Johnson Drive is getting its fourth microbrewery in four months.
Servaes Brewing Company, at 10921 Johnson Drive in downtown Shawnee, is expected to open in the spring or early summer of 2019. Owner Courtney Servaes said she has been home-brewing for about five years, so she decided to take it public.
“Opening a brewery is everyone’s dream as a home brewer,” Servaes said. “So, after five years of brewing, my wife and I decided to take that leap.”
She and her wife, Brandi Servaes, expect to be open for business on limited hours for the first couple of years, mostly brewing in the evenings and serving select craft beers in the small taproom on Fridays and Saturdays.
The couple settled on downtown Shawnee for the microbrewery location because it was along the route of their home on the west side of the city to Servaes’s work in Overland Park. They also liked the area and found the Shawnee staff as “super welcoming and open and flexible and encouraging to work with.”
The plan for now is to have three or four beers on tap, as well as three different types of canned beers to take out. They anticipate producing roughly 400 barrels a year.
“I get bored really easily, so we’ll be brewing a lot of different things, none of which will be boring,” Servaes said, adding that she plans to brew sours, adjunct stouts, india pale ales and barrel-aged beers.
As far as atmosphere of the taproom, Servaes said the taproom will be more intimate, with less than 3,000 square feet of space, to make room for brewing.
“We’re hoping to keep things very open and clean,” she said, adding that they’ll create a family-friendly environment with things like board games. “It’s going to take my entire family to make the operation work and to make it successful.”
The brewery will certainly be a family operation. Courtney Servaes will do the actual brewing and Brandi Servaes will handle the front end of the business. Even their 12-year-old son, Aaron Porter, will take part in the family business by brewing his own soda pop. The couple also have an 8-month-old son, Dylan Servaes.
To accommodate state law requiring 30 percent of revenue to come from food sales, Servaes plans to work with a food truck on site, with servers coming inside to take orders.
“We’re looking forward to being able to open up,” Servaes said. “There’s several other cool little breweries I think planning on opening up on Johnson Drive, so sounds it hopefully will be kind of a cool place to come and enjoy an afternoon of drinking beer and hanging out.”
Servaes Brewing Company joins Transport Brewery just down the street, as well as Sandhills Brewing Company and Rockcreek Brewing Company, as the newest microbrewery to establish in northeast Johnson County.
