Craft beer brewer expands, hiring workers

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (Nov. 6, 2015) -- In Wisconsin, many people will tell you beer is almost everything. You have the big guys, but we found one of the little guys in Sheboygan who isn't so little anymore.

When Grant Pauly started 3 Sheeps Brewing Company, in April of 2012, the location in downtown Sheboygan was the perfect size. Now, three and a half years later, it's not anymore because it has become too popular.
Obviously that's not a bad thing...

"It takes the same amount of time to make 300 gallons of beer as it does as it does 1,500 gallons of beer, so there's a point where you're brewing non-stop that you just need to start getting larger," Pauly said.

3 Sheeps Brewing, it's 30 styles of craft beer and the six workers on the payroll are moving from the 5,000 square feet to the old Coca-Cola packaging plant in Sheboygan that is 40,000 square feet. It will allow them to produce many times over what they do now.

"We'll have rooms for our packaging area, our bottling. We'll have a big warehouse, that's gonna be our barrel warehouse for the aging of bourbon, rum and wine barrels," Pauly added.

He is also going to hire 15 new employees over the next three years, quite a step up from 12 years ago when Pauly was brewing beer at home with the home kit his wife gave him. In fact, he ships to restaurants, bars and stores in Illinois and Minnesota, all places that have a wide array of beer. Pauly's is different, "one off of normal" as he calls it.

"We don't make a traditional porter or stout, we make a black wheat. We don't a traditional amber, it's a Belgian-style abbey with rye malt," Pauly said.

A microbrewery that's not so micro anymore.

"I mean, it's gonna be a lot of work these next several months as we get it going, but it's gonna be so worth it," Pauly said.

People in other states, other than Illinois and Minnesota have expressed interest in his product, and now with the new facility, he'll finally be able to fulfill those orders.

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