USA, MA: Cape Cod Beer poised to double beer production

Cape Cod Beer of Hyannis, MA is poised to install a new brew house system that can double its beer production in the same amount of time, Barnstable Patriot reported on January 29.

Beth Marcus, co-owner of Cape Cod Beer, said that next month the brewery’s Hyannis location will welcome the new 30-barrel brew house system, an upgrade from its current 15-barrel system.
“We’re super excited,” she said. “Part of it is we’re in an industry that’s grown enormously.”

Marcus said the new equipment both answers a need for efficiency in the brewing process, and puts the company in a better position to deal with greater demand anticipated this summer. During the summer, when the company’s business peaks, staff brews beer 20 times a week – four times a day, five days a week. Someone starts at 4 a.m. and someone else finishes at midnight, she said, adding that the company plans to serve up more beer this summer than last.

“The problem is when you’re brewing basically at capacity, if you’re brewing it at every possible slot, there’s no room for error,” she said.

With the new system, the company will be able to brew 10 times a week and produce the same amount of beer. And it’s likely they’ll be producing more than that, since they “really had trouble keeping up last summer.”

“We’re always chasing the tail of the tiger,” Marcus said.

The company's canned beer products have boomed, she said. The company started offering canned beer about two years ago, and last year they faced two problems – making beer fast enough to put into the cans, and running out of cans. The new equipment will help the brewery with meeting canned beer demand. As for the cans, just before the end of 2015, Marcus placed an order for three truckloads. That’s about 350,000 cans – and she expects that’ll last the company for a year and a half.

“I think cans are enormously popular,” Marcus said. “I think they’re getting more and more popular as more craft breweries go to cans. I think cans fit a Cape Cod lifestyle – boat, beach, pools, you know.”

Sydney Kalweit, an employee at Cape Cod Beer, agreed. Kalweit, a West Barnstable resident who’s been with the brewery for two years, said she was surprised by last year’s demand.

“That was crazy,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting it. Especially the can thing.”

Between equipment, transportation, a new boiler and demolition, the new brew house system will cost Cape Cod Beer somewhere between $300,000 to $400,000, Marcus said. The equipment they’re using currently will stay on Cape – they’re selling the system to the Jailhouse Tavern in Orleans, she said.

Cape Cod Beer first launched in 2004. It’s gone from one employee to a year-round staff of 20.

03 February, 2016