Lexington-based West Sixth Brewing has announced plans to expand into Louisville with West Sixth Nulu, a new brewery, barrel aging warehouse and taproom in the city's NuLu neighborhood. West Sixth Nulu is expected to open in early 2020.
“We couldn’t be more excited to expand West Sixth Brewing to Louisville,” said Ben Self, West Sixth co-founder, in announcing the new brewery. “We’ve been distributing our beer to Louisville for over seven years, and since day one the question we hear over and over again is ‘When can you bring the West Sixth Lexington experience to Louisville?’. I’m excited to announce that day is today.”
West Sixth Nulu will be located in the under-construction Nulu Marketplace on East Market St., a mixed-use development that will contain, upon completion, contain approximately 40,000 square feet of new retail, restaurants, offices and apartments surrounding a 5,000 square foot open air courtyard.
West Sixth Nulu will also include a 1,600-square foot private event space, a second story lounge and patio and a large beer garden. West Sixth Nulu will be located in a historic carriage house bordering the courtyard.
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“West Sixth has had an incredible reception from Louisville from Day 1,” said West Sixth co-founder Brady Barlow. “These days, it’s really unusual for a brewery to continue to grow in a city seven years after launching, but we’ve been able to do that because of great partnerships with our local distributor, River City Distributing, as well as the incredible bars, restaurants and retail stores that have supported us since West Sixth IPA first hit the shelves."
The brewery will contain a new experimental brewing system located on site, and will also develop some "uniquely-Louisville beers," said retail manager Jesse Brasher. West Sixth Nulu will also focus on bourbon barrel-aged beers.
“A good portion of our bourbon barrel aging will move to this location,” said Self. “We’re excited to feature some of our well-known barrel-aged beers like Snake Cake and Snakes in a Barrel, but also dive into collaborations with some of the fantastic Louisville distilleries, experiment with new recipes and offer customers a great sampling of the kind of beers we love to make.”
“We’ve partnered with amazing nonprofits and community groups inside Louisville like the Kentucky Waterways Alliance and Forecastle Foundation since the beginning of West Sixth’s distribution in the area,” said Barlow. “In addition, we’ve worked inside the neighborhood and Louisville area for years now, so it feels exciting to being able to take this next step alongside amazing businesses and partners that have supported us for so long.”
“To us, a space in Louisville really completes the story we are trying to tell about West Sixth,” said Kelly Hieronymus, West Sixth’s creative director. “We’re devoted to deep growth in Kentucky and great experiences with our beers and people. The reuse of this over 120 year-old carriage house space is inspiring. And we’re going to have a ton of fun with this project.”