E-Malt.com News article: USA, CO: New Belgium Brewing Co. adds capacity at its facility in Fort Collins

While New Belgium Brewing Co. is expanding with a new brewery on the East Coast, it also is adding capacity at its headquarters in Fort Collins to keep up with the strong demand for its beer, The Coloradoan reported on May, 1.

The brewery, known for beers such as Fat Tire and Sunshine Wheat, is nearly done with a 140,000-barrel expansion. The ability to brew more beer will provide New Belgium the opportunity to continue to expand distribution into new states.

The addition of 400 metric tons of malt capacity, four 2,200-hectoliter bright beer tanks, 12 2,200-hectoliter fermentation vessels and a 30 percent expansion to the Fort Collins brewery’s process water treatment facility is intended to meet demand for production until New Belgium’s new brewery in Asheville, N.C., comes online.

The expansion also included additional filtration capacity and 32 new oaken foeders for wood beer conditioning, according to the brewery.

When completed, the expansion will increase brewing capacity from 850,000 barrels to 920,000 barrels.

The brewery produced 764,424 barrels in 2012, at 16 percent increase from 2011. Spokesman Bryan Simpson said New Belgium anticipates producing more than 800,000 barrels this year.

“This gives us the ability to grow brands in existing markets while adding additional territories through 2015,” New Belgium Brewing Sales Director Joe Menetre said. “We’ll be in 31 states plus (Washington) D.C. this summer, so we’ve got a lot of potential geography out there still. We’re excited about opening the Asheville brewery, and this will get us there while meeting demand.”

New Belgium, the third-largest craft brewer in the nation, is deconstructing buildings in Asheville to make way for the groundbreaking of its new facility this summer. The Asheville brewery will begin beer production in 2015 with a capacity of 400,000 barrels.

Simpson said the aim is to become a national brand in every state. New Belgium added Louisiana and Alaska recently and will add Florida in July.

The brewery is looking at increasing 10 percent to 15 percent annually to meet current markets and expand into new territories. Simpson notes that new brands such as Ranger IPA and Shift have been popular, requiring the brewery to keep up with increased demand.

08 May, 2013