Some breweries are teaming up, or even tapping out, amid tough economic realities within the craft beer industry. But BabyCat Brewery is growing.

This wasn’t necessarily the plan.

The business, which started nearly three years ago in Kensington, is set to open a new taproom at 4850 Rugby Ave. in Bethesda on Oct. 31.

BabyCat’s team had just started to get their feet under them in Kensington, said founder Sam Mussomeli. He was just beginning to balance work and life with his wife, their sons and cat, Alice — whose nickname is BabyCat. “There was a lot of repressed memories from the first [brewery],” Mussomeli said. “I was just at a point where it was like, ‘Okay, I have a life.’ And now, right back into the machine.”

But the real estate company that owns the Bethesda building, Donohoe, made at least three pitches to make BabyCat its first tenant, he said.

“They sort of made us an offer we couldn’t refuse,” said BabyCat business manager Kerry Pratt.

“There was still, I don’t want to say trauma, of opening the first one, but it was still fresh,” Pratt said with a chuckle.

On a recent Friday, construction was ongoing throughout the corner property, blocks away from the Bethesda Metro station. Workers were carrying in cardboard boxes of shelves that needed to be assembled. A Montgomery County inspector walked the space, making some close-to-final checks.

The Bethesda opening comes amid a moment of consolidation in the craft beer industry — coupled with a decline in alcohol consumption. Just north of BabyCat, Heavy Seas Beer in Halethorpe announced it was streamlining operations with three other breweries. Some strong competition is growing to the south, where Atlas Brew Works is expanding its footprint across Washington, D.C., and its Virginia suburbs.

Mussomeli and Pratt say that their brewery can withstand these headwinds because they’re focused on brewing beer and not manufacturing and distributing it beyond the taproom at the scale of other craft breweries.

They’ve hired Jon Harahan, who started with BabyCat in June and will be the head brewer at the production room in Bethesda. He previously worked with Kensington’s head brewer Phil Zanello at Port City Brewing Company in Alexandria, Virginia. The duo will fill Bethesda’s 16 taps with guest favorites such as Catnip Bender, a New England-style IPA, along with some of their own interests and planned experiments in older, German-style beers.

BabyCat’s Bethesda location will also have a kitchen that will start out offering similar food options as the Cattie Shak, the permanent food truck in Kensington, such as smash burgers and wings. Guests can order from self-service kiosks and a full menu will roll out in the weeks to come.

Pratt says that the early reception from neighborhood businesses and residents has been positive. “People cannot wait for us to open,” she said. But Pratt acknowledged that she doesn’t quite know how economic factors like the ongoing federal government shutdown will affect initial sales.

Mussomeli and Pratt were more concerned on this day about getting things ready for Babycat’s opening. Chairs were still wrapped and stacked along the sprawling outdoor patio. More workers flowed in to plan what still needed to be built. But Mussomeli and Pratt felt confident about what they were building.

“I don’t want to take over the world,” Mussomeli said. “I just want to take over Kensington and Bethesda.”