E-Malt.com News article: USA, CO: Wynkoop Brewing to expand

Since June of 2011, Wynkoop Brewing Company (Colorado’s first brewpub) has been at full brewing capacity and unable to pursue new accounts for its small-batch draft and hand-canned beers, local media reported on February, 9.

Despite that scenario, the pioneering brewpub (founded by Colorado governor John Hickenlooper) boosted its annual sales for distributed beer by 33% over 2010. The brewery also produced 3870 barrels of beer in 2011, up from 3500 barrels in 2010.

To help increase the supply of Rail Yard Ale, Silverback Pale Ale and its other beers, Wynkoop has just completed its first brewery expansion in 13 years.

The company’s four classic “open” fermenters have been moved from the main-floor brewhouse to a newly built space downstairs in the Wynkoop beer cellar.

In place of those fermenters, Wynkoop has installed two 20-barrel unitanks in the main-floor brewhouse.

The two new tanks increase Wynkoop’s brewing capacity by 20% and allow for more aging time of the company’s lagers (including newly released cans of B3K Black Lager) and specialty beers.

“We’re making the best beer of our 23-year history,” says head brewer Andy Brown, whose brewing team landed a pair of medals at last year’s Great American Beer Festival. “The expansion helps us continue that improvement and gives us a better chance to meet demand for our liquid art.”

With this additional capacity Wynkoop will also be able to produce a new line of extra-limited-release canned and kegged beers the brewery had hoped to begin producing last year. Those beers were postponed due to high demand for its canned microbrews.

Wynkoop beers are currently hand-canned on a tabletop machine from Canada’s Cask Systems.

Wynkoop began hand-canning and self-distributing its canned and kegged beer in January of 2010.

Wynkoop Brewing Company was founded in 1988 by former Denver mayor and current Colorado governor John Hickenlooper and a group of urban pioneers that included Ron Robinson, Wynkoop’s current GM.


10 February, 2012