USA, WA: Chuckanut Brewery to expand this summer

Chuckanut Brewery is once again poised to expand its brewing capacity, The News Tribune reported on March, 14.

The Bellingham brewery was successful in getting additional funding to order five new 20-barrel fermenters, associated kegs and raw materials.

Umpqua Bank has organized and funded the Small Business Administration loan that will give the brewery additional equipment to handle a larger volume of kegged beer to its wholesale and retail customers.

"We've basically been at capacity since the last time we expanded (in June 2010)," said Mari Kemper, co-owner of Chuckanut Brewery. "It's a good problem to have but still a problem we needed to address."

The new tanks will be delivered in early June and put into production by July. The process of aging the ales and lagers takes several weeks, so beer from the new tanks should be ready by late August or September. The increase in capacity will help both the retail and wholesale sides of the business, Kemper said.

After being named the Small Brewpub of the Year in 2009 from the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Chuckanut began searching for additional funding to add more fermentation tanks. The tanks arrived in June 2010.

After the same beer festival named Chuckanut the Small Brewing Company of the Year In September 2011, the brewery began to search for a bank to reorganize its loans and fund its growth.

Chuckanut Brewery and Kitchen offers a full-service menu with European style award-winning lagers and ales.

16 March, 2012