E-Malt.com News article: USA: City Brewing Co. to unlock more capacity at Latrobe Brewing Co.

Water treatment capacity will probably have to be increased to allow City Brewing Co. to unlock the full potential of Latrobe Brewing Co. Local and state officials met September 12 with top City Brewing executives at the closed brewery to discuss ways to increase water treatment capacity to cope with planned hikes in production of beer and specialty beverages, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review posted September 13.

"We're going to get this thing done. We're committed to the project, now more than ever. This area has embraced what we want to do, and we're here today because we want to get the deal done," said Kenneth Yartz, chief operating officer for City Brewing, LaCrosse, Wisconsin.

Yartz said the company's goal is to be in production by the first quarter of next year.

City Brewing, the nation's fifth-largest brewer, is still negotiating with InBev USA of Norwalk, Connecticut, to buy the former Latrobe Brewing plant.

Yartz said the company wants to produce 2 million barrels of product annually, a menu of beer, flavored malt beverages and non-alcoholic beverages.

"We can't be restricted by not being able to grow. The limitation with wastewater puts a ceiling on our growth," Yartz said.

About 850,000 barrels of Rolling Rock beer were produced last year, below the Latrobe plant's capacity of 1.3 million barrels.

"The bottling line here has to be modified, and they need to bring in new equipment, because malted beverages are not beer. ... City Brewing needs flexibility because of different requirements," said John A. Skiavo, CEO of the Economic Growth Connection of Westmoreland.

Latrobe Municipal Authority can process five millions gallons of wastewater daily, said Terri Hauser, environmental control supervisor. She said the authority has about 10,000 customers in the city of Latrobe, and parts of Derry and Unity.

"You're talking two million barrels of product compared to one million (previously), and there's a limit of how much waste we can take daily," said Mark Gera, of Gibson Thomas Engineering of Latrobe, consultants for Latrobe Municipal Authority. "The organic loading is higher, and what they're discharging has a stronger base and more chemicals are needed to treat the water."

Latrobe Mayor Tom Marflak said officials discussed adding a pre-treatment facility to augment the Latrobe Municipal Authority's capabilities, phased in over several years.

"City Brewing has identified Latrobe as the place where they want to grow their business, and we will help," said Frank Corrigan, regional director of the Governor's Action Team in Pittsburgh.

Corrigan said funding could come from PennWorks, a $200 million program that provides grants and loans to municipalities for water projects.

In May, InBev USA, a division of Belgian brewing giant InBev NA, sold the Rolling Rock and Rock Green Light beer brands to Anheuser-Busch Cos. for $82 million. In June, City Brewing signed a letter of intent with InBev USA to negotiate to buy the Latrobe Brewing plant.

About 155 unionized brewers and bottlers, represented by the IUE-CWA, the industrial division of the Communications Workers of America, ratified a two-year contract with City Brewing in July. The deal expires Aug. 1, 2008.

The last bottles of Rolling Rock beer rolled off the bottling line July 26, marking an end to 67 years of beer production at the Latrobe plant. Anheuser-Busch is now brewing Rolling Rock at a plant in New Jersey.


13 September, 2006