Tallgrass Brewing Company is a brand of beers brewed and distributed by the Wichita Brewing Company and a former craft brewery that was located in Manhattan, Kansas, that operated from 2006 to 2018.[1] At the time of its closing, Tallgrass was the largest brewery in Kansas,[2] and was distributed in 18 states.[1] In August 2018, Tallgrass announced that it would be shutting down operations indefinitely. In 2020 Wichita Brewing company signed a licensing agreement and began brewing and distributing four beers formerly brewed by the company under the Tallgrass Brewing Company brand.
The brewery was founded by Jeff Gill in 2006.[3] Gill was a former geologist, who had learned brewing as a homebrewer.[4] Though initially the beers were bottled, the brewery switched to cans in 2010 for environmental and quality reasons.[3][5][6] In 2014, the Brewery moved from its original warehouse space, to a warehouse space near Manhattan Regional Airport.[7] The expansion increased the brewery's capacity from a Tallgrass record 365,000 gallons produced in 2013, to the ability to brew 3 million gallons per year.[4]
At the same time, Tallgrass opened a brewpub, called Tallgrass Taphouse on Poyntz Avenue in downtown Manhattan.
In August 2018, Tallgrass announced that it would be shutting down operations indefinitely,[1] although the Taphouse brewpub remains open.
In 2020, Wichita Brewing Company signed a licensing agreement to revive the brand and start brewing once popular beers from Tallgrass.[8] The beers are brewed using original equipment from the Tallgrass brewery that was purchased in 2015.[9]