Allentown's HiJinx Brewing Company isn’t quite so micro anymore thanks to the opening of its newly expanded brewery at the Bridgeworks Enterprise Center.
The new facility features a 10-barrel (310 gallon) brewing system — boosting HiJinx's capacity tenfold — and a tasting room where customers can sample the brewery's beers and purchase 64-ounce growlers of their favorites.
Brewer Curt Keck started as a self-taught homebrewer in 1995 “to satisfy my passion for great beer” and then worked at local producers to learn the business. He met Chris Becker, another accomplished brewer, through the Lehigh Valley Homebrewers Club and the pair launched HiJinx in Keck's garage.
It was another fortuitous meeting, this time at a local brew festival with Anthony Durante, program manager for the Allentown Economic Development Corporation (AEDC), that brought HiJinx to Bridgeworks.
“After a few sips of their beers and talking to the guys, my gut told me this was something special,” recalls Durante. A couple of months later, while working with the founders of The Colony Meadery, another AEDC business incubator client, Durante crossed paths with Keck and Becker again.
“It turns out that everyone knows everyone else in the craft beverage industries,” says Durante. “Through Colony Meadery, we were able to reconnect with the HiJinx team and began working through the process of bringing them into the business incubation program.”
Accommodating a brewery at Bridgeworks required the installation of floor drains, bringing utility services into the space, building a bar for the tasting area and, of course, installing the brewing system.
The new HiJinx has space for a total of fifteen fermenters; the company aims to have its beers offered throughout Pennsylvania and additional northeastern states in the next several months.
For now, HiJinx products are available at Shangy's: The Beer Authority in Emmaus, and on tap at a number of bars in Pennsylvania. The tasting room is open most Fridays from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. and most Saturdays from noon – 4 p.m.
Source: Curt Keck, HiJinx Brewing Company; Anthony Durante, AEDC
Writer: Elise Vider