After more than six years in the making, Renaissance Brewing Co. — Tulsa’s first built-from-the-ground-up microbrewery — will open to the public Thursday.
Renaissance Brewing Co. sits at 1147 S. Lewis Ave., just a half-block from 11th Street (aka Route 66).
The brewery constructed its building in a style from the 1920s and ’30s. Renaissance will be open from 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.
Brewery founder Glenn Hall talked to the Tulsa World newspaper about the long-in-coming opening:
“People ask all the time why it has taken us so long, we have had beers out in the market for a year, thanks to brewing at Dead Armadillo. It has taken so long because no one really builds from the ground up — it takes a lot longer than most people realize, especially if you haven’t done it before,” Hall said. […]
“When we started this process, there were no commercial-zoned breweries in Tulsa or in the state of Oklahoma. So there were no zoning areas for breweries except for industrial areas, so we were the first ones to challenge the zoning laws and so that was really difficult,” Hall said. “It took three planning commission meetings and three city council meetings to get the approval to be able to have a multi-use development here and to have a brewery and a taproom and, eventually, an apartment upstairs and have some space for special events.
“It was difficult to get that through the process; now, it is a little bit easier for everybody coming behind us. That took over a year, all of 2014, then it took nine months of approvals through the permitting office to get the permits to start building in 2015.”
Renaissance is named after the Tulsa neighborhood for which it is located.
The Tulsa World also produced this video about the microbrewery:
For now, Renaissance offers a Black Gold stout, a Gamma Ray IPA, an Indian wheat and Renaissance Gold golden ale beers, and a sorghum beer is in the works.
(Screen-capture image of Renaissance Brewing Co. building from Tulsa World video)