Knuth Brewing Company – more than a brewery, it’s a destination

Rich Palzewic

Staff

May 5, 2025

RIPON – Just a couple of months after celebrating one year in its new building in Ripon, Knuth Brewing Company recently celebrated another milestone – 10 years in business.

“It’s been quite the journey,” Owner David Knuth said. “Last year was like a rocket ship – we were so busy… Not only is our beer production growing, but now with our restaurant, we can seat a lot more people.”

Knuth said the remodeled Hops Event Center in the facility’s upstairs has also been a bit hit.

“It can seat more than 300 guests,” he said. “This year, we’re going to do twice as many weddings as we did last year. Now we can do weddings, corporate parties, Christmas parties, celebration of life events, funerals, graduation parties, family reunions, etc.”

As for its distribution network, Knuth said the brewery is available in about 160 retail outlets.

“That includes grocery stores, liquor stores, bars and restaurants that are selling our beer,” he said. “We’re still selling all of our own stuff – we self-distribute everything, so we handle all deliveries and sales on that, so that keeps us busy. We’re busy, but I can’t complain.”

Recent recognition

Knuth said the building, which is now home to the brewery, was named the co-winner for the Best Total Building Transformation at the 34th annual Wisconsin Main Street Awards banquet in Menomonie. 

Located at 230 Watson St. in downtown Ripon, Knuth said the building was transformed throughout 2023 into a combination brewery, restaurant and event venue.

“The building really turned out well,” he said. “We got a lot of the wood from an old Amish sawmill, so there is a lot of shiplap and pine floors upstairs in our event space. It’s cool because it’s a new building, but we were able to save a lot of the historical look of it.” 

Knuth said they were even able to expose some of the old fieldstone walls.

“It’s a big building, but I feel like it still has some character to it,” he said.

Knuth said if folks saw the brewery space across the street before moving into the new building, “you would be amazed at what it’s turned into.”

“The old brewery was a third of the size – it was kind of like Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory,” he laughed. “We had our bottling room in the basement, and then our brewhouse was upstairs. We’d have to haul malt upstairs and run kegs through the basement trying to get them outside.”

With the new setup, Knuth said all the brewing is on one level.

“It’s a nice, big open space with floor drains,” he said. “The system itself we got from Quality Tank Solutions – a Wisconsin manufacturing company. We probably have four times the capability of output we had across the street. That was the main driver in making the move – having more brewing space.”

Knuth said the seating capacity also increased by about 50%.

“In addition, we also have an outside biergarten, which we didn’t have before, so if you include that, it’s almost double (the size),” he said.

Knuth said he also had a little fun with the remodel.

“We have a little four-hole putting green outside,” he said. “I found this company in Brown Deer, and they came and put the putting green in for us. For the Masters (golf tournament) a couple of weeks ago, we had the ‘Brew-Masters.’ It was a putting contest, and the winner received an old vintage, plaid-looking sport coat we put our patch on. We had a jacket ceremony just like at the Masters – it was a great time.”

Renovation details

Craig Tebon, the executive director of Ripon Main Street Inc., said the building at 230 Watson St. had been vacant for about 15 years before the brewery opened in it early last year.

Tebon said a partnership between Knuth, Accurate Controls, Pollesch Construction, the City of Ripon, Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. and Ripon Main Street Inc. combined to make the $2.4 million project happen.

“There was a development project called Boca Grande Capital,” he said. “Boca had purchased about 18 storefronts, and two of those storefronts – Knuth Brewing Company and the Mapes Hotel – were Boca projects. Well, that whole thing imploded. This is going back starting in 2006 and then imploding by probably 2014.”

Over time, Tebon said the City of Ripon won the lawsuit and got half the buildings back.

“The buildings were basically worthless,” he said. “They were damaged, not beyond repair, but certainly the average person couldn’t have undertaken that kind of cleanup and restoration. Dave’s building was the last building of the Boca project to be cleaned up and transitioned. The building is roughly 10,000 square feet on the first floor and about 7,000 square feet on the second floor.”

Tebon said the building was filled with mold and had signs of vandalism.

“It was really decrepit, but the value of the structure was still there,” he said. “We don’t have a big enough community to warrant new construction, especially at the escalating construction costs we’ve been blessed with for the last five years or so. It was (a matter of) convincing the city council and city staff the building had value – more value than tearing it down for a parking lot. It took a little bit of initiative, but we were able to convince them to keep it.”

From there, Tebon said the Rogers family bought the property from the city.

“The Rogers family cleaned it up and then transitioned it to Dave,” he said. “With assistance from a lot of different partners and people, this building is now a contributing building in our historic district and brings people from all over.”

Tebon said the historic building “is a destination for people within about a 50-mile radius.”

“We get a lot of traffic from Appleton, Oshkosh and Fond du Lac,” he said. “With the event center on the second floor, that’s now bringing in visitors from all over, 52 weekends a year. That means 10,000 to 15,000 visitors into the downtown every year – extra visitors we didn’t have before, so that’s a bonus.”

10 years serving up brews in Ripon

Knuth said the brewery had a 10th anniversary party in mid-April to celebrate, with a couple of bands performing – “fun was had by all that day.”

“When we first started 10 years ago, I was so nervous and had no idea what I was doing,” Knuth laughed. “I was just hopeful I didn’t have to sell my house. Our goal was to build our own thing. It’s growing into a lot more than that, but it’s hard to predict those things when you first start.”

And, Knuth said there is room for more growth.

“We’re looking to make it more of a destination for people – whether you’re coming to eat, take in a brewery tour or have an event or wedding here,” he said. “On the distribution side, we have a lot of room to grow. We’re looking to get more of our beer out to the market and help as many bars and restaurants, grocery stores or independent liquor stores with their beer needs as we can.”

Knuth said the brewery is “still in pretty strong growth mode.”

“As far as another building project, we’re pretty good for right now,” he said.

For more on Knuth Brewing Company, visit knuthbrewingcompany.com or find it on Facebook.