USA, OH: Ohio’s Rivals Brewing Company to take over Fat Head’s Brewery space in Middleburg Heights

After contract producing a line of beer for the last year, Ohio’s Rivals Brewing Company has reached an agreement to take over the current Fat Head’s Brewery space in Middleburg Heights, Brewbound reported on December 4.

As Brewbound previously reported, Fat Head’s broke ground in June on a $12 million, 125,000 sq. ft. destination brewery about a mile from its current headquarters. The new facility will double Fat Head’s production capabilities and enable it to produce as much as 60,000 barrels of beer annually.

Last week, Nick Lowe, the owner of Rivals Sports Grille, a decade-old Middleburg Heights sports bar and restaurant, announced that he had signed a five-year lease on the 35,000 sq. ft. turnkey brewery where Fat Head’s has operated since 2012.

As part of the $2.5 million project, Lowe’s fledgling Rivals Brewing Company LLC has acquired Fat Head’s old brewing equipment in order to begin production in the spring of 2018, and the company plans to expand and remodel the facility’s taproom to better reflect Rivals’ brand identity.

Currently, Rivals Sports Grille contract brews its four beers at Madison, Ohio-based Hop View Brewing Company, and those products are exclusively sold on tap at the restaurant.

“Our beer outperforms all others we carry on tap,” owner Nick Lowe said in a press release. “The most common question we get is: ‘When can I buy this at the store? So it’s really a no-brainer.’”

In an email to Brewbound, brewmaster and general manager Chuck Johnson wrote that Rivals plans to phase out its contract production after its new facility goes online in the spring or summer of next year.

“We value that relationship, but it will shift to a collaborative effort instead,” he wrote. “We are also planning a collaboration with Fat Head’s brewery at launch.”

Johnson, who will lead the company’s brewing operations, added that the company is seeking a head brewer with large-scale production experience. He added that Rivals plans to self-distribute its beer in 6-pack bottles and kegs and may offer its products in cans in the future.

Meanwhile, Fat Head’s new brewery is expected to open by late spring 2018, according to a profile last month in Crain’s Cleveland Business. The new location will include a 250-seat bar and restaurant as well as a “state-of-the-art” German-made brewhouse, a new pilot brewery, bottling and packaging equipment and a distribution center.

Sales of Fat Head’s beer increased 13 percent last year to 25,000 barrels, according to an estimate by industry trade group the Brewers Association. Fat Head’s revenues are expected to exceed $14 million in 2018, Crain’s reported.

Fat Head’s currently operates outposts in North Olmsted, Ohio, Pittsburgh, Penn., and Portland, Ore. The company is in the process of building a $2.1 million, 10,000 sq. ft. brewpub in Canton, which is expected to open in mid-January. The company has also set its sights on opening a brewpub in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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