Ithaca Beer Co. to Expand in Upstate New York

ithaca updated packaging

Ithaca Beer Company will triple production capacity at its Upstate New York facility as it expands into 24,000 additional sq. ft. of space over the next eight months, the company announced today.

Brewery founder Dan Mitchell informally “broke ground” on his company’s latest planned expansion this morning. Ithaca, which made 24,000 barrels of beer last year, will eventually be capable of producing and packaging upwards of 90,000 barrels once the buildout is complete. The company is forecasting growth of about 15 percent in 2015, Gregg Stacy, the company’s marketing director, told Brewbound.

“We are starting to make a lot of specialty beers that people are interested in, but we just don’t have the tank capacity to do more,” he said.

With the added space, Ithaca will be able to install new bottling and kegging equipment and purchase additional fermentation vessels, Stacy said. The company is currently producing beer on a 50-barrel system.

Ithaca expanded into its current facility in early 2012 and this upgrade is aimed more at improving efficiency, Stacy said.

Ithaca beer is sold in nine states and Stacy said the company would look to “fill gaps” and enter Northeastern markets like New Hampshire and Maine once the brewery is fully operational in early 2016.

“We know that we are growing at a good pace right now,” he said. “There is a lot of distribution and volume that we are not getting in certain areas right now and plenty of room for growth. We aren’t in a race to get there.”

According to the Ithaca Journal, the expansion is expected to cost $2.6 million, excluding equipment. It is being financed with bank loans, Stacy said.