(Oklahoma City, OK) – COOP Ale Works will officially cut the ribbon on Tuesday, “030309,” pouring the start-up brewery’s first pints to the public. The beer will start flowing at the 51st Street Speakeasy two doors down from the brewery beginning at 2pm. COOP will have its official tasting room at the Speakeasy with several taps ready to go.
The arrangement allows COOP to brew styles bigger than 3.2% ABV, otherwise, as a brewpub, they would be far more limited under Oklahoma state law. Co-Founder, J.D. Merryweather notes this isn’t really the reason they named it, “CO-OP.” Rather, in general, they want to be recognized for their cooperative efforts while paying homage to the barrel/cask-making profession known as the “cooper.”
According to Merryweather, opening day has come after “3.5 years of planning and 7 months since the start of construction & equipment purchasing,” (the latter being a relatively short window to get things set up). Along the way, Co-Founder JD Merryweather and Co. have been keeping people in the loop on progress, mostly through Twitter (an impressive 500 followers before the grand opening).
The brewery will open with four beers: Native Amber, Zeppelin German Wheat, Horny Toad Lager, DNR Belgian-Style Golden Ale. Gran Sport Porter will follow this May around the time some COOP beers may begin to appear in bottles. In charge of brewing operations will be Chase Healey. Judging from his website, he may have some interesting stories to tell about Oklahoma if you stop in to see him.
More info should be available on the COOP Ale Works website as soon as it is up and running which could be as early as this week. Merryweather says he’ll put up a list of on-premise accounts where you can get the beer. For starters, OKC, Norman, and Tulsa will be getting their fill this week.
Oh, and if you are looking for directions to the Speakeasy, plug this into Google Maps: 1124 NW 51st Street Oklahoma City, OK 73118. For those who can’t make it, hit up the Speakeasy later or consider doing a brewery tour. Those will be held on Saturdays.
Best of luck, COOP. Not only is this a victory for OKC but a victory for small market beer lovers everywhere.
Good to hear of another Midwest brewery opening, especially in OK! I hope it thrives.
I am surprised they went with a logo that’s basically the same as AleSmith’s though.
I’ve been following COOP since last fall (late) and yesterday was a good day for local brew. We have several brew pubs around but to have a micro brew in our backyard is great. The lineup from COOP was awsome! Good job guys look forward to enjoying more.