Walnut River Brewing Company started a little over a decade ago with Rick Goehring and B.J. Hunt enjoying a couple of beers beneath a brothel, well a former brothel. But that beer helped launch an expanding empire in south central Kansas.

“Everybody’s got a friend who can brew beer, but Rick was far above that,” Hunt says of the first time he tasted one of Goehring’s beers. “We hit it off pretty well and then we started talking about a brewery. It did take a couple years to make it all come together.”

Hunt first tried one of Goehring’s brews at 111 W. Locust Ave., in El Dorado, which Goehring purchased in the early 2000s with the idea it could house a brewery someday. Eventually Goehring and his wife lived in the two-story, World War I-era brick building while they renovated it. His brewing operation occupied a small room in the back of the building.

GROWTH MODE

Prior to the Goehrings’ purchase, the building had been home to a supply store, grocer, creamery and bakery on the ground floor. Until the beginning of World War II, Goldie’s Brothel was the only tenant on the second floor. When Walnut River Brewing Company opened July 2013, a flea market still occupied most of the ground-floor space.

Shortly after opening, Travis Rohrberg was added as a partner, and the initial success meant the brewery soon took over the flea market space. The taproom features brews like Warbeard Irish Red, Teter Rock Kolsch and Hunt’s favorite, Kuvalda, a Russian imperial stout. Today the El Dorado location is the flagship for Walnut River Brewing. In 2018, they opened the Pourhouse, 711 E. Douglas Ave. No. 105, in Wichita. Pourhouse features Walnut River’s beer as well as a full menu.

“We’re not restauranters, but we wanted a great place for people to go and have a pint and great food as well,” Hunt says. “The focus is still beer. I think that’s really helped define who we are and what we want to be.”

Soon Walnut River, with the help of partners, will add a third location and new brand to their arsenal with Red Bud Brewery at 418 State St., in downtown Augusta.

“We don’t know the Augusta market as well as our partners do so that makes perfect sense,” Hunt says.

CLOSE TO HOME

Hunt says COVID-19 did cause some “heartbreaking” layoffs at the restaurant in Wichita, but the brewery survived partly because of the beer it sold through 12-packs throughout Kansas and as far away as St. Louis.

“The farther you are from home, the harder it is to service the market and have people understand who you are and what your story is,” he says. “Seventy percent of our sales are within 70 miles of the brewery. That’s a huge thing for us because we can go around and talk to people at liquor stores, bars and restaurants. It’s a personal relationship.”

DECADE OF EXPERIENCE

Hunt says they’ve learned a lot over the past 10 years, which included witnessing a bar fight when they opened their first tap at a Wichita bar. It was early in the evening when Goehring and Hunt had just officially tapped the first keg for public consumption when the only other patrons began brawling on the floor. They got kicked out.

“So it’s literally Rick and I in the bar drinking our own beer,” Hunt says. “Paying for our own beer.”

A few hours later a mellower crowd filled the bar and drained both kegs of Warbeard they’d brought, and they’ve been rolling ever since.

“Ten years ago, we didn’t really know what to expect,” Hunt says. “We tried to set it up with a great brewer, great lab guy and a business guy. All in all, we’ve done alright. I don’t think we’ve arrived. We’re striving to do better and better all the time. We’re just guys who like to make good beer and treat people well.”

The bricks that house Walnut River Brewing Company were laid in the middle of Kansas’ prohibition, but 100-plus years later they’re home to plenty of cold beers and good times, minus the brothel.