The recent growl of a bulldozer's diesel engine marked the first visible signs of progress toward the planned September opening of the Elizabeth Brewing Co.

“We have been working inside the Carlson Building on projects like pouring cement on the first floor in preparation to install the brewing equipment,” John Briggs, one of the brewery owners, said in a phone interview. “We have applied to the town for the proper construction permit. Once that is approved there will be full-time work in the building to make it ready for our brewery and taproom.”

The brewery is being constructed in the historic Carlson Building on Main Street in Elizabeth. Plans are to install the brewery on the first floor and a taproom on the second floor. The owners plan to have eight beers on tap. Five of the beers on tap will be the brewery's regular beers and three will be seasonal beers.

Plans also call for having an adjacent patio with outdoor seating for customers and to invite food trucks to stop by.

The brewery will be family owned. Briggs said both he and his brother Tony brewed beer at home for themselves and their families.

“We began talking about opening a brewery in Elizabeth about 2017,” he said. “At first it was just family talk, but then the discussion led to the decision and plans to build one here in town.”

He said they began looking for a possible location then last June the Carlson Building became available and the family decided it would be the perfect location for their brewery.

The family has engaged Scott Roberts to be the brew master. Roberts currently works at a Colorado Spring brewery.

Briggs said the brewery will have equipment to produce about five barrels of beer a day. A barrel holds 30 gallons of beer.

“We wanted to locate the brewery in our hometown of Elizabeth and we are pleased to be able to construct it in the historic Carlson Building,” he said. “The Carlson Building was built in the 1890s and has had a variety of uses. It was used as a church at one time and the building's namesake, George Carlson, was a sculptor who lived there in the 1970s. He had his studio on the first floor and he lived upstairs. It was recently also a bar on the second floor and a boutique on the first floor.”

The Carlson building was constructed in the 1890s. Not a lot of information about the building's history is available. Research information from the Elizabeth library indicates the building had a variety of uses. For example it was the Watts and Wortman General Merchandise store that also sold farm machinery. It was also once home to the Elizabeth Library and, at one time, it was the offices of the Elizabeth Chamber of Commerce.