Metro Breweries Look To Spur Neighborhood Growth

A new law allowing Oklahoma beer brewers to serve full point pints in their taprooms could potentially lead to major development around the metro say local brewers. 

SB 424 went into effect Thursday. People can now go to Oklahoma breweries and buy six-packs, growlers, pints, and consume the beer inside brewery taprooms. 

“We've seen all over the nation, it transform areas and districts,” said Micah Andrews, who owns Oak and Oar in the Plaza District of Oklahoma City and offers dozens of local beers on tap. 

Andrews said he's friends with several brewers now trying to find space in Oklahoma City to open a taproom because of SB 424. 

To celebrate the new law, he’s rented buses for brewery tours on Friday. 

The buses will stop by Coop, Elk Valley, Mustang, Twisted Spike, Anthem, and Roughtail breweries. The tours, which were open to about 140 people, have been sold out for weeks. 

Andrews thinks the new law could spur growth in blighted areas because many brewers must move into larger spaces.

“You see these guys investing into you know places that have been empty for years and year,” added the small business owner. “This is a huge way to inject not just revenue for these same business owners, but also tax revenue.”