Tucson’s Dragoon Brewing Co. is roughly doubling its brewing capacity to meet demand for its beers and to expand statewide.
Dragoon has gutted its small original taproom at 1859 W. Grant Road to make room for two new, 15-barrel brewing vessels, which will eventually replace the company’s 15-barrel setup, said Tristan White, a co-founder and general manager of Dragoon.
The expansion project, expected to be completed by mid-August, will boost Dragoon’s capacity to about 20,000 31-gallon barrels annually, White said.
Dragoon won’t need all that new capacity right away, but in the meantime the larger setup will will allow Dragoon to brew fewer, larger batches each week, he said.
The brewing expansion, which follows an expansion of the brewery’s canning line last year, will help Dragoon keep up with increased demand for its beers and expand to more Arizona markets, White said.
Besides offering an array of draft beers at its taproom and brewery, Dragoon cans and sells its flagship Dragoon IPA and Stronghold Session Ale through distributors at retail outlets in the Tucson, Phoenix and Flagstaff markets.
The company soon plans to expand its distribution to Cochise County — home to the Dragoon Mountains and the small community of Dragoon — as well as Greenlee and Graham counties.
Dragoon will move into other Arizona markets when and where it makes sense, White said.
“We’re intentional in how we grow, so we want to make sure we take care of the markets we’re in now,” he said.
