Robin Shepard
Peter Gentry amid the renovations at One Barrel's Atwood Avenue location.
Madison’s One Barrel Brewing Company had a rocky road through the COVID-19 restrictions. Its site in the heart of Schenk’s Corners was inconvenient for takeout sales and difficult for patio seating, and in its quest to open a patio the business ran into more problems with state and local alcohol license rules. At one point last fall, owner Peter Gentry even considered selling. But he opted instead to renovate and expand operations at the 2001 Atwood Ave. location, and he plans to reopen at the end of July. Gentry is even looking to expand the business further in the Madison area.
One Barrel Brewing opened in 2012 as Madison’s first nano-brewery, a description given to the smallest of microbrewers. From the beginning it has used a one-barrel brewing system in the back of the bar to make unique, limited releases. Initially its beers were available only in the taproom, but as their popularity grew, Gentry turned to Octopi Brewing in Waunakee to make his year-round beers (and a handful of seasonals) that are sold to bars and package liquor stores.
The building at the corner of Atwood Avenue and Winnebago Street dates back to the early 1900s; in the early years it was a neighborhood grocery store. When One Barrel opened nine years ago, Gentry did it on a shoestring budget with less than $10,000 in brewing equipment. He and his father, Jim, did much of the initial interior remodeling and together they built the main wooden bar.
In the remodel, Gentry is keeping that old building feel with its brick walls and dark wood accents. He says that’s what neighborhood drinkers like, and it’s an atmosphere that appeals to beer travelers and brewery explorers, too.
Gentry asked a local cabinet maker to create a back-bar made from Wisconsin walnut that matches the main bar he built with his father. It will have a large mirror, shelving for the brewery’s mug club mugs, and expanded space for tap lines. Carpenters are also installing a large garage door-type front window that can be opened on nice days to view Schenk’s Corners. More interior lighting will brighten the bar area, and Gentry is adding a few beer-related neon signs.
Robin Shepard
Owner Peter Gentry is finding mischievous handwritten notes from patrons stuffed into holes in the mortar.
During the renovations, Gentry has been finding scraps of paper stuffed into cracks in the mortar of the brick walls, mostly hidden from sight until the current repairs. The handwritten messages call attention to favorite beers, offer to buy a beer for friends, or thank bartenders by name. Perhaps these little time capsules were intended to prompt a smile on the face of whoever found them.
The high-top tables have been turned into shorter dining tables, which makes sense because the food menu is expanding from the fairly limited previous options of Fraboni’s pizzas and other snacks. Gentry purchased a food trailer that will be used for preparing Kansas City style-barbecue and side dishes to go with it: cornbread, beans, and macaroni and cheese. The 16-foot trailer will park at the back of the building, even though food orders will be taken at the bar by bartenders (there will be no table service). “Staffing is so challenging right now that we feel we can better serve customers this way,” Gentry says, noting that this is becoming commonplace given the current shortage of waitstaff.
Gentry plans to work with local farmers to supply beef, pork and chicken for the barbecue. Since opening, Gentry has given his spent brewer’s grains to farmers for animal feed, and those relationships provide a direct farmer-to-brewpub connection.
Gentry is investing about $150,000 in renovations and the food trailer. He received a Dane Buy Local grant from Dane County and a low interest Emergency Economic Injury Disaster loan from the Small Business Administration. The building’s landlord also gave Gentry a break on rent through 2021 (while Gentry pays for the renovations), all of which is helping One Barrel make it through the crisis.
The Madison Plan Commission must still approve using the food trailer. That review is expected on July 27, and as soon as he receives approval Gentry plans to re-open.
Right now, Gentry is looking for a brewer; former brewer Peter Schroder was part of a group that tried to buy the Atwood location last fall and he has not returned to the brewhouse. Steve Doty will come on as general manager of the Atwood site. Doty has previously worked at The Old Fashioned and Salvatore’s Tomato Pies.
Small-batch brewing is expected to remain as it has been, with in-house brewing (both at the Atwood site and the brewery’s Door County branch in Egg Harbor) continuing to focus on limited releases and one-offs. “With the volume of unique beers that we can get from our system, we really don’t need much more than what we have,” says Gentry.
Octopi Brewing will continue making beers for distribution in cans and kegs, but Gentry has always wanted to open his own production brewery and says he is chasing that dream again. He hopes to open a 30-barrel brewhouse in the Madison area within two years. The facility would keg and can the brewery’s flagship beers The Commuter kölsch and Penguin Pale Ale as well as seasonal brews. The brewhouse would also feature a family-friendly taproom, outdoor seating, a kitchen, and space for hosting events and activities. Gentry hasn’t found a location yet; however, he is evaluating sites in Fitchburg and McFarland and on Madison’s south side.
