaft warehouse, which sits on 3.5 acres as well as an adjoining wooded 5-acre property. 

OMB adheres to the oldest purity guidelines in the world -- the German “Reinheitsgebot" --  which says there can be only four ingredients in beer: barley or wheat malt, hops, yeast and pure water.