Republic brewery Great Escape officially opens

Ample space in newly renovated U.S. Hwy. 60 location creates opportunities for brewer
 
Great Escape Beer Works has found a new home in Republic. Following the closing of their Springfield location and the recent grand opening of their new location at 6021 U.S. Highway 60, the beer is flowing.
Founder of Great Escape, Jake Duensing is a Springfield native. He also attended the University of Missouri and moved around after that. During his travels, Duensing often found himself at breweries, which he said led to a deeper interest in beer and all that surrounds it. Because of this, he eventually took a couple of jobs at breweries in Colorado, going from a canning line operator, to a seller and eventually a head brewer.
After a while, Duensing decided to return to the Springfield area in order to be with family. By 2018, he opened up his first Great Escape Brewery in Springfield’s Galloway development, running it successfully until this year. He eventually decided though that the best business decision was to shut the location down. At this point, Duensing was already well into the process of opening up his Republic location.
This new spot was chosen after a nearly yearlong search, said Duensing. He desired a building of a certain size, wanting to expand slightly in comparison to the original location, but a building of such a size was not available in his price range; this, in combination with the supportive community, made Republic a perfect choice, he said.
Space galore available in Republic
According to Duensing, the building he would eventually choose formerly belonged to a bridge-building company and offers nearly four times the space as their previous location, sitting at about 11,000 square feet. It wasn’t perfect in its original state; however, he needed to make some changes in order to turn it into a functional brewery. In addition to adding brewing equipment, he also made the change from a septic system to municipal sewer, from propane to gas, and completely remodeled the electrical.
This new spot has plenty of benefits, though; Duensing now has more square footage for storage and office space, as well as more room for customers.
Though there may be much to celebrate, Duensing is still looking to the future, though his expectations remain tempered.
“I would love to [open another location]... if we can continue to grow and it makes operational and business sense, I think that would be great,” he said.