E-Malt.com News article: US, MO: Boulevard Brewing now distributing in 20 states and planning to conquer more

Boulevard Brewing has picked up some national accolades from its peers in the craft beer industry and expanded its market into the Pacific Northwest, with Chicago next, The Kansas City Star reports.

The brewery on Southwest Boulevard began operations in 1989 with second-hand equipment and hauled its products around the city in a single Isuzu panel truck. Now it distributes its beer in 20 states as far away as Alaska and Alabama.

Last month, Boulevard founder John McDonald received the annual Brewers Association Recognition Award at the group’s conference in Boulder, Colo. The association also ranked Boulevard Brewing as the 10th largest craft-beer brewery in the United States.

“The fact they picked a Midwest brewer is great,” McDonald said. “A lot of time our industry looks at the East and West Coast for honors like that. I felt very honored.”

And Boulevard is extending beyond its Midwest roots. For years, the brewery has focused on markets in the Big 12 Conference states.

Last year, however, it picked up a distributor that took its products into two haunts of craft-beer connoisseurs, Portland, Ore., and Seattle. The new Northwest expansion includes all of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and part of Alaska.

Boulevard also is now sold in Denver, another major craft-beer center. Spearheading their invasion of these more sophisticated beer markets is the Boulevard Smokestack series, a group of specialty beers sold in .75-liter bottles.

The Smokestack series of wine-size bottles was introduced four year ago and last November, Boulevard also began selling a few of its Smokestack varieties in four packs of 12-ounce bottles.

“Smokestack has been huge for us,” McDonald said. “It’s going like crazy … I feel very good about those beers. In the beer-geeky world, it gives us a lot of credibility.”

Bob Sullivan, Boulevard marketing director, said sales of the Smokestack specialty beers climbed 81 percent in 2010 from 2009 and now are 3 percent of the total amount of beer sold by Boulevard.

The brewery produced 149,000 barrels of beer last year and expects to sell 160,000 barrels this year.

Sales already were up 8.2 percent for the first quarter compared with a year ago. Boulevard plans to spend $3 million this year to expand its fermentation capacity.

In Chicago, Boulevard has identified a distributor who supplies bars and liquor stores known for selling craft beers.

Boulevard also is planning to use its Smokestack series to scout whether there’s a market for Kansas City’s homegrown brew on the East Coast. Sullivan said the company was looking at Boston, New York or Washington for its foray.

“Our eventual markets?” Sullivan asked. “First and foremost, our backyard, then the region and then outwards from there.”


20 April, 2011