Downtown Mesa is getting a second microbrewery.
Oro Brewing Company, a nanobrewery and taproom, will open later this year in Arizona’s third-largest city, according to co-owner Chuck Wennerlund.
The 3,000-square-foot building at 210 W. Main Street (on the north side of Main, just west of Robson) has been home to numerous ventures in recent years, including a dance studio, a karate school, an academic academy, and a seamstress.
The adobe-and-plaster structure was built in 1929.
Oro Brewing will have a 3-barrel brewing system capable of producing about seven kegs of beer at a time. Wennerlund plans to brew double batches about once a week.
A Michigan native, Wennerlund has lived in Phoenix since the 1990s. He’s a home brewer – his personal beer preferences run to porters and stouts – but has no professional experience.
‘‘When it comes to the food and beverage industry, my experience is 30 years as a passionate consumer,’’ he laughs.
Oro, which means ‘‘gold’’ in Spanish, is still in the permitting stage, and Wennerlund hopes to start work on the plumbing and drains soon.
Because of the numerous delays typically associated with new breweries, he’s hesitant even to estimate an opening date.
‘‘Everyone’s first question is, ‘When are you going to open?’’’ he says. ‘‘I just tell them. ‘By the end of 2016.’’’
In 2012, Desert Eagle Brewing became the first brewery to open in downtown Mesa. It’s located about a block east of Oro.
