Hopping Gnome’s big new tap room is likely to be one of the summer’s busiest hangouts
The tiny Hopping Gnome Brewing Company tap room at 1710 E. Douglas that has been (literally) packing in beer fans since it first opened in 2015 is about to close. Its last day open will be Saturday.
But owners Torrey and Stacy Lattin want to make something perfectly clear: Hopping Gnome is not closing. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
The couple is moving the tap room from the cramped 700-square-foot space on Douglas where they built their business to a roomy, airy building that’s right across the back alley. The new tap room, which is in a new building with triple the seating and quadruple the space, is likely to become one of Wichita’s hottest summertime hangouts, and it opens to the public on May 2.
The owners just want to make sure people realize that they haven’t gone far.
“Two things: We don’t want people to think we’re closed,” Stacy said. “And we want people to know that we’re not far. . . We’re right here.”
The Lattins agreed to a sneak-peak tour of their new space, which faces a tiny neighborhood street called Victor: The exact address is 1719 E. Victor St. It’s so close to the old tap room that the two spaces share a back alley. To drive from the old space to the new, customers just have to head west on Douglas, immediately turn north onto Hydraulic then immediately east on Victor Street. The new tap room is right there on the south side of the street.
The new space is easy to spot: It has an almost 1,000 square-foot spread of green turf right in front as well as a 1,000-square-foot covered patio, complete with ceiling fans and a pass-through window where people outside can order beer. The turf area will be filled with picnic tables, and the covered patio will be an all-season space that the owners enclose and heat during cold-weather months.
Stacy said she likes to point out to people that the new outdoor patio has more square footage than the entirety of the tap room on Douglas — by 300 square feet.
The outdoor area also has a ready-to-go hookup for food trucks: Though the Hopping Gnome still won’t serve its own food, it will continue to invite food trucks owners and pop-up-restaurant chefs to visit regularly. The turf area in front will feature yard games. Hopping Gnome will also invite bands to perform outside.
Inside, the new tap room has 1,400 square feet — double the size of the original. It will be filled with high-top and low-top tables with colorful metal chairs, and it even has a cozy corner area with lounge-type seating. Another corner will be filled with a big display of Hopping Gnome merchandise for sale.
The bar, double the size of the old one, will have 16 taps as opposed to the 12 in the Douglas space, which will allow for more beverage options for visitors. The bar is decorated with a yellow tile meant as a tribute to the yellow tile that covers the front of the Douglas taproom.
Needed: More space
The Lattins said they’ve long wanted to expand their tap room. There’s just not room for their glowing clientele in the old space.
“Right now, when people drive by on Douglas, it looks very full. Whether it is or not, it looks very full,” she said. “And so sometimes they’re like, ‘Well, we drove by and it looked like it was too busy. And so they don’t stop.”
Sometimes, she said, they do walk in and the place is busy, and there’s nowhere to sit, so they leave.
The Lattins started realizing in early 2020 that they really needed to expand the space, Stacey said, and considered either opening a second location or moving somewhere bigger. In retrospect, she said, they’re glad they didn’t “do anything too crazy” in early 2020 since the COVID-19 pandemic was just about to hit.
But the pandemic and the need for social distancing also drove home the idea that they needed more space. They started getting serious about expanding in 2021 and announced last summer their intention to build the new space. They broke ground in early September.
The Lattins say they will keep the tap room on Douglas and will offer it up for private events, likely starting this fall. The whole brewing operation also will stay in the Douglas space.
Hopping Gnome will still host Final Friday art shows (the first one will be in June) and will still partner with former neighbor Piatto Neapolitan Pizzeria. Though Piatto will no longer deliver pies directly to customers drinking at The Hopping Gnome, Stacy said they’re working on a system where people will be able to order from the brewery and pick pizza up at Piatto’s back door across the alley.
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The Lattins said they can’t wait to get the new tap room full of customers. They’re nervous about whether people will easily find the place but they feel pretty confident about everything else. They’ve opened a tap room once before and have collected lots of experience.
“It’s stressful, but we’re excited,” Stacy said. “I think it’s a lot different than it was the first time. We have a really strong team to help us do things, and we’ve done this before. We know not everything’s gonna go according to plan, and that’s okay. We have a solid customer base.”
Though opening day is May 2, the couple plans a big grand opening celebration for the weekend of May 19-21. It’ll be a weekend-long party featuring new beer releases, food trucks and live music.
The hours will remain the same: 3 to 10 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays; 2 to 11 p.m. Fridays; noon to 11 p.m. Saturdays; and noon to 6 p.m. Sundays.
This story was originally published April 24, 2023 at 2:29 PM.
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