Beer run! Monarch's Rest brewery equipment being removed

Brewery equipment that has sat dormant since 2003 at Monarch's Rest Restaurant on Main Street is leaving town. The equipment was being removed Friday for transport to Williams where it will be used to start a new brewery, according to David Meadows, who will be the brewmaster.

Meadows said he runs a brewery in Stockholm, Sweden, but would spend the next year here in Arizona helping the Williams brewery make high-quality beer. "It's good equipment," he said. "It's nice stuff."

The Quechan tribe owns the restaurant and was the owner of the brewery equipment. A message left with tribal President Mike Jackson was not returned Friday.

Chad Ward of Ager Tank and Equipment of Portland, Ore., was also working to take down the vats, which are so large that they had to come out through a hole that was created by removing a bank of windows in the east side of the building.

Ward said the company buys brewery equipment and resells it across the country. In most cases, they take the equipment back to Portland to clean it, but since this is an in-state move, the equipment will stay in Arizona and receive extensive cleaning.

"We do about three or four brewery moves a month," he said.

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Jeffrey Gautreaux can be reached at jgautreaux@yumasun.com or 539-6858.