Middle West Spirits LLC founders Ryan Lang, left, and Brady Konya plan to more than double the size of their Courtland Avenue plant.
Central Ohio’s first microdistillery is getting a little less micro.
Middle West Spirits LLC plans to more than double the size of its 1230 Courtland Ave. plant, an expansion that will double the capacity of the almost 2-year-old spirits maker.
“Demand for our artisan Oyo products has grown so quickly we’ve outgrown our current space in less than 18 months,” co-owner Brady Konya said in a press release. “Currently we distill, bottle and ship our spirits in a facility that also includes office space and a retail area. We really need 8,000 to 9,000 square feet to meet that growing demand.”
Konya and Ryan Lang opened Middle West in 2010.
Construction is scheduled to start March 1, adding 4,200 square feet to the existing 3,200-square-foot facility. The added space will allow the addition of new distilling equipment and create more room for on-site storage.
The focus will be on more production of brown liquors like whiskey. The Oyo brand lineup includes Vodka, Honey Vanilla Bean Vodka, Whiskey and Stone Fruit Vodka, and is sold in Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Washington D.C. Expansion into Indiana and Florida is expected this summer.
Konya said the expansion is necessary to improve the economies of scale for the business, which he said is squeezed by high state and federal taxes. Middle West has been an advocate of several legislative changes to make the microdistilling business more profitable, including Ohio House Bill 243 that reduced restrictions on the nascent industry and freed up producers to provide samples. The current target is the federal excise tax. House Resolution 777, co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Columbus), would bring taxes on microdistilleries in line with those on wineries and microbreweries.
“Highly regressive tax structures at both the state and federal levels make it incredibly difficult to produce and distribute spirits locally and still make a profit,” Konya said. “The federal excise tax for distilleries is (17 times) that of a microbrewery or small winery — which also enjoy graduated tax schedules based on production volume. The tax we pay on each bottle is (four times) the cost to produce the product itself and exceeds the entire cost of overhead to run and operate the company.”
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