USA, NY: Ithaca Beer to expand

Ithaca Beer Company is riding the wave of popularity in craft beers and embarking on a $3 mln expansion, Newschannel34.com reported on April, 26.

The brewery is building a new manufacturing facility that will also house a pub, tasting room and restaurant. The new 15 thousand square foot plant will triple its brewing capacity, producing 100 thousand barrels of beer each year.

Owner Dan Mitchell says, "This will allow you to actually come in and have some nice, locally grown food in our pizza pub and still see the manufacturing facility. I think everybody knows what beer is but not necessarily how it's made and this will give you a great opportunity to see how it's made and really enjoy our product inside our facility, which is kind of neat."

The expansion is possible thanks to a 3 mln dollars loan from M and T Bank. Regional Manager Tom Savoldy says Ithaca Beer has a strong track record over its 13 years, growing by 20 percent over the last 5. Savoldy says, "Right now with the very aggressive sales growth that they've been fortunate enough to achieve over the past thirteen years on an annual basis, it'll give them an opportunity to continue that growth pattern, and there's a lot of benefits to the bank as well."

The new location is expected to be complete sometime this summer.

27 April, 2012