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ELK RAPIDS - By the time spring rolls around, Short's Brewing Company will be pumping out bottles of beer in Elk Rapids.

Brewer Joe Short and his financial partner Scott Newman Bale have officially purchased a facility for brewing and packaging beer on the corner of Industrial Park Drive and US-31 in Elk Rapids.

Short's, nearing its fourth year in operation, is developing a strong reputation for beer in this state and across the country.

"We've got such great demand for our beer," Short said. "We're already doing pre-sales and getting emails from all over the country from people wanting to sell our beer."

Before now, besides selling from the brew pub in Bellaire, restaurants in this region and some downstate have sold Short's beer out of their tap. But people want more, and Short wants to give it to them.

The new facility will allow them to put out much higher quantities faster than they currently can.

"We plan to quadruple our capacity our first year in Elk Rapids," Short said.

The brewing will move from a seven-barrel system in Bellaire, to a 30-barrel system in Elk Rapids.

As of now, Short already has a standing order for 2,500 cases of bottled brew.

The first beers Short plans on bottling are the Bellaire Brown and Huma-Lupa-licious. Eventually he hopes to brew six to seven staple brews, and have as many seasonal brews rotating through.

Short doesn't think the additional production will change the beer. "The elements will stay the same in terms of the quality and integrity of the beer," he said.

The building in Elk Rapids is just a brewing and bottling facility and will have no retail ability right now. People can't just walk in and buy beer and there will be no food or drinks on tap.

Short said the building in Elk Rapids was perfect for what they wanted to do and was in a good location.

They won't have to do too much construction or remodeling on the new facility either; one of the main tasks will be re-pouring concrete with sloped drainage.

Thought some operations are moving, the brew pub in Bellaire won't be going anywhere. With more brewing happening in Elk Rapids, there will be room to open up and expand the kitchen in Bellaire. Brewers will make mostly small specialty batches in Bellaire, according to Short.

"By moving equipment, we'll gain more space. The design of the pub has outgrown itself," he said. "We'll increase the efficiency of our food service."

Apart from satisfying a high demand for their beer, Short's needed to expand and look for other options to make money.

"Last fall we decided we're really going to kill ourselves trying to make it work here," Short said. "We looked at other means of making money."

They looked around for a good location, and found an affordable option in Elk Rapids.

For now, the staff will remain the same size, but Short said they will be employing five to 10 additional people in the next two years.

Short's Brewing will celebrate its fourth anniversary this April and the hope is that they can be producing some brews out of Elk Rapids by the time that rolls around.

This week, new brewing equipment and barrels are moving to the facility, and over the next few months, brewers will be testing it out, putting the building together and getting ready to pump out beer and put it in bottles.

Short believes it is time to take the next step, now that the brewery has reached its "make it or break it" point.

"We're just getting more organized," Short said. "We're playing professional ball-taking it seriously and investing millions of dollars."

Hadley Robinson can be reached at hrobinson@michigannewspapers.com or by calling 231-533-8523.