(St. Paul, MN) – In addition, to rolling out the fifteenth beer in the Unchained Series, Summit Brewing Co. briefly announced on Wednesday that it will introduce cans this spring. Founder and President, Mark Stutrud, also provided a full update on the company’s expansion progress. Via newsletter…
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All of that pain and extra cost has been worth it. The new cellar is fully commissioned and running smoothly. Over 6,000 feet of stainless steel tubing was used for the piping system. The new Pentair/Südmo valve technology and the Esau & Hüber automation is absolutely awesome and user friendly. I believe that our fermentation cellar is the most advanced in North America – as Summit Brewing is the first to embrace this new technology.
Our annual capacity is now up to 240,000 barrels. This is the first time in the brewery’s history that we have some “breathing room”. That is, we have the ability to keep up with demand (Sága IPA only grew 400% last year) and develop other styles without juggling production (Nate has been quietly lagering a beer for two months). Maybe it’s time to squirrel away a barley wine for a minimum of a year in the “old” cellar…
We didn’t slow down at all this fall. The first week of October, we purchased the property next door – 4 ½ acres with a 40,000 square foot building and a dedicated service road. We’ve not only doubled our capacity, we have doubled our footprint.
After thorough cleaning and painting, we transferred all of our offsite storage to the new warehouse. The production area that was used for stone cutting and polishing is ideal for our new can line. The floor is appropriately sloped and there is an abundance of floor drains. The final modifications are being completed in this area, as the canning equipment will start arriving in late February.
We need a pipeline, you know, to pump beer to the can line. So, while the temperatures have been sub zero and we are up to our butts in snow, the design of the beer pipeline is being finalized. Soon, we will be confronted with the task of snow removal and expensive soil thawing to pour the concrete piers that will support the pipeline columns. I’m thinking that some Frost Line Rye will help our attitude.
This is kind of a déjà vu experience because when the University Avenue brewery consisted of two separate buildings, we constructed an overhead pipeline to move beer. Everyone who toured the brewery back then thought that it was so crazy and innovative. “Like, hey man, we should come back in the middle of the night and tap into that…”
Our next phase of integration will be transferring the administrative, marketing and sales teams to the new building when the office remodeling is complete. We hope to finish this task by the fall.
As you continue to visit and enjoy beer with us, you’ll appreciate and experience this holistic brewery campus sited on the bluffs of the Mississippi River. And in the near future, according to development plans of the City of Saint Paul, we will have a park to the east, and a bike trail to the north on the existing Soo Line railroad tracks. Wirklich ein wunderschönes Ziel für Bier.
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We’re kicking off summer early by introducing Extra Pale Ale, Sága IPA and Summer Ale in convenient 12-ounce cans. Just think of how much more you can do outdoors with Summit now: camping, golfing, canoeing, hiking, poolside lounging, disc golf, snipe hunting, you name it. Could this be the best summer ever? We believe so. Look for our 6-packs after the snow melts. Whenever that may be.
