GREENSBORO – Just a year after expanding its Greensboro brewery to distribute beer in grocery stores and restaurants, Natty Greene's is growing again.

The endeavor began as a downtown brewpub in 2004, but Director of Brewing Operations Sebastin Wolfrum said the business has had to respond quickly to demand.

"Then it became clear very quickly that we have to add more capacity in terms of tanks," Wolfrum said.

Natty Greene's has invested half a million dollars to put in six new fermentation tanks, which will more than double their production.

"At the moment we only sell at Harris Teeter and Lowe's Foods. So there's a whole range of convenience stores, restaurants and hotels and other potential customers that want to serve our bottles, but we just don't have the capacity at the moment," Wolfrum said. "And that's where we're mainly going to grow."

Wolfum said even with the rising costs of malt, hops and fuel, sales have been strong lately. Natty Greene's also only delivers its beer locally, which helps keep costs down.

"It's a good bet to stay in the Triad and just be here," Wolfrum said. "We want to be the local brewery, and our whole concept is built around brewing beer that never goes further than 30 miles."

The company has also made a deal with Winston-Salem's new baseball stadium to be its exclusive supplier.

Wolfrum says it's exciting to be doing so well.

"We have the money, we want to spend it and we think it's the right time now and we definitely see it on the sale side that there's no way to hesitate," Wolfrum said. "People seem to like our beers and it seems to be working out."

The new tanks should be up and brewing in a month or two.