Brewery hops to new site
Posted On May 27, 2011
Photo: Eliza Wiley Independent Record
Lewis & Clark Brewing Co. owner Max Pigman said he breathed a short sigh of relief as Mike Cote drove the forklift carrying a steel fermenting tank through the open garage door at the old Columbia Paint building just off busy Montana Avenue.
Pigman said the giant vat had to be placed on its side and the bottom of the forks scraped the floor just so it could fit through the 8-feet-high opening, but Cote gave him the first assurance that the move was working in their favor.
“Mike turned to me and said, ‘This sucker’s going in there!’ ” Pigman recalled.
It’s been two years in the making, but Lewis & Clark finally began its move to what will be the new site of its brewery and taproom on Thursday. The old space beneath the Brewhouse restaurant on Lyndale will soon be up for lease, though the old taproom will still be selling the company’s beer until the new operation can begin.