Slovenian beer on the North Fork?
Well, the beer might itself might not be Slovenian, but Greenport Harbor Brewing Co. received the last of its fermenters shipped from overseas on Thursday. And they hope to be brewing in them soon.
John Liegey, co-owner of the brewery which launched in 2009, said on Thursday that now with all the equipment they need at their new Peconic facility — including well over a thousand kegs — he hopes to be brewing by the beginning of May.
It hasn’t been easy though. The company stands staunchly against the concept of contract brewing — paying other companies to brew their products — and has been unable to keep up with demand while they’ve been building out.
“We’ve basically been eating the money,” Mr. Liegey said.
Before long, they should be drinking some in. The new facility on Main Road will allow Greenport Harbor to eventually produce over 55,000 barrels of beer per year. Its current facility on Carpenter Street maxes out around 3,000. They’ll start out somewhere in between, producing about 10,000 barrels per year, Mr. Liegey said.
The Greenport brewery will remain open, the company has said. Mr. Liegey said Thursday that the company’s birthplace will allow head brewer D.J. Swanson to run smaller test batches before bringing the brews over to Peconic.
