Work on New Pine Bluffs Malthouse to Start Soon

Wyoming Malting Company will break ground on a new barley malting plant in Pine Bluffs on July 1.

Laramie County Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved a $557,935 loan agreement with the Wyoming Business Council for the project.

"The grant is fully funded, so now the project construction timeline can start," said Chad Brown, Wyoming Malting Company Co-Founder. "We are very excited and very thankful for the Commissioners to vote on this and we are just ecstatic to move forward."

The 20,000 square foot plant, which is being built on a 10 acre parcel in the Pine Bluffs Business Park, will be owned by Cheyenne LEADS and leased to Brown and his business partner Gene Purdy, who have the option of eventually purchasing the facility.

"We have picked FCI Constructors here in Cheyenne to be the builders and Noel Griffith & Associates is the architect on the project," said Brown. "The construction timeline is still to hand the building over to us, the business owners, in January of 2017."

Brown says the facility will help meet the demand for malt at regional breweries and also supply malt for distilling whiskey.

"The malting process is a seven day process," said Brown. "So say we get the building January 15, we could have product by the end of January."