E-Malt.com News article: USA, CO: Denver Beer Co. unveils production brewery and packaging facility in north Denver

Denver Beer Co. announced plans on October 23 to open a production brewery and packaging facility in industrial north Denver that will allow the two-year-old brewery to sell more Graham Cracker Porter to the masses while rededicating its existing Platte Street location to the experimentation it was founded on, according to Denver Post.

The expansion means Denver Beer Co. beer in cans and 22-ounce bottles by early next summer, joining an ever-growing number of locally brewed beers on Denver-area liquor store shelves.

The existing brewery and tap room on Platte Street, which has one of the state’s best patios and has been packing them in since opening in 2011, is not going anywhere.

Denver Beer Co. is under contract to purchase a 48,000-square-foot warehouse on three acres at 4455 Jason Street in the Sunnyside neighborhood, said co-owner Patrick Crawford. The building has 32-foot ceilings – ideal for a brewery – and used to house a Kraft food warehouse, he said.

Crawford said the closing date on the purchase is not for another couple of years, so until then Denver Beer Co. will rent 11,000 square feet of space there. The existing tenants will remain, for now, but once Denver Beer Co. owns the property it could take over all the space if there’s demand, he said.

The expansion will cost a couple of million dollars not including the property purchase and is being financed by a Small Business Administration loan, the brewery’s second, Crawford said.

The project will include a 30-barrel brewhouse with four 60 barrel-fementers, and a canning line from Wild Goose Canning of Boulder. The new system will have an initial brewing capacity of 5,000 barrels per year.

Denver Beer Co. will put its popular Graham Cracker Porter (which won GABF bronze in 2011), Kaffir Lime Wheat and Hey! Pumpkin in canned six packs, Berger said. Plans also call for mixed six packs of seasonal beers. Special and limited release will get bomber treatment.

Distribution is expected to begin in Denver metro locations and later expand throughout the Front Range and to mountain towns. The brewery remains in the market for a distributor.

Packaging beer “was something we always wanted to do,” Crawford said. “It was always kind of in the back of our mind. That wasn’t how we wanted to start. We wanted to talk to people over the bar, see what our customers like and don’t like, and Platte Street has been perfect for that. The demand is there after two years, more than anticipated.”

The plan is to begin brewing in late April and begin canning in May. The new location will have a small tasting room that will probably be open a couple days a weeks starting in June, Crawford said.

Denver Beer Co. is known for rarely brewing the same beer twice. Crawford said the brewery has produced more than 250 kinds. But that model was put to the test when the brewery started distributing to local bars and restaurants, where there is less tolerance for always-rotating taps.

Co-owner and head brewer Charlie Berger said the new production brewery will allow Denver Beer Co. to brew “really great, consistent beer” it can package while freeing up its 7-barrel Platte Street operation for more experimentation – the same model Dry Dock Brewing took in opening a second brewery in Aurora.



25 October, 2013