US, CO: Oskar Blues Brewery off to a strong start this year

Oskar Blues Brewery took delivery of two 200-barrel fermenter tanks and a wort receiver from Ripley Stainless Ltd. of Summerland, British Columbia, on Tuesday. The wort receiver alone will allow the brewery to produce 20 percent more beer each day.

Tuesday's work was to be the last of three new tank additions since the start of the year, but in March, two 200-barrel tanks being transported from Canada were ruined when the truck driver misjudged the height of a bridge over the highway. Spokesman Chad Melis said the tank manufacturer will be sending two new tanks at the end of this month or early next month.

Oskar Blues is off to a strong start this year, with 50 percent more shipments in the first quarter than in the first quarter of 2010. The brewer produced 44,000 barrels in 2010, up from 29,000 the year before and way up from the 13,000 barrels produced in 2007, the year it moved its main brewing operations to Longmont.

08 April, 2011