Iron Hill Brewery teases its first full-scale production facility, feeding its 20 locations and more by 2020

Iron Hill Brewery’s “20 by 20” initiative is an impressive endeavor — to have 20 operating locations by the close of 2020. Iron Hill Brewery and Restaurant announced No. 18 in July, signing a lease in the Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta. A few months earlier, No. 17 was announced in Newtown, Pa., hopefully opening in the spring of 2020.

Right now, Iron Hill has 16 locations — from Pennsylvania to Delaware and New Jersey to South Carolina. What’s cool about each Iron Hill location is that every brewery restaurant has its own scratch kitchen and small brewery, allowing individual chefs and brewers the creativity to pair fresh ingredients with localized brewskis brewed on site. I love that idea, but now comes a new mothership in Exon, Pa, that’s going to help take some load off of those locations.

Just this week Iron Hill Brewery and Restaurant announced it has signed a lease for its first full-scale production brewery in Exton, with an expected opening of summer 2020. This will be location No. 19. Located at The Shops on Eagleview Boulevard (240 Eagleview Boulevard, Exton), the facility is being dubbed the Iron Hill Brewery and Taphouse.

This Taphouse is different from Iron’s Hill’s typical concepts, which is usually a full restaurant and in-house brewery often between 7,500 and 9,000 sq ft. This is much larger with the brewery alone being 10,000 sq ft. The Taphouse will be the new site for canning, the brew site for all Iron’s Hill’s signature beers (freeing up the individual locations to be more creative with their brewing) and feature an innovative test kitchen that will inform new menu items for the existing individual locations.

This bigger brewing location (inital capacity of 6,000 bbls with the ability to expand to 20,000 bbls) is definitely aimed at increasing the company’s brewing capacity so it can continue to expand via its 20 by 20 locations goal. From the press release:

“Iron Hill Brewery and Taphouse is the next logical step in our expansion efforts to make sure we are staying true to our commitment of serving the freshest beer, maintaining our high standards and encouraging our brewers to experiment all the while giving our customers even more reason to keep coming back to their favorite Iron Hill,” said Kim Boerema, CEO of Iron Hill Brewery and Restaurant. “We are very excited to enter into this new venture and we look forward to continuing to serve our loyal fanbase in this new capacity.”

The deets (from the press release)

The site, which boasts more than 18,000 sq ft, will house a 10,000-sq-ft brewery while the taproom will occupy 4,500-sq-ft and share the training room for use as a private dining room with approximately 150 seats. In keeping with Iron Hill’s philosophy of offering fresh and innovative items directly from the tap to the table, Iron Hill’s newest concept will offer casual, elevated pub fare, with a continued focus on craft beer production and pairings.

“Iron Hill Brewery & Taphouse is the next logical step in our expansion efforts to make sure we are staying true to our commitment of serving the freshest beer, maintaining our high standards and encouraging our brewers to experiment all the while giving our customers even more reason to keep coming back to their favorite Iron Hill,” said Kim Boerema, CEO of Iron Hill Brewery and Restaurant. “We are very excited to enter into this new venture and we look forward to continuing to serve our loyal fanbase in this new capacity.”

Iron Hill will once again partner with Boulder, Colo.-based Bray Architecture to design the brewery and taphouse to reflect the modern color-palate of their newest locations. Iron Hill Brewery and Taphouse will be joining a number of businesses developed by Eli Kahn Development Corp. and J. Loew and Associates, both of Malvern, Pa., at The Shops on Eagleview Boulevard.

“We are absolutely delighted to have Iron Hill Brewery and Restaurant anchor the redevelopment of the space at The Shops on Eagleview Boulevard,” said developer Eli Kahn. “This will help the transformation of this center into a premier destination for both dining and shopping in Chester County.”