(Portland, OR) – Craft Brew Cast caught up with Breakside Brewery’s Ben Edmunds last month. Here are some notes from the 80-minute interview.

– Just bought a 30-barrel Metalcraft Fabrication system that will make Breakside the fifth largest brewhouse in Portland behind Widmer Brothers, Pyramid, BridgePort and HopWorks (according to Edmunds). System is scheduled to arrive in August.

– Hopes to have the new brewery open on October 1st and commercial batches off the new system in the market in mid-October

– Expects to produce 4,000 barrels off of the system, draft-only, in 2013

– As far as the multi-location plan…1) will keep current location as is 2) second location with new brewhouse will feature a brewer-run tasting room but no restaurant, and 3) will eventually open a third location, may be a brewpub with a 3-4 barrel system but nothing finalized. Edmunds would like it to be a German-style lager hall.

– Plans to have canning line in operation by early 2014.

– When canning line is in operation, will distribute regionally (OR, WA, ID, Northern CA) and have “pocketed distribution” in metros like Charlotte, New Orleans, some cities in Florida.

“We’re willing to go through the red tape because we think there’s a cache for Oregon beer that’s not there. […] If you look at a brewery like Stone, they continue to struggle in Oregon and Portland, in particular. Whereas if you look at a place like Asheville, I think there are a lot of markets that are underserved by their own breweries.”

– IPA is top seller by far, “subsidizes” all their other beers