When Marc Buttera launched O’so Brewing Company in 2007, the beer industry looked much different than it does today. Back then, there were more distributors and fewer breweries, making it easier to compete. But the landscape has since shifted — over the last decade, there’s been a massive increase in breweries nationwide and a major consolidation of distribution companies in Wisconsin.
“It means that every distributor has more and more names in their portfolio that they have to try to mention,” Buttera says. “The task is futile. It’s not their fault — it’s just what’s happening to the market.”
To counteract the trend, some breweries are starting to explore options like self-distribution or other creative measures to get noticed. That thinking is behind Buttera’s plan to open an O’so Brewing Company taproom next year in the first floor of The Marling apartment building on East Washington Avenue. Under Wisconsin law, breweries are allowed to have two taprooms — one at the brewery and one off site — that serve only beer.
“Because it’s an extension of our brewery, I want people to feel like they’re getting some of the brewery experience,” says Buttera, who plans to showcase some of O’so’s harder-to-find brews in the new facility. Design elements include tables and bartops made from 30-year-old pine purchased from Marling Lumber, the previous occupant of the site, and other reclaimed materials to give the space an “eclectic, farmhouse-industrial” vibe.
Buttera is proposing a 1,300-square-foot space would have about 20 taps and space for about 50 people. Outdoor seating could accommodate 38 more. The proposal still needs city approval, but Buttera says he’s had positive feedback from neighborhood listening sessions. He also predicts others could soon follow suit.
“Every brewery is going through the exact same thing,” Buttera says. “We are not going to be the last to do this.”
