ST. CLAIR

Brothers uncapping new brewery by summer

Nicole Hayden
PortHuron

A new brewery is slated to pop up in St. Clair by Memorial Day weekend.

Brothers Kris and Kevin Paul, both originally from St. Clair, are using a storefront within the Riverview Plaza, behind Ace Hardware, 201 N. Riverside Drive, to market their War Water Brewery beers.

A growler sits on a table Thursday, March 26, 2015 at War Water Brewery in St. Clair. The temporary location has been set up at 201 N. Riverside Ave., Suite C-12, until a location for a larger commercial brewing operation is established.

"This space is basically a glorified office," Kris Paul, War Water Brewery co-owner said. "We are in the works to buy a large production facility to produce wholesale beer and to open a larger taproom connected to the facility."

Paul says they expect to finalize the purchase of the facility within 60 days. The production facility and taproom are expected to open July 1, 2016.

Paul estimates they will produce 5,000 to 10,000 barrels of beer in the first year and eventually work their way up to distributing 60,000 barrels. He estimated that once the production facility is running they will employ around 25 full-time or 45 part-time employees.

Sketches of beer names and logos on a chalk board Thursday, March 26, 2015 at War Water Brewery in St. Clair. The temporary location has been set up at 201 N. Riverside Ave., Suite C-12, until a location for a larger commercial brewing operation is established.

But in the meantime, the Paul brothers will be inviting people to host events, try their beer and hang out at the Riverview Plaza location. Basically it will function as a small brewery.

"We won't be open the typical five days a week, 12 hours a day," Paul said. "But we will put out a social media blast to let people know when we are open."

While the temporary War Water Brewery will not serve food, customers are allowed to bring their own food in or order food to be delivered to the brewery.

Paul said his parents owned Paul and Susan's Hair Salon 30 years ago, which was located in the same space the temporary brewery is in now.

Kris Paul poses with brewing equipment Thursday, March 26, 2015 at War Water Brewery in St. Clair. The temporary location has been set up at 201 N. Riverside Ave., Suite C-12, until a location for a larger commercial brewing operation is established.

"We wanted to reinvest in our community and create an anchor business," Paul said. "An entire brewery corridor is being created over here. One brewery would struggle, but a lot of them will attract tourists to come for the weekend."

Kris lives in St. Clair. His brother and co-owner, Kevin, lives in Indianapolis, Indiana.

"In 2007, we opened Brockway Public House in Indiana," Paul said. "It is an Irish Industrial Pub and Kevin's (late) wife ran it. We still have it. But in 2012 we opened Danny Boy Beer Works on the north side of Indiana."

Paul said they soon started think of how they could bring the brewery love to their hometown.

"We wanted to create a larger production facility to produce the Danny Boy Beer label, the new War Water Brewery label and other labels for wholesale as well," Paul said. "Bringing something back to St. Clair was important to us. This is really about two brothers investing back into their home."

A temporary location for War Water Brewery has been set up at 201 N. Riverside Ave., Suite C-12, until a location for a larger commercial brewing operation is established.

War Water Brewery has an industrial feel with a wood bar and tables that Paul built himself.

"We are going to be much bigger than the small brewery people will see when they come to this location," Paul said. "But making beer is social, we want the whole process to be social, so we want people to be able to come in and try the beer and see how we develop into something larger."

Contact Nicole Hayden at (810) 989-6279 or nhayden@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @NicoleHayden_TH.