About Us- A little Background Story

Willcott Brewing Company came about through a Mr. Beer Kit Sean Willcott received during a Christmas in 2012.  It was during that first time of brewing in his garage he discovered his passion for making beer and the love of the science behind it...he was hooked. Sean spent three years at Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis as a corporate engineer only later to return back to Holton in hopes of one day opening up his own brewery.

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In 2015, Sean and his wife, Jennifer, purchased an old building off the downtown square in Holton.  The building was in disrepair.  Hour by hour, day by day, and year by year Sean worked at building a vision that is now in existence today.  His landmark defeat on what seemed impossible to do, has now brought the building back to life as a staple landmark within the Holton community. 

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Through the years of construction many friends and family stepped in to help.  Great thanks go to everyone who has stopped by and helped, especially Terry Lierz.

On November 3, 2020.  Jackson County Kansas voted to repeal liquor by the drink.  This allowed us the ability to sell our beer for on premise consumption without the sale of food.  Soon after, we purchased the building west of the brewery and started the remodel for our future taproom.  

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We opened our Holton location the last weekend in October of 2021. 

Leavenworth Story:

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Sean was born and raised in Leavenworth and while one day he felt that our next step should be expansion, he found a building in the historic downtown district of Leavenworth, 600 Cherokee Street.  As another dilapidated and abandoned building creaked under the boots of Sean, it seemed to create a new vision and dream- it seemed only he could feel and see.  After discussing how this would look, Sean was confident in his vision and started the process with the city, (of course the blessing of his wife was given :)

Leavenworth Taproom and Brewery opened on January 28th, 2023!!  It was a big celebration!!!  The project took longer and was more costly than expected due to the unforeseen old building problems...that were found and buried up during construction.  

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Willcott Brewery was started with 4 beers and three staff members who were all teachers!  This is why our hours always open at 4pm.  

Today we are proud to have over 15 employees, a brewer and 1 fulltime manager, along with 18 (and growing) hand crafted beers brewed on site, we now serve bloody marys, local Kansas wines, wine slushes and continue to strive at making our establishment a comfortable place everyone wants to gather and be together!  

Willcott Brewery prides itself in small town local community.

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