USA, CA & NC: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company to increase production at its North Carolina brewery

Sierra Nevada Brewing will increase production by 40 percent in about a month when it finishes installation of 10 new fermenting tanks at its brewery in Mills River, North Carolina, Hendersonville Lightning reported on June 2.

The production expansion from 350,000 to 500,000 barrels a year has been planned from the start and is unrelated to water usage cutbacks that the brewery is bracing for at its home base in Chico, Calif.

“That isn’t the reason for the increase,” said Stan Cooper, co-manager of the Mills River plant. “This is part of the expansion plan for Mills River. We actually sped it up just a little bit because of our growth in the whole craft industry.

“This expansion here is part of the whole master plan for Sierra Nevada’s production to grow here in Mills River.”

“Chico makes roughly 70 percent of seasonals now and Mills River 30. With the ramped up production, the Mills River’s share “will be more like 45 percent.”

03 June, 2015