Groton — Outer Light Brewing Company is doubling its beer-making capacity not quite a year after opening one of the region's first microbreweries.

Owners Matt Ferrucci of Madison and Tom Drejer Ivoryton, buddies since college days, said they are also launching plans for bottling some of their most popular beers. They expect to have produced 1,000 barrels of Outer Light beer at their one-year anniversary in April.

"We can't keep up with the demand," Ferrucci said. "We weren't expecting everything to take off so quickly."

The partners looked all around Connecticut before settling on a 4,500-square-foot space with tall ceilings next to the Galaxy Roller Rink to create their brewery and attached taproom. Along with Cottrell Brewing Co. in Pawcatuck, Beer'd Brewing Co. in Stonington and Grey Sail across the border in Westerly, as well as brewpubs in Norwich, Willimantic and at Mohegan Sun, they form a vibrant local craft beer scene.

As more and more breweries open across the country, plans call for a farm brewery in Salem and a microbrewery in Mystic.

"It's a great area," Ferrucci said of southeastern Connecticut. "We saw it as underserved in the brewing world."

What they didn't consider was that the brewery's proximity to Electric Boat would have such a beneficial effect. When EB personnel leave work at 5 p.m., they can make a convenient stop at the taproom to try out Outer Light's distinctive beer, which is flavored by natural ingredients such as coffee, grapefruit and even Noank oysters.

In 2014, according to the Brewers Association, U.S. craft beer sales grew more than 17 percent while beer sales as a whole saw only a fraction of a percent change. There are more than 3,400 breweries in the United States, about 2,000 more than in the previous decade, thanks largely to the growth of microbreweries.

"A lot of bars and restaurants are starting to support handcrafted beer," Ferrucci said. "Everyone is looking to explore and try new things, and everyone is supporting that local feeling."

Both Drejer and Ferrucci had been home brewers for more than a decade, but quickly decided to hire an experienced brewmaster, Tyler Cox, to oversee Outer Light's production. They liked Cox's work in creating unique concoctions down in North Carolina, an area that has a plethora of fabulous microbreweries, the partners said.

Outer Light brews nine to 10 days a month but will likely double its production time once the partners finish expanding capacity. The new machinery will create need for more space elsewhere, said the partners, who are looking for extra warehouse capacity for cold-storage items such as malt and hops.

The partners are running their operation with only themselves and Cox as full timers, but adding bottling to the mix will likely require more employees, they said.

"Bottling is pretty labor intensive," Ferrucci said.

Ferrucci and Drejer credit local restaurants and bars with embracing their business whole-heartedly, responding to customers' craving for handcrafted, distinctive beers. The taproom has been a real blessing, they added, because it allows people to bring in their own food, sample beers, take a growler home and spread the word.

"It's kind of like a test kitchen here," Drejer said.

The Outer Light "mug club" allows regulars for $60 a year to have their own container hung on the taproom walls, giving them a few extra ounces of beer and a little off the regular prices in the $5 to $7 range for a fill-up. About five to eight different beers are usually available at any one time in the taproom.

Taprooms attached to breweries became legal in Connecticut just a few years ago thanks to a law passed in the legislature after a Stratford microbrewery pressed for the change.

"The community has embraced the place like a gathering spot," Drejer said.

And with names like Subduction, Libation Propaganda and Lonesome Boatman, the beers give people something to talk about. They go down pretty easily, too, considering that Beer Advocate named Outer Light last year as one of the top 30 or so new breweries in the country.

Outer Light has brewed 23 different beers in less than a year, ranging from red ales to India pale ales to stouts to porters. Some have been brewed only once while others were so popular that the partners decided to bring them back as seasonal favorites.

The latest brew, released just this month, is the Port Hopper Golden Ale, described as "a light, sessionable beer with minimal bitterness." Another beer making its debut in January was the Woods Devil India Brown Ale.

"People like a range of beers to choose from," Ferrucci said.

l.howard@theday.com

Twitter: @KingstonLeeHow