Grind City Brewing Co. is making a bold move: pulling its beers from stores and going all-in on taproom sales and events.
The Memphis craft brewery announced Wednesday that it is ending distribution while investing more than $1 million into a major expansion of its riverside taproom and event space.
The brewery, which was opened in 2019 by the father-son team of Bill Seely and Hopper Seely, will break ground soon on renovations designed to turn Grind City into a year-round destination for concerts, events, and taproom visitors. The plans include an upgraded patio experience and new infrastructure to support an outdoor concert venue that can host 5,000 people.
Grind City is located at 76 Waterworks Ave. on the north end of downtown, near the Wolf River Harbor, and features a sprawling, versatile outdoor space.
“For the last couple of months, we’ve been having conversations about what the future holds and about how we’re going to do these renovations. After a lot of discussion, we decided the best decision moving forward would be to focus on our venue and the taproom to create a unique experience here in Memphis,” Zach Callaghan, Grind City’s head of marketing and events, told Memphis Beer Blog.
“We were spending a lot of our time and energy in wholesale. The (craft beer) market is in an interesting place right now. Honestly, our numbers were good, and we were doing well. We felt like we were moving in the right direction. Still, the effort it was taking was taking up too much of our time. … We thought it would be best to put all of our manpower into the taproom and this new venue.”
The shift in strategy has also brought some internal changes.
Callaghan said Grind City reduced its staffing from around 25 employees to about 20, aligning with the brewery’s evolving operational focus. Callaghan, who previously oversaw wholesale sales, has transitioned into his new role leading marketing and events.
“A lot of the core team that’s been here from Day One is here now. And, look, there was a lot of hard, realistic decisions that had to be made, but we’re excited about the future opportunities that what we’re doing now presents for us and everyone in the company.”
Shifting focus from distribution to destination
Grind City will wind down its distribution over the coming weeks and months, and its beers will start disappearing from grocery stores, liquor stores, bars and restaurants.
There are some existing commitments with distributors, but by the end of summer, most beers will be gone from the shelves.
Locally, Grind City distributed through Athens Distributing Company of Tennessee. Callaghan expects that Athens will get one or two more orders.
Grind City, meanwhile, had grown its markets to include Jackson, Tenn., North Mississippi down to Oxford, and Jackson, Miss. Just this year, Grind City added distribution to Augusta and Athens in Georgia.
Moving forward, Grind City beers will be available exclusively at the brewery. In addition to draft sales, Grind City will continue to can its beers and will sell them in the taproom in 6-packs to go.
While scaling back distribution will reduce overall production, Callaghan said the changes will also give the brewery freedom to experiment with limited releases for taproom customers.
Meanwhile, Grind City will continue to contract brew for other companies, including customers like Ounce of Hope.
Amphitheater and year-round patio access
Grind City will be breaking ground next month on its expansion project.
The new outdoor concert venue, Grind City Amp, is expected to open in 2026 and will host eight to 12 concerts next year, including the Grind City Music Festival. The festival, which was last held in 2024, is taking a year off in 2025 before its return in April 2026.
While no permanent stage or seating is planned, things like power access and other infrastructure will be installed.
Grind City will be converting its quonset hut into a green room for concert artists that can double as a suite for wedding parties. In addition to concerts and weddings, Grind City will focus on beer-related events like Oktoberfest, larger community events such as the Summer SOULstice Block Party, and private rentals.
As for the taproom upgrades, Grind City is expanding its taproom and putting a roof over its patio space “to allow the patio to have access all 12 months of the year, instead of just when the weather’s nice,” Callaghan said.
In an Instagram post on Wednesday, Grind City also teased “food” as one of the things being taken to the “next level,” but no announcement was made about what that will entail.
Throughout the renovations, the taproom will stay open.
A sign of the times
Grind City’s decision to pull back from distribution comes as many breweries in Memphis are facing losses in sales and increased pressure to figure out how to stay afloat.
Crosstown Brewing Co., for example, has entered the THC beverage space with a new line of seltzers called Orbit, hoping to diversify and take advantage of that growing market.
As Grind City shifts gears, Callaghan believes music, beer, and community are the right ingredients for Grind City’s next chapter.
At last year’s Grind City Music Festival, for example, tickets were sold to people from 36 states and eight different countries.
“Pivoting to this lane gives us the opportunity to show off our version of Memphis craft beer to a whole different audience in a unique way,” Callaghan said.
“I mean, there’s not really an outdoor amphitheater like this. I think we can provide something pretty unique to people in Memphis and get people to come here.”
Leave a Reply