BBC production brewery getting new name

Almost daily, the Bluegrass Brewing Company production brewery gets calls for reservations.

But the brewery's taproom doesn't take reservations. In fact, it's not even part of the same-named company customers would make reservations at — the separately-owned Bluegrass Brewing Company, with three brewpubs across the city.

Are you confused? It's OK, a lot of people are. But the production brewery's owners hope you won't be soon, once they define the brewery as a separate company through a rebranding initiative that will introduce new products, consistent logos, a remodeled taproom and, maybe most importantly, a new name: Goodwood Brewing Company.

"We're going in a direction that we want to go into and just being who we want to be," said production brewery president Phil Dearner.

The new branding comes about 10 years after the production brewery's current owners bought the facility, located at the corner of Clay and Main streets.

The facility was originally owned by Pipkin Brewery, but it changed hands in 2001 after that company went defunct. At that time, BBC co-owner Pat Hagan and a group of investors — separate from a group that owned the BBC brewpubs — purchased the brewery and began leasing the BBC name in order to distribute BBC products.

When the production brewery's current owners purchased the facility in 2005, they discussed changing the name and brand but ultimately decided to keep the arrangement, CEO Ted Mitzlaff said.

"We should have changed it when we bought it, truthfully, but we were kind of wading into uncharted territory," Mitzlaff said. "No one in our investment group really knew much about the brewing industry."

The idea has remained in the owners' minds, and over the past two years, they've worked with ad agency Doe-Anderson to develop a new name and brand. Dearner said the company hopes to introduce the changes, along with the remodeled taproom, in May.

The change means the company will stop distributing the Heritage Collection — featuring the Nut Brown Ale, American Pale Ale and Dark Star Porter, which are recipes owned by BBC. But they'll add other recipes that highlight the company's skill.

The Goodwood name derives from the company's desire to be the country's premier wood aging brewery, with every product touching wood either through barrel-aging or adding wood chips in the fermentation process, Dearner said.

"The big demand is our barrel-aged product," Mitzlaff said, including the Bourbon Barrel Stout. "Everybody's got pale ale. We have wonderful products, but the real difference is our superior barrel-aged programs."

Once introduced, the Goodwood beers will be sold at the brewery's taproom and through distributors to restaurants and liquor stores, Dearner said.

The taproom, located at 636 E. Main St., will be closed shortly for the remodeling, which includes adding seating space, building a new cooler, redoing the bar and changing the atmosphere, Dearner said.

"It's not going to feel like your grandpa's basement," he said. "We're going to do our best to make it into a really cool space to hangout in."

Dearner and Mitzlaff said the idea of changing their brand is scary, but it will help the company continue efforts to better its beer. In the past two years, the company has also purchased new equipment, stepped up quality control and started searching for a second production facility.

"We've never made better beer than we are today," Dearner said.

Reach reporter Bailey Loosemore at (502) 582-4646. Follow her on Twitter at @bloosemore.

GOODWOOD BREWING COMPANY

The Bluegrass Brewing Company production brewery, at 636 E. Main St., will soon re-brand as the Goodwood Brewing Company. Follow the company's changes at www.facebook.com/BBCBEERPIMP.