E-Malt.com News article: USA: City Brewing Co. gets $4.5 million in state funds to reopen Latrobe brewery

A shuttered brewery that once produced Rolling Rock beer is edging closer to reopening, AP announced on January 23.

During a visit to the Latrobe brewery on Tuesday, Gov. Ed Rendell announced state grants and loans totaling more than $4.5 million to help its new owner, City Brewing Co., upgrade the plant to expand its production capacity.

The brewery closed in July after its former owner, InBev USA, sold the Rolling Rock brand to St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. for $82 million. Anheuser-Busch, the nation's largest brewer, now fills the famed green bottles in Newark, N.J.

The brewery made Rolling Rock for more than six decades and employed generations of local workers in the tiny town of Latrobe, about 35 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

"When Rolling Rock left town, Latrobe lost one of its most historic icons," Rendell said, according to a statement. "But more importantly, it lost a significant portion of its tax base and a large employer."

The state's investment, he said, will put at least 250 people back to work by June 1. It also encouraged the company to invest $10.4 million in the plant, Rendell said.

Kenn Yartz, City Brewing's chief operating officer, said in a statement he believes the La Crosse, Wis.-based company "will bring a new era of beer and beverage co-packing production to Latrobe and western Pennsylvania."

The state money initially will contribute to the purchase of the building and its equipment, according to John Skiavo, president and CEO of the Economic Growth Connection of Westmoreland County, a local economic development group.

The money to rehabilitate the plant and buy equipment will be spent over two to three years, he said. "The goal is to try to be operating to some degree in February," said Skiavo, whose organization worked with the governor and City Brewing to arrange the grants and loans.

City Brewing, which has an annual capacity of 70 million cases, is a contract packager of beer, flavored malt beverages, teas, energy drinks, juices and carbonated soft drinks.


24 January, 2007