El Dorado Microbrewery

Passion: Story of the Brewery’s Setup

If ever a story were published on how Walnut River Brewing Co. began, it might be titled, “How to start a brewery on Craigslist” or on more than one occasion we’ve called it, “This Old Brewery” as if we had Norm Abram working alongside us. Of the many items purchased locally on Craigslist we found our pallet racking, an 11 foot long stainless steel sink that had been used to feed cattle (we scrubbed it, don’t worry), and our 3 inch thick 9 foot long chunk of Kansas white oak sales counter that everyone signs when they visit. Our cash register is a used iPad and the holder is homemade of walnut from Greenwood County. Even the street signs that decorate the sales area are from Kansas. Rest assured, we did pay for them! Everything unapologetically screams “Kansas” when you step into the brewery. That passion we have for our home State also drives us to use quality ingredients in our brewing. Like many Kansans we work hard and expect quality, Walnut River Brewing Company is no different. We’d like to invite you to visit 111 W. Locust Ave in El Dorado, KS and we think you’ll see and taste what we mean. Cheers!

Beer Blog

B.J. Hunt of Wichita and Rick Goehring of El Dorado hope their Walnut River Brewing Co. can begin making beer for the public in a few weeks, pending all local, state and federal licensing. Ideally, they’d like to begin distribution to the public in about 60 to 90 days. I’m no beer expert like Goehring, who is Walnut River’s head brewer, but I liked what I tasted of Walnut River’s half-dozen samples last week. I particularly liked one style, California common, which Hunt and Goehring expect to be one of their staples at local bars. The beers don’t have names yet.

New microbrewery fermenting in El Dorado

El Dorado-based Walnut River Brewing Co. began selling its beer five weeks ago and is already expanding its production capacity. “We had no idea how busy we would be,” says B.J. Hunt, a partner in the microbrewery with Rick Goehring. Walnut River will add a 217-gallon fermentation tank to its three smaller fermenters of 62 gallons each, Hunt says. The expansion will allow Walnut River to get its beer on tap in area bars. Until now, sales have mostly been in growlers, with a couple of kegs, from the brewery, Hunt says. Willie’s, 151 N.

El Dorado’s Walnut River Brewing Co. expands beer production