One of Wichita’s biggest breweries has closed and is now for sale
Wichita is down one of its biggest craft breweries.
Aero Plains Brewing, which opened at 117 N. Handley in October 2016, is closed as of Thursday. There’s a sign on the door saying that the business is permanently closed, and founder Lance Minor said the brewery is for sale.
“It was just a series of unfortunate events,” he said, noting that winter is a slow time for the beer business. “It was no real one thing — just kind of a collection of things.”
In 2016, Minor and partners Ryan Waite and Brent Miller opened the brewery in 11,250 square feet in Delano with a 20-barrel brewing system and a big tap room that incorporated pieces of actual airplanes into its design. In 2017, the brewery started canning its beers to sell in liquor stores across Kansas, and in 2018, owners expanded the brewery.
Ideally, Minor said, someone would buy the place and keep it running.
“We’ve been a part of a lot of events and good memories in this community,” he said. “I would love for Aero Plains to continue. I put a lot into it.”
This story was originally published February 6, 2020 at 2:17 PM with the headline "One of Wichita’s biggest breweries has closed and is now for sale."
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