By Lyndy berryhill

The Natchez Democrat

NATCHEZ — The Natchez Brewing Company is making a beer run — or move —to a larger building where it plans to increase its production by 10 times.

“We can’t make enough beer right now to sustain demand,” said Lisa Miller, who co-owns and operates the company with her husband, Pat.

The nearly 3-year-old brewing company is moving from its Franklin Street location into a larger warehouse, located at the corner of High and Canal streets to keep up with sales.

The couple is selling most of their current brewing system, which includes five 100-gallon fermenting vats. When they start brewing at the new location in January, they will be using six 1,000-gallon vats.

The new location will continue to sell the brewing company’s merchandise. Tours of the new brew house will also be available.

The Millers moved to Vidalia in 2012 after living in Asheville, N.C., which Miller said is a known craft beer haven.

“It’s a huge beer city,” she said.

When her husband started home-brewing his own beer, the couple had the idea to start a business near his hometown.

With the exception of Lazy Magnolia, which was established in 2003, the vast majority of in-state breweries started filling beer pitchers after 2012 because of a craft-beer bill signed into law that year.

Once it was legal to make beer with more than 5 percent alcohol, manufacture it and sell it outside the state, the industry grew. Brewers in Mississippi produced more than 18,000 barrels of beer in 2013, a 25 percent increase from the year before, according to the Mississippi Brewers Guild’s website.

Miller said Natchez Brewing was the only other craft beer brewer in the area competing with Lazy Magnolia Brewery when they opened. Currently, there are more than 13 established Mississippi brewing companies.

The closest Mississippi breweries to Natchez are more than 100 miles away on the Gulf Coast.

Miller said Natchez Brewing hopes to branch out to larger markets in New Orleans and Baton Rouge as well as Tennessee.

Natchez–Adams County Chamber of Commerce President Debbie Hudson said she is glad to see young professionals like the Millers succeed in business.

“I’m glad that they’ve had growth,” Hudson said. “We want to keep that going,”

Hudson said in a small town, having a brewery, a distillery and a winery makes the community more interesting to prospective entrepreneurs. She said it is also a great way to attract tourists to the area.

Natchez is the smallest city in the United States to have all three, Hudson said. Charboneau Distillery has been distributing rum since 2014, and Old South Winery has been labeling red and whites since the late 1970s.

“That makes Natchez unique,” Hudson said. “It helps with tourism to have all of those options.”