Small Town Brewery Plans Big Grand Opening
First published 1/28/2017
WEST PLAINS, MO – Wages Brew Company (WBCo), West Plains’ first and only microbrewery and taproom located near Heroes Coffee in the East Towne Village, will be having their grand opening event on Saturday, January 28th (preceded by a Chamber of Commerce Ribbon Cutting on Friday, January 27th at 4:30 PM). This event is free and open to the public and includes live music, extended hours, scheduled brewery tours, and a food truck.
Wages Brewing began its journey when owner Phil Wages took an Operation JumpStart class at OzSBI in 2011. After five years of planning and fundraising, they held their soft opening on August 27th, 2016. Mr. Wages says, “Now that we have ‘learned the ropes’, we are happy to announce our official grand opening. We’ve been slowing building up to this, and with our recent taproom expansion [the taproom nearly doubled in size in November], we are able to add live music and can accommodate larger gatherings, so it just seems like now is the right time to open our doors to a larger audience.”
Normally open from 12 to 7 PM on Saturdays, WBCo will extend their hours to 9 PM for the January 28th grand opening event so that three musical acts can perform kicking off with Phil Orlikowski and H2O (brothers Brian and David Haenke) from 1 to 3 PM followed by Luke Hershenson from 4 to 6 PM and ending the night with the energetic Creek Stink from 7 to 9 PM. “These groups are all pretty different in terms of their sound which reflects the differences in the ales we make here at our brewery”, explains Mr. Wages, “and I think that’s pretty cool because we aim to provide that place where people of all walks of life can come together, like an old-school neighborhood pub, a neutral zone.”
But there’s nothing neutral about Wages’ beers. In the 4 months they’ve been open, they’ve released beers that range from the smooth and easy drinking Whatknot Ale to more adventurous beers made with ingredients like blood orange, dandelions, local blackberries, seeds of paradise, and even chipotle peppers! “Our goal has always been to have fun and be creative. Craft beer is all about experimentation, and we’re fortunate to have our crazy ideas received so well by so many in such a short period of time,” said Mr. Wages. “We look forward to sharing extra special releases at our grand opening, some of which will be in extremely short supply. And hint, yes, we will be bringing back the Blood Orange Whatknot!”
Also at their grand opening event will be Bootleggers BBQ food truck which previously served at Wages Brewing on New Year’s Eve. Their chef made a beer cheese dip with Wages’ top selling Landlocked IPA and paired it with freshly made warm pretzels. Mr. Wages says, “As of right now, we don’t know what special food they will be making, but you can be sure of at least one extra special dish that mingles our beer with Bootleggers’ menu.”
“Please be sure to drink responsibly,” encouraged Mr. Wages. “We also make our own handcrafted sodas from scratch, and we’ll be sure to have plenty on hand so that designated drivers can enjoy a beverage too.” In the past, WBCo has made Cream Soda, Cherry Soda, and Elderberry Cream Soda, and they’ve hinted that Ginger Ale may be available for the grand opening.
Wages Brewing has quickly become known for working locally, buying ingredients at the West Plains’ Farmer’s Market and D&D Produce as well as only carrying local wines (currently from McCullough House Winery from Thayer, MO), so it seems only fitting they have all local musicians and local food as the centerpiece of their January 28th grand opening. Mr. Wages’ work shirt has embroidered on it, “Purveyor of Puns”, so it comes as no surprise that he closed with, “It’s going to a lot of pun!”
