Tuesday, October 15, 2024
OCONTO – While fall approaches and the weather slowly grows colder, The Yard Brewing in Oconto will certainly not be hibernating this winter. With plans to extend their drink offerings and grow the brand, their fall and winter will be a busy season behind the scenes.
Courtney and Garrett Sowle opened the doors to The Yard Brewing in 2022. Their desire to open their own business grew from a love of traveling and missing the beer gardens they would frequent in larger cities. The Sowles also wanted to build a place where families could gather and enjoy the outdoors together.
The Yard Brewing started off as a beer garden, which Courtney explained, “was a good entry point” into learning about brewing and meeting other similar businesses.
As time passed, the Sowles became more interested in expanding operations by learning how to brew their own beer. In the winter of 2023, they did a walkthrough with a company out of North Carolina and purchased brew tanks and equipment.
Courtney shared that the process of learning how to brew wasn’t always easy but said, “the hands-on experience was very helpful.” Soon after, they purchased the equipment to distill their own hard liquors. With the use of online materials like videos and podcasts, The Yard Brewing quickly started to brew a wide variety of beer for all different tastes.
Currently, the most popular drink at The Yard Brewing is the Speckled Goat, a blonde ale. In addition to being available at The Yard, it is also on tap at Dockside, Primal Eats and Howard Commons Biergarten as well as on shelves through Dean Distributing. Courtney shared that the Blood Orange Ale, derived from the Speckled Goat, is her current favorite beer and there are plans to make it a year-round offer.
Over the course of the approaching winter, Courtney and Garrett Sowle will be working on business improvements. In addition to formulating new beers, they will also be distilling more liquors. In the spring they will be adding whiskey, which they are currently aging, flavored vodka, tequila and rum as well as introducing Yard Sips, their own vodka soda drinks with different flavors.
While The Yard Brewing’s beer garden will be closed during the winter as they formulate new drinks for the spring, canned favorites can be found at local bars, restaurants and stores like the Wine Cellar. They will also begin selling at Iverson’s Piggly Wiggly on Friday, Oct. 4, where they will be giving out samples to celebrate Customer Appreciation Day.
In addition to preparing new drink offerings, The Yard Brewing is also working on developing an indoor taproom and pizza kitchen for the summer of 2025. Courtney added that they are working with Octono on regulations for the proposed taproom to continue offering a fun space for families to enjoy together.
As Courtney and Garrett gear up for a busy fall and winter brewing behind the scenes at The Yard Brewing, located at 136 Huron Ave., Oconto, they will continue to update The Yard Brewing’s Facebook page with exciting news and their website theyardbrewing.com with drink details.
