Breweries

Summit Brewing Co. plans to spend about $6 million to expand capacity at its St. Paul brewery within the next two years. The brewery will add to its current building to create more space for fermentation, storage and packaging. With demand for its beers growing, “we will be in a world of hurt if [the expansion] doesn’t happen,” Summit founder Mark Stutrud told the Star-Tribune.

Summit sells its beers in 15 states, with 90% of sales within Minnesota. The company had an 8 percent increase in production last year to almost 105,000 barrels (a barrel holds 31 gallons).

Summit, which has just over 50 employees, also said that its workforce should expand by about 20 percent by the end of this year.

Alaskan Brewing and Ben E. Keith Beverage Distributors have announced Alaskan beers will be available in Texas beginning this spring.

“Alaskan’s line up of award-winning beers has been requested by retailers and consumers in Texas for some time,” said Ben E. Keith specialty beverage manager, Kevin Nettleton. “We are thrilled to be able to distribute this unique portfolio of beers across the state.”

Founded by Geoff and Marcy Larson in 1986, Alaskan has been brewing and bottling award-winning beers that reflect their home in Juneau, Alaska for more than 25 years. The brewery researched the move into Texas for several years, wanting to first ensure they had an established supply chain to support the long trip from Alaska before expanding their distribution to such a large state. Texas will be the 14th state to serve Alaskan Brewing products.

“Alaskans and Texans seem to have a lot in common, especially in their appreciation of wide open spaces and of quality craft beer. We have been getting letters, calls and emails from thirsty Texans for years,” said Alaskan Brewing Co-founder, Marcy Larson. “We are truly excited to finally be answering the call with our partners at Ben E. Keith.”

The Beer Institute has released new data that show retail beer sales rose more than 2% in 2011, with total retail sales reaching more than $98 billion.

According to market research company Nielsen, the increase in sales revenue can be attributed to the high-end beer business. The sale of imports, crafts and above-premium beers sold off-premises was up nearly 3 percent.

“Beer continues to be the preferred alcohol beverage of Americans,” said Joe McClain, president of the Beer Institute. “With sales exceeding $98 billion, the beer industry continues to enjoy the largest share of revenue and volume within the alcohol beverage sector when compared to wine and spirits. While many of our core consumers are still impacted by a slow economic recovery, we are pleased to see a bump in last year’s retail sales, driven by high-end premium domestic and imported beers.”

The total on-premise retail dollar sales increased more than 3% to exceed $55 billion in 2011. Off-premise retail sales also saw an uptick last year, growing slightly less than 1 percent to more than $43 billion.

“We are pleased to see retail sales grew last year. This positive trend is not only good news for brewers and importers, but also for the 900,000 men and women in this country whose jobs at supermarkets, convenience stores, restaurants, bars, stadiums, and other outlets are supported by beer sales. We look forward to another year of growth, crafting a product so many Americans love and having a positive economic impact in communities across America,” said McClain.

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. made it offical today that it has chosen a site in western North Carolina for the future home of an east coast brewery. The site, approximately 90 acres in the Henderson County town of Mills River – 12 miles south of Asheville – will be home to the new production facility, as well as a proposed restaurant and gift shop.

“We are thrilled to have found an ideal location in western North Carolina for our second brewery,” founder Ken Grossman said for a press release. “The beer culture, water quality and quality of life are excellent. We feel lucky to be a part of this community.”

The east coast brewery will start with a capacity around 300,000 barrels, with room to grow.
Sierra Nevada began the search for a new location several years ago. The brewery looked at hundreds of potential sites, eventually narrowing the search down to a handful of locations.

Sierra Nevada’s eastern brewery site is expected to employ approximately 90 workers, with additional staff in the restaurant to follow. The brewery anticipates being operational by early 2014.

Officials with California craft-beer maker Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. are expected to announce this week they have chosen Western North Carolina for the company’s much-publicized East Coast expansion, sources with knowledge of the negotiations have told the Times-News in Hendersville.

The newspaper reported:

Chico, Calif.-based Sierra Nevada — the nation’s second-largest craft-beer producer, which distributes to all 50 states — is expected to build its new facility at Ferncliff Industrial Park in Mills River.

The property — which was annexed by the town in 2009 after landowner Vaughn Fitzgerald requested that 220 of his family’s acres be rezoned for an industrial park — is on Old Fanning Bridge Road between Broadpoint Industrial Park and Asheville Regional Airport on the east side of the French Broad River.

Company officials have said they want 50 acres to build the facility, which likely will include a restaurant, tasting room and music venue in addition to the brewing and bottling operations.

The county and town provided a variety of incentives to Sierra Nevada, which is adding the second facility for several reasons, including that it was soon reach capacity at its California plant and that an eastern brewery will reduce its environmental footprint. In December, The Henderson County Board of Commissioners approved a seven-year, $3.75 million economic incentive package for an unnamed manufacturing company looking to invest $115 million to start up operations in the county. Additionally, the Mills River Town Council approved economic incentives for the project, which is expected to include the creation of 125 new jobs.

Sierra Nevada founder and president Ken Grossman said his company began the selection process with about 200 potential sites across the country.

A subsidiary of Boston Beer Co. has acquired Los Angeles-based Angel City Brewing, making Angel City the first brewery for the portfolio of Alchemy & Science, a “craft beer collaboration” funded by Jim Koch’s Boston Beer Co.

Alchemy & Science was launched in October by Alan Newman, founder of Vermont’s Magic Hat Brewing Co.

Michael Bowe founded Angel City Brewing in 1997, then in 2010 relocated the brewery in the historic John A. Roebling Building in LA’s Downtown Arts District. At the time he said, “My vision for Angel City Brewing is about being located in Downtown Los Angeles. I think this great city deserves a great brewery and we hope to become that.”

For a press release about the deal, Newman said, “I’ve known Michael Bowe for many years, and I’ve followed his career as a brewer with great admiration — though it never occurred to me that I would become involved with Angel City. Michael’s vision for a thriving and robust brewery for the City of Los Angeles resonated with me from our initial conversations. We are very excited to have this opportunity to become part of the renaissance of the LA downtown area.”

According to a Boston Beer Co. regulatory filing, Bowe will remain with Angel City for two years as an adviser.

Alchemy & Science is a craft beer collaboration, led by Newman and Stacey Steinmetz and funded by Boston Beer, brewer of Samuel Adams beers. Its mission is “to increase awareness of craft brewed beers by exploring and managing a broad range of opportunities, from creating and/or incubating new breweries to providing legacy solutions to craft beer/brewery founders.”

Texas breweries won a partial victory when U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks ruled in favor of Jester King Brewery in a First Amendment claim against the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Sparks ruled that sections of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code and the Texas Administrative Code are unconstitutional and a violation of the First Amendment. Among other things, the code prohibits breweries from letting customers know where they can find their products.

The code also required beer at 5% alcohol by volume to be called just that, while higher alcohol by volume brews had to be labeled “malt liquor” or “ale.”

However, Sparks did not overrule the TABC’s ability to prohibit craft brewers from selling beer to customers on-site, even though wineries are allowed to do that. The breweries will continue to try to get the law changed through the legislative process.

Jester King stated in a press release after the ruling:

“We were disappointed, but not too surprised, that Judge Sparks ruled against our claims that Texas’s disparate treatment of breweries and brewpubs violated the Equal Protection Clause and that its treatment of foreign breweries violated both the Equal Protection Clause and the Commerce Clause. The TABC never gave any reason why Texas should be able to prohibit craft brewers from selling beer to customers on-site, while allowing wineries to do so, or why Texas should be able to favor foreign wineries over foreign breweries, and Judge Sparks did not speculate on why that might be. But the legal standards are different and more demanding for challenges brought under the Equal Protection Clause than the First Amendment, and we were unable to persuade Judge Sparks to strike down these discriminatory laws. We were encouraged, however, by Judge Sparks’s observation that ‘The State of Texas is lucky the burden of proof was on [the Plaintiffs] for many of its claims, or else the Alcoholic Beverage Code might have fared even worse than it has.'”

Founder Brock Wagner of Saint Arnold Brewing, the largest craft brewery in the state, added perspective.

“We are happy to see the silly definitions of ‘beer’ and ‘ale’ that the TABC unilaterally and nonsensically came up with be struck down. That has never made sense. That is really the only good news for us. The meat of the lawsuit from our perspective was denied, namely the part that said allowing wineries to retail and not giving breweries the same right is discriminatory,” he said.

“There is a hidden expense to this lawsuit for all Texas breweries. The TABC is now going to have to come up with a new way of differentiating between beers that are above and below 4% alcohol by weight (which roughly translates into 5% alcohol by volume). There are some retail licenses in the state that only allow the sale of beers below 4% ABW. In fact there are some counties and precincts that only allow beers under 4%. This part of the law is quite legal. Once the TABC comes up with its method for signifying these categories, we will have to change all of our labels. This is not an enormous expense, but will probably cost us at least a few thousand dollars. All Texas breweries are going to incur a similar expense.”

A fermentation tank at Otter Creek Brewing in Vermont exploded Monday, but nobody was hurt.

The Addison County Independent reported that emergency personnel rushed to the scene to make sure that a second explosion did not occur.

Middlebury fire chief Rick Cole said the explosion damaged piping and knocked over two or three other tanks, but that there was no fire and the beer that spilled was mostly contained within the building. The explosion also blew a wall panel off of the side of the building between two outdoor tanks.

The company indicated it would resume full operations later this week.

Pelican Pub & Brewery in Pelican City, Oregon, captured five medals at the European Beer Star awards. Judging was held last month and winners were announced today at Brau Beviale in Nuremberg, Germany.

“Europe is the home for much of the world’s beer culture, so it is truly an honor for Pelican beers to be recognized at the European Beer Star,” said Pelican brewmaster Darron Welch. “The many rich brewing traditions of Europe have always inspired the brews of the Pelican Pub & Brewery.”

Pelican won gold with Kiwandi Cream Ale and Tsunami Stout, silver with Surfer’s Summer Ale and India Pelican Ale, and bronze for Stormwatcher’s Winterfest.

Breweries from the United States captured 33 medals overall. American entries made up 11% of the 1,113 beers judged and won 22% of the medals awarded.

Deschutes Brewery from Oregon won two gold medals and a silver; while Boston Beer captured two golds and a bronze for Samuel Adams beers; and the Spoetzl Brewery from Texas won three medals with Shiner beers.

Brewery Ommegang, Firestone Walker Brewing and Alaskan Brewing were all double winners.

Complete list of winners.