USA, ME: Bigelow Brewing in Skowhegan looks to quadruple beer production

On June 9, the Skowhegan Board of Selectmen gave the town development office approval to file a letter of intent for a $180,000 grant application for Bigelow Brewing Co., Press Herald reported on June 14.

On June 11, the owners Pam and Jeff Powers took delivery of 96 full-sized utility poles to be used to build a new hop growing yard.

When the couple opened their brewery on Bigelow Hill Road, Skowhegan, in May 2014, there were about 47 microbreweries in Maine, company vice president Pam Powers said. Now there are 62 with 12 more set to open this year.

The plan is to quadruple the Bigelow Brewing operation, and Powers said it’s warranted.

“I don’t know any brewery that is struggling in Maine,” she said. “We have had an increase in sales every month. We are selling at capacity. We’re selling every bit of product we can make. We can’t make it fast enough. We’re turning down customers every week.”

If the federal Economic and Community Development grant is approved, the couple will need at least that much more to expand the brewery in the former horse-barn by 50 feet for a new 15-barrel brewhouse. They currently operate with three barrels.

Powers said by expanding from three to 15 barrels, “our system will be able to do 450 gallons, and we’ll have four fermentors that will hold 1,000 gallons.”

They hope to brew 3,000 gallons over the course of a month.

“Our business plan has us starting at about 2,000 gallons a month and increasing production as demand calls for it,” Jeff Powers said.

Jeff Powers works full time at Catalyst Paper in Rumford. Pam Powers is a retired Skowhegan middle school teacher.

The Powers make about 100 gallons of beer each week.

17 June, 2015