A handful of notable craft brewery expansions aimed at expanding the availability of small-batch offerings from companies based in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Wisconsin are moving forward.
Tröegs Looks to Grow Beyond 100,000 Barrels in 2017
Last week, Hershey, Pennsylvania-based Tröegs Brewing Company announced the installation of eight new 1,000-barrel fermentation tanks that will allow the company to produce larger batches of its core and seasonal beers while simultaneously giving it the ability to create more small-batch offerings.
“These new fermenters will free up a bunch of our smaller tanks, and that’ll give us the flexibility to meet the demands of core beers that are growing and to dive deeper into creative brewing pursuits like Scratch and Splinter,” co-founder John Trogner said in a press release.
On its way to producing more than 89,000 barrels of beer, Tröegs produced more than 100 different “Scratch” series offerings in 2016 and expanded distribution of its wood-aged “Splinter” series labels beyond the brewery for the first time.
In a press release, the company said sales of Perpetual IPA and Troegenator Double Bock were up 26 percent and 10 percent, respectively, year-to-date, and that it was on pace to eclipse 100,000 barrels of beer brewed.
The company said it expects all eight fermenters to be “up and running” by December, and the additional capacity will allow for expanded distribution throughout its existing markets of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Virginia, Washington, Delaware, North Carolina, Ohio, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
“Staying 100% independent allows us to make decisions that are best for our long-term health,” Trogner wrote on the company’s blog. “For 20 years, we’ve grown steadily in our backyard, and that’s always where we look first. We want to go deeper in our own territories, not necessarily wider in other territories.”
Medusa to build $5.5 Million Facility
Meanwhile, in Hudson, Massachusetts, Medusa Brewing Company is planning to spend $5.5 million to develop plot of land adjacent to its existing brewery and taproom.
According to the Worcester Business Journal, Medusa — which launched in early 2015 and brewed just 974 barrels of beer last year — has entered into a “purchase-and-sale” agreement with the current property owner and is in the final stages of obtaining bank financing for the project.
The 15,000 sq. ft. project was described by the WBJ as a “canning facility” that will feature “angled windows, a boardwalk along the brook’s edge and outdoor seating for guests.”
Construction is slated to begin in March 2018 and will take about one year to complete.
O’So Brewing Approved to Build New Brewery in Stevens Point
Lastly, in Wisconsin, O’so Brewing has inked a development agreement with the Stevens Point Common Council, which unanimously voted to approve the construction of a 35,000 sq. ft. production brewery, taproom and barrel-aging cellar.
As part of the arrangement, Big Thinker LLC, which is owned by O’so Brewing co-founder Marc Buttera, has 24 months to build a brewery with “an approximate value of $2 million.
In exchange, Big Thinker LLC will purchase 20 acres of land for a ceremonial $1 and receive a $500,000 grant to “assist with the private improvements.” The brewery also agreed to reimburse the city via graduated tax payments to be paid over a 13-year period beginning in 2020.
Stevens Point Mayor Mike Wiza told waow.com, a local ABC affiliate, that the project would help Stevens Point “become a destination.”
“I think it’s going to be a fabulous project,” he told the outlet. “O’so has had a 10 plus years history success in central Wisconsin, I think their expanding is a testament to that.”
O’so Brewing, ranked as the 12th largest craft brewing company in the state, currently operates out of a 12,000 sq. ft. location in Plover, Wisconsin — about five miles away.