Selling beer to go was already a concept for Iron Hill and its group of brewpubs, but a true production-style model was not a part of the plan until now.
The brewery’s newest addition is a production brewery at its Exton, Pennsylvania location, called The TapHouse. That will adjust some priorities and streamline how beer in all the breweries are now made.
“As we start to grow the brand, we are mindful of our footprint and shrinking down some of our brewery size themselves,” said Iron Hill Director of Brewery Operations, Mark Edelson. “With COVID, everybody’s on-site sales are down, but packaged beer is through the roof.
“This lended us an opportunity because we have this platform to launch the retail business using this larger production facility. The additional brewing capacity has been helpful.”
So now, the production brewery can focus on creating larger core brands and get cans to the retail outlets while each brewpub brewhouse can focus on in-house beers and have its own style at each facility and for each local market.
Iron Hill Brewery TapHouse is a polished fast-casual concept, which was described by the brewery as offering a laid-back vibe and innovative fare.
Edleson said that to-go sales tripled during the pandemic from previous years so adding a retail arm outside of the brewpubs made sense. Now, Iron Hill is available in over 500 stores throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania and Delaware, with plans to add New Jersey in 2022.
”So far, everything is going really well and we are exceeding our projections,” Edelson said.
Designed by Bray Architecture, Iron Hill Brewery TapHouse is described as having a casual industrial sense with polished concrete floors offset by pop art imagery and warm wood tones throughout the 4,500 sq. ft. space.
From the time the plan was developed to now opening, there were changes that needed to be made as well. The opening date changed, for one.
”We were slated to open in April 2020 but opened in December of 2020,” Edelson said. “The brewpub layout was changed from the original plans and made it more COVID-19 friendly. We completely redid the seating plan.
”Also, the brewery is redirecting the output. We are putting much more of an emphasis on the canning operations of the brewery rather than the drafts.”
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