Hopping Gnome Brewing: A Year at The Gnome

The Hopping Gnome will be celebrating its one year anniversary on Sunday May 29th. To commemorate the occasion they have a week full of events and new beers starting Wednesday, May 25th and going through Sunday May 29th. 

A Year At The Gnome

Hopping Gnome Co-owner and head brewer Torrey Lattin started brewing in 2009 when his then current boss turned him on to the hobby. He began making small batches in his kitchen, perfecting his recipes. Lattin said “Months and years of trial and error to get [the recipes] where you wanted.”

He later scaled up his production to a larger system in his garage. Upon winning several regional and national competitions he knew he had a knack for brewing. He, along with his wife and co-owner Stacy Ward-Lattin, set out to develop a business plan to in order to help grow the number of breweries in Wichita. They opened the doors on May 29th, 2015.

The Gnome, now offers six beers consistently on tap as well as a rotating seasonal selection of  one or two new beers every month. All recipes stem from Torrey’s home brewing days where he perfected them.

When asked why he believed in Wichita as a place to start their business Lattin replied “Even though it’s the largest city in Kansas it still feels small. It’s a fun community to be apart of because a lot of people have the same thoughts feelings towards Wichita.” Those feelings being that they all believe in the city and want to make it a better place to live, and make it a better business community. “It’s a very diverse group of people with a common goal of making Wichita better.” Lattin also commented.

Commenting on the ups and downs of the first year in business Lattin said “They always say the first year is the toughest. I see why now.” He went on to describe the upsides saying “Were a local business, we are excited about that. We’ve met a great variety of people from all sorts of backgrounds and that’s been really cool.”