E-Malt.com News article: USA, CA: Coronado Brewing Company will add a new brewing facility

The Coronado Brewing Company has acquired a 20,000-square-foot site in Tecolote Canyon where they will begin brewing by the spring to meet the growing demand for their microbrews, Coronado Patch reported on August, 15.

The warehouse, located at 1205 Knoxville, will be modified to include a new 30-barrel brew house, tasting room and retail shop. “We’ve exceeded our capacity at our Coronado facility,” said Rick Chapman, co-owner and president of Coronado Brewing Company, “and we’re really excited about this new expansion.”

Currently the Coronado Brewing Company brews on a 10-barrel brew house at their Coronado pub. The new facility will afford them a 30-barrel brew house with 60-barrel fermenters. On the production side of the business, CBC has grown from four to 10 employees and will continue to add employees to meet the demand.

“Essentially, we have been operating like a brewpub on steroids,” said Chapman. Currently they package five different six-packs and six 22-ouncers (as well as draft) throughout the year. The Coronado Brewing Company produced 2,700 barrels in 2009, 4,300 barrels in 2010, and they will exceed 6,000 barrels this year.

“Our core business is Southern California,” said Chapman. “We were up 64% last year in San Diego alone, and that’s typical of the incredible growth we’ve been experiencing this past few years nationally.”

The Orange Avenue WIT and Islander IPA are responsible for a good portion of their success. One has an intense hop bitterness and medium body (IPA) and the other is made from California orange peel and local orange blossom honey (WIT).

“Our Orange Avenue WIT is now our top selling brew,” said Chapman. It alone is up 61% in sales this year. This brew has been a huge success and we couldn’t be happier with the response to it.”

The Coronado Brewing Company continues to do all of their bottling and labeling at the Coronado location, located at 170 Orange Ave. Most of the production will be moved to the new facility once modifications are completed, freeing up the local brewpub to focus on one-offs and specialty beers.

The brewery's award-winning microbrews are sold in 13 states, along with Japan, New Zealand and England. Opportunities are being considered at this time for distribution to other states and countries.

The Coronado Brewing Company was founded in 1996 by brothers Rick and Ron Chapman and began commercial distribution in early 1997.


17 August, 2011