Great Escape plans to open taproom in Republic by year’s end

An expansion plan first announced by Great Escape Beer Works LLC two years ago is moving forward as a two-phase project in Republic, according to officials.

Construction is on the verge of beginning at the former Burk Bridge Co. property on the north side of Highway 60, south of the James River Freeway interchange, said Great Escape co-owner Jake Duensing. The company, which opened in Galloway Village in 2018, purchased the 6.3-acre site in 2022, which included a pair of buildings, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting. Plans originally called for utilizing a 16,000-square-foot building on-site for a production facility and the other 11,000-square-foot structure to become a taproom and offices.

“We picked what was probably one of the more inopportune moments to do an expansion a couple of years ago, and as we were getting everything planned out, interest rates, labor costs and material costs just kind of started skyrocketing,” Duensing said. “So, we’ve been working the past couple of years trying to figure out how to move forward and what options we had.”

Duensing said that led to splitting the project into two phases. Phase I will focus on the 11,000-square-foot building, which is to be converted into the taproom and offices as well as a smaller version of its originally planned production facility. Phase II still will consist of the larger production facility in the 16,000-square-foot building, but he said the timeline for that work is still to be determined.

“We’re entering Phase I right now. We’ve started demo and we’ll start actual construction just as soon as the permits have arrived,” he said, noting the phase should wrap within six to eight months, putting the facility’s opening around late fall or early winter.

Nesbitt Construction Inc. is general contractor on the project designed by Buxton Kubik Dodd Design Collective, Duensing said, declining to disclose the company’s planned investment.

Duensing said the taproom is expected to occupy roughly 5,000 square feet of the building, a reduction of the original plan in 2022, in order to accommodate some room for beer production.

“We’ll have a little less seating, but we’ll still have a very nice outdoor beer garden. And the taproom itself will still be much more comfortable and have much more space than we currently have,” he said, adding its two-story establishment in Galloway Village is 3,000 square feet, around half of which is used to produce beer.

Great Escape plans to maintain its original Springfield location but looks to make Republic its primary brewing facility.

“Just the space that it gives us is going to make things a lot easier on our production staff,” Duensing said, adding the Republic operation should eventually allow barrel production capacity to double to 4,000 annually.

Great Escape ranked No. 5 on Springfield Business Journal’s January 2023 list of the area’s largest breweries, with 987 barrels produced in 2022, a 13% dip from the previous year.

In Republic, Great Escape’s plans also include a kitchen with a limited menu, Duensing said.

“It’ll be a fairly modest kitchen, but we’ll be able to provide food,” he said, adding pizzas, flatbread sandwiches and salads are planned.