Carolyn Fath
Ben Feifarek (left) and Ryan Browne will both brew at Working Draft, but plan to hire a head brewer, too.
The beer scene on Madison’s east side continues to become more active. The latest beer maker announcing plans to locate there is Working Draft Beer Company, which plans to take over the building currently occupied by RP’s Pasta at 1133 East Wilson St. The location is on the section of Wilson Street that is also part of the Capital City bike trail.
The brewery is the creation of Madison residents Ben Feifarek and Ryan Browne. Feifarek, 41, is the owner of Madison’s Wine and Hop Shop. Browne, 34, works there as homebrewing education coordinator.
“It’s every homebrewer’s dream to open a brewery at some point,” says Feifarek. Working Draft will join several other new breweries and taprooms that now call the east side home. Earlier this month the Parched Eagle opened its new taproom at 1444 East Washington Ave. BarleyPop Tap and Shop, a craft beer bar, also opened this year at 2045 Atwood Ave. They join small breweries One Barrel and Next Door, both on Atwood Avenue.
Feifarek sees this as beneficial. “There are always worries that there will be one too many, but I don’t think so. There’s a lot of housing going up in the area and it’s really the more the merrier.”
Feifarek’s plans are to open by the end of the year. The Marquette Neighborhood Association recently endorsed the project; the proposed brewery is expected to go before the city’s Plan Commission by mid-June.
Working Draft will make mostly in-house draughts. Feifarek plans to have 16 to 18 beers on tap (some will be guest taps and collaborations) and sell crowlers for takeout. Both Feifarek and Browne lean toward hoppy beers. Both will brew; however, they’ll also hire a head brewer. The goal is to install a new seven-barrel system and use a smaller one-barrel system for experiments. Feifarek hopes to eventually have enough capacity to sell select beers to other bars and restaurants.
The building is about 4,000 square feet. Roughly half will be the taproom, with a capacity of 100 persons. There will be a limited menu prepared in partnership with Underground Meats.
Feifarek and Browne intend to keep working at the Wine and Hop Shop. “We hope we’ll create some crossover with people who come to the shop and those who will come to the brewery,” he says. “We like it when people bring their homebrew to the shop and ask us what we think. We want to bring that sense of community to our new space too.”
