LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A popular brewing company on Bardstown is investing nearly $200,000 in upgrades and a new name.
According to our partners at Louisville Business First, Great Flood Brewing Co., located at 2120 Bardstown Road near the Highlands, is in the midst of major changes.
The upgrades include adding a kitchen to the brewery's nearly 6,000-square-foot space so it can begin serving food when it becomes Big Rock Bar & Brewery.
In the meantime, the current location is still open and serving drinks.
"We are actually running as Big Rock right now. We have officially gotten our liquor license under that name," co-owner Nik Heberlein said. "We're brewing off-site now, and we turned the old brewing area into the kitchen. We're not going to do a grand reopening until the kitchen's done.
Heberlein said he hopes the kitchen will be finished in "another two months or so."
Haley McGlynn, a former bartender at Great Flood, is now Heberlein's new business partner. He said the new name and partnership mark a fresh start for a business that has faced challenges in recent years.
Launched in 2014 by Matt Fuller and Zach Barnes, Great Flood became a hangout for Heberlein, a Tennessee native, after he moved to Louisville to run track for Bellarmine University. He began hanging out at the bar, and eventually became the third partner.
The brewery opened a Middletown location at 12717 Shelbyville Road in 2020, but it closed last summer.
"I wanted to rebrand because Great Flood was dead — the name didn’t mean anything anymore," Heberlein said.
In addition to working as a bartender at Great Flood, McGlynn she also served as lead bartender at Hop Atomica Louisville. Over the years, McGlynn and Heberlein discussed starting a venture together, so he brought her in as a co-owner of Big Rock Bar & Brewery.
The property is owned by Bernard W. & Ebco Bridgers & Associates LLC, according to Jefferson County Property Valuation Administrator records.
Heberlein wants Big Rock to become a neighborhood gathering place, which is why he named it after the Highlands landmark in Cherokee Park.
"I started doing research and looking up things. I thought about Beargrass Creek, because it’s on both sides of the Highlands," he said. "I just didn’t like anything until I was driving to St. Matthews and cut through Cherokee Park. I was like, 'It’s right there — Big Rock.' Everybody has a Big Rock story."
Heberlein said kids will be welcome but "unfortunately, no dogs once we get the kitchen."
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