two new craft breweries to open in louisville, new albany

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The craft brewing business is hopping.

Two local craft breweries — one in the Highlands in Louisville and the other in New Albany, Ind. — will soon open.

In January, it was mostly a construction zone. Today, Great Flood Brewing has been transformed into what will be one of the area’s newest brew houses along Bardstown Road.

“We are brewing now,” said Matt Fuller, one of the owners of Great Flood Brewing.

“Everything is going great,” he said. “They are turning out just like we want them. We are going to keep monitoring. We won’t open until we are sure the beer is ready and that should be in early April.”

The name “Great Flood Brewing” comes from the historic great flood of 1937 and the resilience of the city’s residents.

“It really made the city what it is today,” said Fuller, “so we are taking that view of the resurrection and the get-it-done attitude of the city and its residents.”

Pictures of the flood dominate the walls here.

Fuller and his two partners are all in their twenties. They are friends who went to U of L’s Business School so they feel their knowledge plus their passion for beer will result in a successful business.

“There are large beer-making facilities throughout the country,” said Zach Barnes, one of Fuller’s partners. “They have their market, but there is also a market for the craft beers and it is growing.”

In New Albany, on Grant Line Road, Richard Otey is hard at work building his own brew pub.

Once an electrical engineer, he too has always had a passion for making beer.

“One of my hobbies is brewing beer,” said Otey. “And I just truly love it. My wife and I have been trying to figure out for years just how we could start a brew pub, and we just decided to finally go for it.”

The Oteys and another partner hope to open Donum Dei, meaning “gift of God,” by Derby weekend.

About a half-dozen such craft breweries like Great Flood and Donum Dei are opening in the Kentuckiana area during the next several months.

Consumer tastes are changing, and there is a move to support local businesses so the owners of the new ventures believe there is room for everyone to have success.

“Indianapolis has gone through a phase of opening up 12 breweries up there, so there is plenty of room for growth around here,” said Otey.