E-Malt.com News article: USA, CT: Back East Brewing to double facility size

Back East Brewing, open less than two years, is planning to double the size of its Bloomfield facility, The Courant reported on May 23.

The brewery, which makes more than a dozen craft beers seasonally and year-round, will be expanding from 4,500 square feet to 9,000 square feet.

The main purpose of the expansion is to increase Back East's brewing capacity from 2,500 barrels a year to 4,500 barrels to keep up with growing demand.

"It's just the demand in the market," CEO and co-founder Tony Karlowicz said.

Karlowicz said the company also expects to add two more full-time employees to the four it currently has.

The expansion has been in the works several months as the company worked on financing the project. Karlowicz said that Back East has raised $200,000 from more than a dozen investors. A portion of the expansion is also expected to be financed through a $175,000 small business express loan the company has applied for from the state's Department of Economic and Community Development.

The expansion project, which will involve the company taking over an identically sized empty warehouse area adjacent to its current location on Blue Hills Avenue, is expected to begin in early June and be completed by October.

The funding for the project, Karlowicz said, will be used largely to purchase more fermenting tanks and brewing equipment and other updates.

Back East Brewing began in 2006 with Karlowicz and his cousin Ed Fabrycki home-brewing in a Southington garage using a small pilot brewing system. They opened in their current location in August 2012 with $200,000 worth of state-of-the-art brewing equipment, aided by investments from friends and an $80,000 small business loan from the state.

Back East, which is distrubuted by Hartford Distributors, initially produced about 1,000 barrels of beer a year.

The company expanded its reach in May 2013, when it invested $35,000 in a canning machine and began canning three of its beers and adding six-pack sales in grocery and package stores.

Bloomfield Town Manager Philip Schenck said on May 22 that the town was thrilled at the news of the expansion and that their "decision is indicative of the welcoming and supportive business climate Bloomfield prides itself on in working with our business partners."


23 May, 2014