With projects and upgrades all around central Indiana — including Big Woods Speedway, scheduled to open in April — the Big Woods family of brands is busy.
“My partners and I believe that a business is like a living organism, and you have to grow,” said founding partner Jeff McCabe. “If you’re not growing, you’re dying, so we’re committed to that.”
Big Woods’ partners bought Three Pints Brewing Company in Martinsville on Feb. 13, gaining the intellectual property, trademarks and brewing facility, so they can continue to brew Three Pints beers alongside Quaff ON! brands.
The Martinsville brewhouse about twice the size of the Quaff ON! facility on State Road 135 North and the brew system is only about a year old, McCabe said.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]“We need all the brewing capacity we can get, because we can sell as much beer as we can make,” McCabe said.
Big Woods had planned to expand production at the Quaff ON! Brewery north of Nashville on State Road 135 to meet constantly growing demand for its beers. Last summer, founding partner Ed Ryan said the Quaff ON! facility would add 10 more jobs.
The Three Pints acquisition means the company won’t have to expand production here as soon as anticipated. It would have taken at least a year to get the brewing system ordered and installed, McCabe said.
But the growth is not to the detriment of Brown County either, McCabe said. The Martinsville acquisition enables Quaff ON! to brew faster, sooner.
“If it’s a question of whether it’s good for Brown County or not, it is, because it helps our cash flow,” he said.
And he still expects the staff at the Quaff ON! brewery to continue to grow. The company is hiring at all of its locations in Brown County, as well as in Bloomington and for the new Speedway brewpub.
Nashville remains home for Big Woods and Quaff ON!, McCabe said.
The kitchen in the original Big Woods Brewery on Molly’s Lane underwent a complete renovation and reopened March 4.
The Orchard Hill Inn property, purchased last summer, has become the “Quaffice” — headquarters of Quaff ON!.
The Hard Truth Cabin next door to the inn — formerly the overnight rental Apple Cabin — will accommodate distributors and business partners when they visit Nashville, McCabe said.
Eventually, McCabe envisions building a facility there to barrel-age beer.
“Where we work is where we invest, and we’re investing everywhere that we work,” McCabe said. “We plan to keep growing, and we participate in the communities that we work in. It’s part of our philosophy.”
“Really, what we do from here — whether it’s in Martinsville or Bloomington or Nashville or Indianapolis — really depends on what the opportunity is for us, and what the business environment is,” McCabe said.
“We’re going to keep growing the business, so, we’ll go where it makes sense for us to go, while we continue to invest in our hometown.”
