BEAUMONT, Texas — The taps will be flowing again at a downtown Beaumont brewery when the Neches Brewing Company comes to Beaumont.
The Port Neches brewery will be setting up shop in the home of the former Pour Brothers Brewery in the 500 block of Wall St in downtown Beaumont.
The announcement came in a June 2, 2023, Facebook post announcing the Neches Brewing Company owners would be getting the keys to the building that day.
Neches Brewing Company first opened in 2016. Now, they're planning to use this newly-purchased space to expand operations and begin brewing for distribution according to the Facebook post.
For now, the space will be just for manufacturing, but they will be able to more than triple their production that could take their beer from the bar, to the grocery store.
"For us to expand into this building, it allows us to get some beer out for distribution," said Owner of Neches Brewing Company, Tyler Blount.
This building is a massive upgrade compared to their primary location.
"It's a 15 barrel brewhouse, 5 times the size that we have at our current location," Blount said. "This will allow us to finally get out to all the bars and restaurants, and grocery stores and liquor stores."
Another business venture will also operate under the same roof.
Matthew Crutchfield is the founder of the Grocery Project. He will use the other half of the building to operate an online food and catering service.
"There's a lot of stuff we're planning to do, so we're going to go with a couple of them at first and see what works the best for us," he said.
When asked if this location will be open for the public to grab a cold one, Blount says only time will tell.
"We're just strictly going to manufacture and distribute out of and maybe at some point that could become a possibility," he said.
For an aspiring entrepreneur, growth is always a good sign.
"I kind of get chill bumps because it's so crazy," Blount said.
For loyal customers, growth means -- more beer.
"The taste is, refreshing," said customer Josh Franks.
Blount says they still need to go through the permitting process in Beaumont. His big goal to have the new operation setup by the end of 2023.
Pour Brothers announced in December 2022 that it would be closing for good at the end of January 2023.
Customers and the community had rallied around the popular spot hoping to keep it open.
The brewery was expected to close in early 2022 when the owners cited struggles brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and a decrease in customers.
The brewery had to shut down for five months in 2020. Once the brewery reopened, owners were forced to adjust to only offering to-go beers.
For a while, the brewery was only bringing in about half the revenue per week it needed to remain financially stable.
Following the January 2022 announcement, the Beaumont community showed an "outpouring of support." Loyal brewery customers swarmed the business the day the announcement was made to pick up last-minute cases.
A GoFundMe was started in an attempt to save the brewery and to help it obtain a brewpub license. By January 30, 2022, the GoFundMe had raised more than $10,000, and in total raised more than $21,000.
The money raised from the GoFundMe and other funds allowed owners to make changes to the business. This allowed the Pour Brothers Brewery to reopen and continue serving the Southeast Texas community for a while.
"Unfortunately, these changes have not brought about sufficient increases in sales to keep the brewery running and we will be closing in six weeks, at the end of January," owners said in a Facebook post.
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This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.