Firestone Walker is expanding at home, investing upwards of $15 million to increase brewing capacity at its Paso Robles, Calif. brewing facility.
In an effort to double brewing capacity and reduce what co-founder David Walker described as a “hectic” brewing schedule, Firestone Walker will integrate a new 250-barrel brewhouse into its existing production facility.
“The brewhouse building will be an extension to our existing brewhouse building, which will make quite the tour as three generations of brewhouses will be on view to the public,” Walker wrote to Brewbound in an email.
Brewing capacity will double, Walker said, and the company will eventually be capable of producing 600,000 barrels annually with the addition of more fermentation tanks.
“We have watched other notable California crafts develop strategies outside the state, but we remain committed to this community,” co-founder Adam Firestone said in a press statement.
According to Walker, 80 percent of the company’s beer is consumed in California, which is a primary reason why the company opted to expand in California instead of with a second location in another part of the country.
“Our customers are driving that decision, as much of our growth continues in California and the collar states,” he wrote to Brewbound. “Brewing the beer close to these markets makes sense.”
For his part, Brewmaster Matt Brynildson said he believes the quality of the company’s beer will improve as a result of the expansion.
“People always wonder if quality will falter as we grow, but I feel like whenever we make one of these steps, we always improve quality,” Brynildson said in the statement. “Every time we get an opportunity to upgrade one of our departments like our brewhouse or kegging, we go with the absolute best solutions possible, and it shows in the beer.”
Completion of the project is not expected until 2017, the company said. Firestone Walker will produce about 270,000 barrels of beer in 2015.