USA, PA: Troegs Independent Brewing to expand its Hershey brewery

Troegs Independent Brewing plans to expand its brewery at 200 E. Hersheypark Drive in Hershey that will involve large scale production of some of its typically short-run, wood-aged beers, witf.org reported on January 8.

Troegs was started in Harrisburg in 1997, but moved to Hershey in 2011 when it outgrew its old building and decided to build a new one.

The expansion was announced by co-owners John and Chris Trogner on the brewery's blog.

The Trogners mention in the blog post that the expansion will be done by Dave Maule Architects and Pyramid Construction, the companies behind the design and construction of the Hershey facility.

"This new collaboration, called the Splinter Cellar, will create a dynamic area that adds needed fermentation space for wood-aged specialty beers and serves as the new entrance for our behind-the-scenes guided tours," John Trogner said in the blog post.

Trogner explains that the Splinter Cellar will feature glass exterior walls on the northeast side of the brewery, and three wooden fermenters that stand more than 23 feet tall.

"We started our Splinter Beer series not long after our Scratch Beer series," Jeff Herb, marketing communications coordinator for Troegs, said. "Both of those consisted of small batches of experimental brews."

The Splinter Beer series came out of a barrel aging project Troegs' brewers were involved in, Herb said.

"We only did a handful of them at first, but the barrel aging program grew when we moved to Hershey," Herb explained.

The Splinter Cellar expansion is meant to initially aid in the large scale production of a variation on Troegs' Mad Elf Ale, one of the seasonal offerings.

"The progress on this beer, soon to be known as Wild Elf, has been so promising we want keep it going and the Splinter Cellar will give us that opportunity," Trogner said.

Wild Elf is made with cherries supplied by Pennsylvania farmers that Troegs brewers hand-picked and processed specifically for this beer, Herb said.

"Now we're just waiting for the process to finish," Herb said. "We are eager to get these beers out to the public."

The wooden fermenters, called foeders, are basically large wooden barrels made from American, French and Hungarian oak, according to Herb.

"They are impressive looking," Herb said. "They are very beautiful and artisan looking compared to stainless steel tanks."

Other upgrades coming with the expansion include moving the brewery offices to another part of the facility to allow more room for the staff, along with the building of a courtyard and greenspace that will lead into the Splinter Cellar where brewery tours will begin.

Herb said Troegs is also looking at expanding the parking area, but that nothing concrete has been planned yet.

"We are looking at some options with parking," Herb said. "The parking situation is frustrating and we do get feedback about it from customers, so we are exploring ways to accommodate the greater amount of traffic we are getting."

Troegs hopes to have the expansion completed by mid-April, according to Herb.

13 January, 2016