Story originally published by Lancaster Online

Wacker Brewing Company will be closing its Lancaster city taproom and moving to Willow Street.

The Little Dutch Taproom at 417 W. Grant Street will close Sunday, Jan. 26, as the craft brewer prepares to move to a larger space in what is now a warehouse for Lancaster Harley-Davidson at 308 Beaver Valley Pike.

The new taproom would occupy about a third of the roughly 7,500-square foot warehouse that has a kitchen and is now used for storage, Lancaster Harley-Davidson owner Jack Texter said.

Texter said Wacker is securing all the necessary approvals for the taproom which he anticipated could open in early April.

A Wacker Brewing spokeswoman said details of the move are still being finalized but confirmed that the brewing operation would be set up at a separate Lancaster County location that has not yet been announced.

Wacker Brewing Company was originally founded in 1853 and was the oldest brewery in Lancaster at the time of its closing in 1956. It was revived in 2014 by Bryan and Carolyn Kepner, the previous owners of Pour Craft & Drink, a Lancaster city restaurant that closed in July.

Since 2015, Wacker Brewing has shared space with Thistle Finch Distillery which opened in a former tobacco warehouse in 2013. With the Wacker move, the distillery will be taking over the entire shared area.

Thistle Finch owner Andrew Martin said he would expand its own tasting room by building a larger kitchen and a second bathroom. The distillery, which also operates Shot & Bottle in downtown Lancaster, would also begin doing its own food menu on Grant Street.

Martin said he hoped to begin work in February, with an opening sometime in early spring. The current Thistle Finch tasting room will remain open during the renovations, although Tuesday hours will be dropped until the work is done, Martin said.