SHELBY — The Black Fork Brewing family was met with a warm welcome this month as it opened a new craft brewery at 38 Mansfield Ave.
Father and son Gary and Andy King said at their ribbon cutting on Friday that they want the brewery to be a community gathering space.
“It hurts my heart when we lose community, when people don’t have a place to go, so we wanted to recreate that,” brewmaster Andy King said. “Come here, hang out — talk to people if you want, don’t talk to people if you don’t want — everyone’s welcome here.”
The King family started talking about a brewery more than a year ago after Andy King had begun brewing as a hobby.
“My son is also an engineer, so he knows the ins and outs of all the equipment,” Gary said. “It’s unbelievable to get to work with your son in an application like this.
“His wife Lisa is taking care of all the merchandise and social media outlets, so it’s really great working with everyone.”
The brewery got its name “Black Fork” from familial connections to the river. Beth King, Gary’s wife and Andy’s mom, grew up on Black Fork Street in Shelby.
When Gary and Beth raised their sons east of Shelby in Ganges, Gary King said the boys also played in the shallow waters of the river. Andy’s younger brother Brad currently lives in North Carolina with his family, but King said they’re talking about moving home to Richland County.
“I hope we can have Andy running the manufacturing and the beer part and Brad running the business and retail end,” Gary said. “It’s truly going to be amazing having everybody together.”
Brewery will change beers on tap seasonally
Though the father admitted he’s not usually a fan of darker beers, his favorite beer currently on tap surprised him.
“That Belgian Quad turned out amazing,” Gary said. “That’s been the fun part about this adventure is seeing people’s eyes light up when they try something new.”
King said it takes about three weeks for a batch to be ready to serve.
“There’s no replacement for time when you’re trying to make quality beer,” he said.
King said the bartenders at Black Fork Brewery usually know what to recommend based on the commercial beers a customer normally drinks. Andy also said he would be happy to take customers on tours of the brewhouse.
“You can come back here, see the fermenters and the boil kettles,” he said. “We’re an open book, just super passionate to share craft beers with our hometown.”
The brewmaster said his favorite beer on tap is the “Kingling” premium American lager.
“I had some ulterior motives with that one,” he laughed. “My dad’s a Yuengling drinker, so I used the same flavors in that beer and added a little more flavor to make our beer.”
For non-beer drinking customers, Black Fork Brewery offers hard ciders, wine and some liquor. Customers can also place orders for Mama’s Pizza, next door to the brewery, while enjoying their drinks.
“Mama’s Pizza will be moving into this space with us and they’ll have their own entrance,” Gary King said. “So their current building will be demolished.
“We’ll work with them directly, people can place an order at a kiosk inside and they’ll bring it right to your table.”
‘Brew Crew’ already has 80 mugs sold
The brewery also has shaded patio seating. King said the business is selling brew crew memberships for $100 a year.
“We think we’ll limit it to 100 mugs, and we’ve got about 80 sold already,” he said. “With a smaller number, we can have brew crew events and thank everyone for supporting us.”
Jessica Gribben, economic development manager for the City of Shelby, said Gary King hoped to open a brewery somewhere “inconspicuous.”
“Obviously, you can see we’re right off a main road here, but that was the one change of plans they had,” Gribben said.
“The King family vision was to build a place where the community could gather, where families could come together, learn about beer, and the ins and outs of craft brewing.
“As you can see, they have totally knocked it out of the park for the community gathering place.”
The current beers on tap include a premium “Kingling” American lager, Kolsch, IPA Hazy, Festbeir, Belgian quad, IPA West Coast, American wheat, red Irish ale, golden ale and a porter.
Customers can also order a beer flight of four different samples for $10.
The brewery is open from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 2 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. It is located at 38 Mansfield Ave.
The brewery is on Facebook, Instagram and online at blackforkbrewing.com. Patrons can also contact the brewery at 567-224-8630 or blackforkbrewing@gmail.com.